Page Summary in a Sentence
This is an ever evolving page of resources suggested by people who identify with the neurodiverse community focusing on Autism.
General Resources
Authoring Autism: On Rhetoric and Neurological Queerness by Melanie Yergeau.
Melanie uses rhetoric and queer theory to explore autism, ultimately defining neurodivergence as an identity rather than an impairment; they use the idea of neurodivergence as an identity to develop to queer pathology (we do like that here at Practical Neurodiversity!) and understand the boundless potential of what it means to be neuroqueer.
How to be Autistic by Charlotte Amelia Poe.
Charlotte gives an account of her own journey as an autistic individual through school and college. She explores topics such as, living as an autistic individual, navigating the world, mental illness, gender identity, and sexuality. It is a deeply personal account of growing up on the spectrum balanced with a certain humour which only redoubles the intimacy of her account. We really recommend this!
The Spectrum Girl’s Survival Guide: How to Grow Up Awesome and Autistic by Siena Castellon.
The book and the author are just fantastic! Siena is an autistic teenager who is a multi-award-winning autism advocate and anti-bullying campaigner, and she is the founder of Neurodiversity Celebration Week (which will take place between the 15th and 21st of March 2021), she is doing such amazing things! This book is also testament to her work too as she provides a wealth of accessible advice within a comic book style, although contrary to the title and as many reviewers have suggested, this book is very useful for boys too, and our non-binary autistic peers too!
A comprehensive list of blogs by actually autistic bloggers.
Making sense of your autism diagnosis a resource page by Ambitious about Autism
This page is full of videos of young people discussing their experiences of getting diagnosed and coming to terms with their diagnosis of autism, with a range of diagnosis journeys; for example, Robert was diagnosed when he was 2 years old and discusses how his diagnosis helps him achieve a positive work environment, whereas, Lucy was diagnosed at 23 years old and discusses her experiences feeling isolated and how everyone “deserves to be themselves”. The page has one introductory video and is split into three sections each containing videos of people’s lived experiences:
- Getting diagnosed in childhood
- Getting diagnosed in your teenage years
- Getting diagnosed in adulthood
Autism Awareness / Acceptance by the University of Edinburgh Autism Spectrum Group
This is a document produced by a group of autistic university students outlining what autism is, important terminology, the struggles they may have and solutions which can help, myths and misconceptions about autism, a list of a variety of resources they recommend, and, of course, a page of autism memes.
For Young People
How to be Autistic by Charlotte Amelia Poe.
Charlotte gives an account of her own journey as an autistic individual through school and college. She explores topics such as, living as an autistic individual, navigating the world, mental illness, gender identity, and sexuality. It is a deeply personal account of growing up on the spectrum balanced with a certain humour which only redoubles the intimacy of her account. We really recommend this!
The Spectrum Girl’s Survival Guide: How to Grow Up Awesome and Autistic by Siena Castellon.
The book and the author are just fantastic! Siena is an autistic teenager who is a multi-award-winning autism advocate and anti-bullying campaigner, and she is the founder of Neurodiversity Celebration Week (which will take place between the 15th and 21st of March 2021), she is doing such amazing things! This book is also testament to her work too as she provides a wealth of accessible advice within a comic book style, although contrary to the title and as many reviewers have suggested, this book is very useful for boys too, and our non-binary autistic peers too!
Dear Autistic Kid, on meltdowns and shame by Autistic Science Person
This is a beautiful open letter from an Autistic Adult to an Autistic Kid, which tells them that it is okay to be the way that they are in this world to, “remember that it’s okay to be autistic. It’s okay to wear headphones or sunglasses, or use weighted blankets or fidget toys (lots of us autistic adults do!). It’s okay to want things a certain way. It’s okay to not look into people’s eyes. It’s okay to be you.” It is just such a beautiful article.
Making sense of your autism diagnosis a resource page by Ambitious about Autism
This page is full of videos of young people discussing their experiences of getting diagnosed and coming to terms with their diagnosis of autism, with a range of diagnosis journeys; for example, Robert was diagnosed when he was 2 years old and discusses how his diagnosis helps him achieve a positive work environment, whereas, Lucy was diagnosed at 23 years old and discusses her experiences feeling isolated and how everyone “deserves to be themselves”. The page has one introductory video and is split into three sections each containing videos of people’s lived experiences:
- Getting diagnosed in childhood
- Getting diagnosed in your teenage years
- Getting diagnosed in adulthood
The Autistic Guide to Starting College by AsIAm
A resource-packed website for autistic students by the Irish charity AsIAm which includes videos of college students answering questions, downloadable resources to help students ranging from helping revise for exams to cooking a meal, and a virtual tour of a college campus.
For Supporters
Supporting Transgender Autistic Youth and Adults: A Guide for Professionals and Families by Finn V. Gratton.
Finn, who is both non-binary and autistic, looks at the specific issues and difficulties autistic individuals face when exploring and trying to understand aspects of their gender identities, especially when that includes navigating social aspects of gender which just seem a bit… well, neurotypical and odd to some of us. It is a really good read for those of you who want to better support transgender or non-binary autistic individuals in your life, and a really good read for trans and/or non-binary autistic individuals who want to further explore their own identities.
Comorbidities
Sleep
Organisation & Time Management
Executive Function & Dysfunction
Routines & Change
Autistic Burnout
Social & Emotional Communication
The Guide to Good Mental Health on the Autism Spectrum by Jeanette Purkis, Dr Emma Goodall, and Dr Jane Nugent
Two of the authors are on the autism spectrum themselves and, as a result, this book provides an insightful and understanding guide for autistic mental health and wellbeing. This is a fantastic and easy to read guide covering many different topics, from anxiety and depression to the value of pets and helpful strategies to aid in mental health and wellbeing.
Masking
Suggestions & Recommendations
We hope you find what you need here, but as Practical Neurodiversity is a really new project and because neurodiversity is so expansive, we will unfortunately not have resources on every topic; so, if there is something you see elsewhere that you feel we should add or if there are resources you would like us to help you find, just let us know by using the form below.
Important Note
As we update and categorise this list some resources may be mentioned more than once due to their overlap between context and certain resources may appear under multiple subheadings of neurotype due to the complex overlaps between neurodiverse ways of experiencing and knowing the world, and we also just want to make sure you are able to find what you are looking for too.
Practical Neurodiversity 