'Someone Like Me' – a Q&A with the editors and contributors for Autism Acceptance Month
From the editors
Clem Bastow:
I'm very grateful that Jo asked me to co-edit Someone Like Me with her. The thought of a lonely Autistic person picking up this book and feeling seen and understood is what it's all about. Also, I'm so thrilled that some of the contributors who've not been published before now have their work out there – I hope everyone gets to read more from them in the future!
Jo Case:
Clem and I had imagined this book for years before it was published last month – and before we got the incredible UQP on board as a publisher! I wanted this book so others could have what I so badly wanted when I realised I was autistic, 16 years ago: to see someone like me reflected on the page, so I would feel less alone. Reflecting 25 different experiences of being autistic, across 25 essays, we hoped, would give readers the chance to identify with different aspects of being autistic, and make it more likely a reader would see themselves reflected.
What does it mean to be included in this collection of essays?
When I read the collection, I felt so seen, so understood, so held by the words.
- Ange Crawford
Shadia Hancock:
It means a lot to me to be a part of an autistic-led anthology and authentically show the diversity that is our autistic community. I feel it also demonstrates the importance of Autistic pride and identity by showcasing our unique life experiences. I love the fact that each essay has a distinct writing style and that we had very few constraints about what and how we wrote. I think my family and I would have loved to read an anthology like this when I was growing up. Having Autistic role models was an important part of my life as a teenager, and I hope that younger readers may feel the same way reading about our experiences. Or indeed, perhaps older adults who are exploring their Autistic identity.
Ange Crawford:
It is such an honour to be included in Someone Like Me. When I read the collection, I felt so seen, so understood, so held by the words. Whether the writers were describing an experience I could relate to, or one that differs from my own, I felt brought into community each time I read an essay – a community I am very proud to be part of. I hope that my piece might also do this; it’s really meaningful to be one voice among many, as this, in itself, says something important.
Sienna Macalister:
To be included in this collection of essays tells me that my voice matters, and that the voices of higher support needs individuals are being listened to. From the corner of the couch that I am trapped on for most hours of the day, I feel that my community has reached out to embrace me. I’m glad that my story of struggle and marginalisation has been heard.
CB Mako:
cubbie [CB Mako] feels truly validated. To be added as a writer of colour with a late-diagnosis autism means family, relatives, and friends cannot refute cubbie's reality anymore.
cubbie hopes that as a PoC with autism my essay would send a message to the diaspora that it is okay to be autistic.
Fiona Wright:
A researcher I recently spoke to told me that one of the pivotal factors in bringing the medical community to re-think their ideas about autism – the way it presents, and the people (that is, mainly boys) that it affects – was that more and more women and gender-diverse folk were writing about their experiences, many of them after their children were
diagnosed and they recognised themselves across that process. So many of us coming forward, that is, was instrumental in medicine realising that it had gotten something significant wrong – and I’ve held tight to that idea for what it means about what stories like these, and books like this collection, can do.
Alison Sampson:
Autism and faith are often portrayed as incompatible, and people often feel they need to hide these identities. I am delighted this collection made space for both.
What would you like readers to take away from this book and your essay in particular?
There’s information in my essay that would have been incredibly useful to my younger self and saved her a great deal of suffering
- Fiona Wright
Phoebe Lupton:
Aside from the obvious – that it’s a great representation of how autism presents in women and trans people – I hope readers will take away the brilliance of the Australian literary community (much of which is dominated by autistic writers!). More than anything, I think this anthology is an excellent portrait of creative nonfiction and its fluidity. There are many experimental pieces in the book, including my own piece, although I’d particularly like to shout out Caitlin McGregor and their genius use of the graphic narrative form!
Amanda Tink:
My essay, which I think of as a prose poem, has two themes: the joyfully intuitive ways that autistic people connect with each other; and that the autistic ‘spectrum’ is not a scale. I think these themes echo throughout the book.
Jerico Mandybur:
For Autistic readers, I’d like them to come away from this book feeling a sense of permission, wholeness, and true self-acceptance. For neurotypical readers, I hope this book offers them a window into the genuine lived experience of Autistic women and gender diverse people. I believe they have a lot to learn from us in terms of living on one’s own terms and I hope this book brings them a sense of curiosity and a desire to listen to and engage with divergent voices and experiences in their own everyday lives.
Fiona Wright:
There’s information in my essay that would have been incredibly useful to my younger self and saved her a great deal of suffering – and I hope that it might do this, instead, for someone else. The freedom I found in realising that nothing I had thought of as my problem was my fault was life-changing, and I would like that (literally) like-minded readers find ways of understanding and embracing our ways of being in the world, as different but not lesser, and never faulty.
CB Mako:
Non-disabled people only see the colour of our skin first and not acknowledging that POCs / QPOCs can also have autism at the same time. Non-disabled and disabled readers need to be open, accept and give space to Autistic people of colour.
Lauren Metzler:
I hope my comic, Recently I Was Diagnosed as Autistic encourages readers to embrace who they truly are and to celebrate what makes them unique, especially in a world that can feel overwhelming or unwelcoming. I love being Autistic. Even though I sometimes struggle to navigate a world that wasn’t designed with me in mind, I wouldn’t trade the way my brain works for anything. Being different is not just okay – it’s beautiful!
What does Autism Acceptance Month mean to you?
Autism Acceptance Month always reminds me we have so far to go.
- Sienna Macalister
Amanda Tink:
I love ‘autism acceptance month’ because it was created by us for us in response to ‘autism awareness month’.
Ange Crawford:
I love words, and the word ‘acceptance’ is really interesting to me. I looked it up in the Online Etymology Dictionary, and there’s a sense of offering and receiving. But there is also a sense of grasping from the root word kap-. I don’t know if we always have to grasp things in order to accept them. What a strange ghost lingers in this word. Maybe it’s less of a grabby, possessive sort of grasp and more of a (metaphorical, consenting) embrace. But, anyway, I personally think of it as a pride month, and I’m glad we have it.
