LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 29: Doctor of Animal Science Temple Grandin arrives at the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on August 29, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Memoirs from Autistic authors provide some of the best insight into the wide-ranging condition and bring a better understanding of what it’s like to live on the spectrum. Here are five you should check out.
Look Me In The Eye: My Life With Aspergers
John Elder Robison wasn’t diagnosed with Aspergers until he was 40, and in his memoir, he looks back on his childhood all the way through to adulthood.
Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant
Daniel Tammet, a high functioning man who has the ability to learn brand new languages in the span of a week, will give you a new perspective of Autism and the vast range of the condition’s spectrum.
Odd Girl Out: My Extraordinary Autistic Life
Like Robison, Laura James didn’t receive her Autism diagnosis until her forties. In her memoir, she looks at the ways her condition has affected her career in journalism as well as her life as a married mother of four.
Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World
No list like this is complete without mentioning iconic Autism advocate Temple Grandin, who overcame stigma to become a professor of animal science at Colorado State University.
The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism
Released in 2013, The Reason I Jump was written by Naoki Higashida, a non-verbal teenage boy who, with the help of KA Yoshida and translator David Mitchell, helps explain the challenges and functions of an Autistic mind.
Erica Banas is the aunt of an 8-year-old non-verbal boy on the Autism spectrum.
