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WeirdAloe00
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21 Apr 2022, 3:03 pm

I was wondering what your favorite lesser known autistic authors are.



naturalplastic
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21 Apr 2022, 4:31 pm

I dont know ANY autistic authors. I dont even know any "well known" ones. In fact I didnt even know that there were "well known autistic authors".

So I havent decided on any "favorites" of that group.



Fnord
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21 Apr 2022, 4:32 pm

The local library and used books stores do not have any "Autistic Authors" sections; so unless authors out themselves, there is no way of knowing they are autistic.



naturalplastic
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21 Apr 2022, 4:33 pm

Actually I can name one published author who is on the autism spectrum. He is WP member. But I havent had to time to read his books yet.



HighLlama
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22 Apr 2022, 5:33 am

naturalplastic wrote:
I dont know ANY autistic authors. I dont even know any "well known" ones. In fact I didnt even know that there were "well known autistic authors".

So I havent decided on any "favorites" of that group.


You never heard of Temple Grandin?



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22 Apr 2022, 5:38 am

WeirdAloe00 wrote:
I was wondering what your favorite lesser known autistic authors are.


I'm not especially familiar with authors who have outed themselves. I see reviews and interviews, but their work hasn't drawn me so far.

Many have discussed Kafka and Lovecraft as autistic, which I'd agree with. Those are two I love.



naturalplastic
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22 Apr 2022, 5:47 pm

HighLlama wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
I dont know ANY autistic authors. I dont even know any "well known" ones. In fact I didnt even know that there were "well known autistic authors".

So I havent decided on any "favorites" of that group.


You never heard of Temple Grandin?

Am familiar with her. She is aspie/autistic. Though she is not known for being a great author she is a high profile popularizer of autism awareness. So I guess that she would count as a writer.

Okay... the phrase "autistic writer" is for practical purposes a meaningless phrase. I will explain why later.

You have to be more specific about you're asking about.

What you seem to be asking about is "who are your favorite autistics who have written about autism/autistic issues?".

Yes I know of Temple Grandin. She is not famous for being a great author, but she is known for bringing attention to aspergers and autism in the media. So yes she would be "an autistic writer who writes about autism" whom I am aware of, and basically applaud.

Another person I am dying to read is guy whose trade was being a sound engineer for famours rock bands for decades. Also not known for being a writer per se. But one day late in middle aged life he got diagnosed, and then got magnetic cranial resonance treatment. And the effect was dramatic. Hate to say that it "cured him of autism" but thats pretty much what seemed to have happened. Heard him on the radio being inteviewed by Terri Gross on Fresh Air some years ago. Hope to read his book. Sorry. Cant remember his name nor his books title, off of the top of my head. Will try to dig those two things up.

The reason that you cant just say "favorite autistic writers" is that that could mean a lot of different things, and gets us scratching our heads. Does he mean folks who are famous for being writers, who happened to be autistic, but did not necessarily write about autism? Does he mean folks who write about autism as a subject, whether they are themselves autistic or not? Does he mean writers who never "came out of the closet" about being autistic (and may not have known themselves), and may or may not written about autism, but that many folks speculate were autistic? See what I mean?

But you gave Grandin as an example so now I get what you probably mean. Autistic folks who write about autism as a topic. :)