Lauren Metzler:
To me, Autism Acceptance Month is about more than awareness – it’s about true inclusion, understanding, and celebration. Autism isn’t a disease or something to fear – it’s a different, valid way of experiencing the world. I recently gave a presentation on Autism Acceptance Month and love helping others understand what it actually means to be Autistic, how to support us, and why it’s so important to include Autistic voices in every conversation. As we say; ‘Nothing about us, without us.’ When we create space for Autistic people to unmask and share our lived experiences, we uplift our community and make real change possible!
Phoebe Lupton:
For me, this month brings with it an enormous amount of sadness. Recently, a seventeen-year-old boy by the name of Victor Perez was killed by the police in Idaho. He was Autistic, and it appears that his murder was directly linked to the police’s perception of his autistic behaviours. This incident is an extreme example of the ways in which autistic people, particularly those with high support needs and co-occurring disabilities (Victor also had cerebral palsy) are fatally misunderstood. The unemployment rate for Autistic adults is still incredibly high. The NDIS, as well as disability benefit systems in other countries, is not working. We continue to be bullied, ostracised and abused by people in our communities. It’s because of this that I’m finding it difficult to celebrate this month. Neither acceptance nor awareness are enough anymore. We need inclusion, proper, genuine inclusion. But most of all, we need protection and safety.
Sienna Macalister:
Autism Acceptance Month always reminds me we have so far to go. On 5 April, three days after World Autism Day, Victor Perez, a 17-year-old autistic boy with cerebral palsy, was shot by police in Idaho. Nine times. Behind a fence. Days later, he was removed from life support after being declared brain dead. This reminds me that there is more work to be done to increase public understanding and safety for high support needs individuals in our community. Justice for Victor Perez.
Shadia Hancock:
To be honest, as I am Autistic 100% of the time, every month for me is Autism Acceptance Month. Many Autistic advocates find this month challenging due to the general community tending to focus on surface level ‘awareness’ but not applying deeper reflection beyond a Facebook post. It is great to see more Autistic voices begin to lead this conversation and challenge the common stereotypes and misconceptions about Autism. I encourage organisations and allies to commit to inclusion and appreciation beyond awareness. This may look like reviewing workplace inclusion policies, supporting Autistic-led initiatives, listening to Autistic voices with a range of experiences, and calling out ableist or inaccurate comments directed towards autistic people.
Kay Kerr:
I think it is an important time for everyone to stand with the Autistic community, particularly as I look at the discourse coming out of the US right now. I think this idea that ‘autism destroys families’ might be shocking for some to hear coming from the US Health Secretary, but it isn’t shocking to me as an Autistic parent who has spent a decade navigating parenting spaces. Whether it is in schools, academic research, or our medical system, this kind of thinking and language is prevalent and embedded in these systems. And autistic people are working our butts off trying to dig it out. Autism Acceptance Month is now, and now is the time to change those systems and structures, rather than looking to change our kids.
Clem Bastow:
It's as good a month as any to feel proud of all my Autistic friends and family members, but the honest answer is ‘not a lot’! Like many appointed days, weeks and months, I spend most of Autism Acceptance Month acutely aware of how difficult it is to be an Autistic person in the world because of the relative lack of understanding in the broader community about what Autistic people's needs are and how to support them. Just the other day I had a huge meltdown at work and wanted to die of shame–- not because my colleagues aren't supportive (thank the maker, they are all incredible!) but because it's still really scary to be visibly Autistic in the world. I'm always waiting for the Vaudeville hook to drag me away.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
The diversity of thought, feeling, and experience in our community is its strength. The more we lean on, listen to, and learn from, each other as autistic community, the better.
- Jerico Mandybur
Jo Case:
When I’m looking for autistic company, I like to listen to a couple of podcasts by and about autistic people. One is Differently Brained, an Australian neurodivergent podcast co-hosted by Jacinta Dietrich (autistic and ADHD) and Lachlan Rutherford. Clem and I had the pleasure of chatting to them about the book last month. Another is The Autistic Culture Podcast, co-hosted by autistic writer and researcher Angela Kingdon and autistic psychologist Matt Lowery, who works exclusively with autistic clients. Fun recent episodes include ‘Anne of Green Gables is Autistic’ and ‘Punk is Autistic’.
Jerico Mandybur:
The autistic community is not a monolith, as this collection of essays beautifully shows. The diversity of thought, feeling, and experience in our community is its strength. The more we lean on, listen to, and learn from, each other as autistic community, the better. And the more we’re supported to show up—not as a spoken person for an entire disability, but as one human with one story among many—the more the neurotypical world can include as fully, as we are.
Kay Kerr:
I will always sing the praises of Yellow Ladybugs for the work they do supporting autistic girls, women, and gender diverse people. Their annual conference is coming up and is an event I never miss. It can be accessed virtually. I’m also a big fan of the Differently Brained podcast. For any parents navigating school attendance challenges, or ‘school can’t’ with their autistic children, I would recommend the works of Dr Naomi Fisher and Eliza Fricker in the UK. Kristy Forbes is another autistic educator whose work has helped me beyond measure.
Alison Sampson:
This month, I’ve been captivated by Bon Iver’s ‘Things Behind Things Behind Things’. Once you get past the jaw-aching tone at the start, the song captures the way time, experience and self-awareness fold back in on themselves; everything is complicated; nothing is truly linear. It’s a beautiful example of what a diagnostician might call autistic time distortion, but I call a rich, right, textured and true way to experience and be in the world!
Illustration by Lauren Metzler
