A book for adults on the spectrum

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Hello,

My name is Anthony. I would like to ask you a couple of questions, please.


Background

I am neurotypical and have a friend who is on the spectrum. I often enjoyed talking with him about things that I experience as 'simple' but which he finds complex to deal with. Part of my job is to explain complex things in simple ways, so I am trained to do this and I actually enjoy it!

However, when explaining something I often wondered if I sounded condescending, so I asked him if he thought so. He replied that he actually found it very useful to be able to talk about things that everybody else seems to automatically understand, because I talked in simple terms and without judgement.

My friend’s answer made me think about writing a book about questions that people on the spectrum may have, but which most people don’t talk about. This includes ‘awkward’ questions, for example questions about relationships, sex etc.


The problem

I started by looking at books for adults on the spectrum, and found some problems:

- Many books address family or friends but not directly the person with autism - as if they are not meant to ever read that book.
- Many books concentrate on behaviour and coping mechanisms. That’s ok, but I struggled to find books that talk about questions that neurotypical people just seem to automatically know the answer to.
- The language used is either too academic/complex or very simplistic. I’d like to write in plain, everyday language, simple but respectful.


Examples

Here are three examples to give you an idea of the type of topics that I am thinking about:

- When is it appropriate to end a social visit?

- How do you tell a friend that they have done something that hurt you?

- How to tell someone that you would like to have sex with him or her?


My questions

I have two questions that I would be grateful if you can answer, please:

1. Would a book like what I described be of interest to you - enough to consider reading it?

2. If you think it could be of interest, do you have any questions that you’ve always wondered about but didn’t know who to ask? Feel free to ask anything (here or in PM if you prefer not to ask in public). Although I can’t promise to write about everything, I will do my best!

If you have any other thoughts or comments about this, please feel free to let me know.


Thank you very much,
Anthony