Today I have gathered together a small pile of #ActuallyAutistics to lend me their perspectives for a collab post!
April is Autism Acceptance Month — as we all know! — and this year I wanted to actually do things for it. One thing that happens every year is: we autistics curate lists of book recommendations…and then feel very sour about the limited amount we can even talk about.
Our sparse collection of recs are proffered (because despite 1 in 70 people being autistic, we don’t show up in literature very much) and we try to raise our voices above the clamour to confirm that — “UH, NO, that book is NOT good rep!! Would the neurotypicals please stop…stop recommending it every April!!!”
Mostly we’re left wanting. Aching to see things in books that we don’t get to see.
So today I’m asking four autistic bookworms and authors to tell me what they wish they saw in books with autism representation.
It’s easy to say “we need more books with autistic characters” but hey let’s get specific about it.
Some Terminology If You’re Not Familiar With It!
Neurodiverse = someone with atypical thinking (could be autistic, adhd, Tourette’s, anxiety disorder, etc.)
Neurotypical = the opposite of neurodiverse and not autistic (the bulk of the population)
Stim = self-soothing repetitive movement (autistics are well known for rocking/flapping, etc. but stimming goes well beyond those stereoteypes)
ASD = autism spectrum disorder
ND = neurodivergence / neurodiverse
More Autism Posts
💛 How To Tell If A Book Has Good Autism Rep
💛 What It’s Like To Write an #Ownvoices Autism Novel
💛 my review of Kids Like Us by Hilary Reyl (a great autism story!)
*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧ Daley Downing *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
(Please check out Daley’s Blog | Twitter | and her novels Masters & Beginners, Rulers & Mages, Healers & Warriors — supporting autistic authors is honestly an amazing thing to do this month!…and every month! I also have read M&B and adored it!)
Here’s what we need more of in books featuring neurodivergence (I like to cut to the chase) – One, more books featuring ND to begin with, and two, more books promoting ND as simply a way of being, not something requiring pity or a medical cure.
Here’s what we need less of: The second part of what I just said. To go along with this, I’d really like to see more characters who are autistic or have a learning disorder or a developmental disability and don’t feel the need to hide that or be ashamed of themselves. And we can get more of that by supporting authors and publishers who write/publish the positive stuff.
*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧ Becca from @ Becca’s Book Realm *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
(Please check out Becca’s Blog | Twitter | and she’s hosting an autistic readathon right now! So if you can support this and read some books this month yessss, please do!!)
I’d love to see less autistic characters who are mathematical geniuses, or geniuses in general. Less autistic characters who are able to spout endless facts off the top of their head. I’d love to see more autistic characters being casually included in SFF and non contemporary books that don’t center around them being autistic. More autistic romances where the autistic person isn’t a cishet white boy. Autistics who LIKE being touched and cuddled and hugged, who seek out sensory stuff instead of just avoiding it. Because we’re all different and not all of us experience the world in the same way.
*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧ Jessica Grimsley *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
(Go check out her Twitter | Facebook Page | and her novel The Unwonted Heroes!)
I would like to see less of just the savant rep and portraying Autistic characters as people who need fixing. I think what people often talk about with Autistic people is how they need improve “this” and work on “that” but never how wonderful they can be – not just on a savant level.
I’d love to see more of how, like neurotypicals, we are individuals. We can be anything. Maybe that would help so that when people meet us in real life, they don’t expect either a genius or a helpless “thing”. Instead, they can expect kind and caring people who are their own person. Of course the struggles can be extremely challenging and exhausting, but I love it when people understand that Autistic people are so much more than the struggles. And the world needs to know this.
*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧ C.R.R. Hillin *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
(Definitely go follow her Instagram | Twitter | and check out her high fantasy novel The Orphan’s Code! I’ve had the pleasure of reading it and it is FAB.)
The short answer: I want more Ty Blackthorn. What I want in fiction is to see people like ME in the mainstream. Which seems like not a lot to ask for, but here we are ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If I know anything about autism is that it’s often completely invisible to the average crowd because they have no idea what they’re looking for and their expectations are colored by…wherever the heck people learn this stuff. Social osmosis? I am not the person to ask about this.
I’m an Aspie (a term which is now outdated, but I am sick and tired of explaining that to people I swear to God) and 80% of my wedding party (all the men, plus me) were Aspies too. And I didn’t know, because the neurodiverse don’t discriminate–if someone is a little dorky and antisocial, we just assume that’s how they are and cherish the heck out of them anyway. So what I would really like to see is a character low on the spectrum, one that is autistic but acts like the average person. I love Ty Blackthorn so so much, but he was still very obviously autistic – I want something more subtle still. I want the average reader to fall in love with them, relate to their adorkable struggles and their anxiety and hatred of crowds and their naive assumptions that everyone means exactly what they say, and THEN find out they’re autistic. I want the reader’s understanding of what autism is shaken to the core. And most importantly, I want it to have nothing to do with the story, except as characterization.
Aspies aren’t mentally ill, they aren’t scary, they aren’t robots, and they don’t need pity. They need people to see the world the way they do: the same way as everyone else, but with less concern over pointless social rules and quirks and nuances and more concern with what actually matters: honesty, emotion, and intellect. They need to be seen as normal, healthy, and happy. We need more books by Aspies and for Aspies that help all readers understand that there are so many of us, and that we don’t struggle with who we are–we struggle with a world that was just not designed for us. I wrote an autistic character into The Orphan’s Code (you’ll never guess who), and I have a book with a modern-day Aspie in the works, but I can’t single-handedly change the opinions of a vast majority of the population – though I sure as hell am gonna try.
*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧ hey it’s Me! your favourite Fury!*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
(Also don’t forget my #ownvoices autistic book came out last week — The Boy Who Steals Houses!)
I absolutely LOVE what everyone’s been saying here and there’s barely any more that I want to add!
I think the underlying statement that we’re all asking for is: less stereotypes, more autistics who are just out in the world living their best life. When I pick up a book with an autistic character, honestly my stomach just clenches. I’ve read so many horrible ones that want cures, want to fix the autistic character, praise them for hiding their traits, and use their autism as the comic relief. (Reason #29893 why that Netflix show Atypical is disgusting. The autism in there is a joke.) Reading books where the author thinks it’s better if the autistic isn’t, well, autistic — it’s a slap in the face. It has to stop.
I want autistics who stim more (this is seemingly rare in books?! despite us doing it SO MUCH) and I definitely want autistics in more fantasy settings. More stories where they have an adventure — instead of autism being their only plot. I want queer autistics and POC autistics. I want less plots centring around “help the socially deficient autistic fall in love! lol! that will be hard!”🙄because actually romance isn’t the pinnacle of life for all of us?! I do want to read about autistics with higher-needs…they are stigmatised as “burdens” on their families and that also needs to stop. Every part of the autism spectrum deserves love. And sure, life isn’t easy with severe autism?? But that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy, loved, and fulfilled.
What I most want is autistics in books who are loved and cherished and never asked to change. It shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask that. It shouldn’t.
if you’re autistic, i’d love to hear what *YOU* want to see more of in books with autistic characters too! and if you’re not autistic — please still chime in! how often do you read autistic characters in books?
All of this would be wonderful to see in more books! I’m not autistic myself, but I love hearing from people about different topics – whether it’s autism representation done RIGHT, to Pakistan being included in dystopian setting – because it’s all so true! I love that people like YOU Cait have books out there to set the scene right, it’s really refreshing.
Question for you, have you seen the TV show The Good Doctor? The MC in that is an autistic surgeon and it’s about the difficulties of him fitting in the workplace when people give him shit for his social skills even though he’s an absolute genius when it comes to diagnosing problems. I’d be curious to hear what you think of that representation?
As an autistic person I can’t help but second that need for more autistic characters in non-contemporary novels. I’ve been working on a fantasy with an autistic lead and it was so helpful to read what other autistic people want/don’t want to see from future autistic characters too! Thank you so much for this post!
i definitely don’t read enough books with autistic characters in them! and with positive autism rep in them as well I’ve probably read like 5 books with autism rep in them which is SO bad and I really need to change that!! I’m so glad that posts like this exist – thank you so much for putting so much effort in for autism acceptance month!!
I only have read a book with an autistic character, I have no idea if it was a good portrait or not, but, he wasn’t the main character. He was the child of the MC. It was a MM romance, so, the focus was on the main couple, but it showed how cherished the kid was. It was a long time, so I don’t remember all the details.
On another more recent events. I realized I haven’t read your books yet. I remember pre-ordering A Thousand Perfect Notes, and downloading it to my kindle, but then life hit and reading just vanished.
To redeem myself, I just went to bookdepository and ordered physical copies for both. You already had a special place on my heart, time to get you a special place on my bookshelf.
I don’t think I’ve read any books with autistic characters in it yet, but I did just find out last week that one of my friends from co-op is autistic. She’s weird, quiet, and has a morbid sense of humor and is a Queen at sarcasm- but apparently she has trouble telling when OTHER people are using sarcasm. It was like OK. Interesting fact. Now I’m just trying to watch my mouth when we’re around her to make sure that I’m making sense. (I never make sense fyi haaaalp what is this ‘sense’ thing)
Most crazily, ~Olive
This was a great post. It’s always great to find books that my students can find representation in, but I struggle with books with ASD characters because they tend to show a stereotype and and that frustrates my ASD readers or students with ASD friends or family members.
I once overheard a student talking about his autism with classmates: “You just aren’t on my wavelength.” I loved that he didn’t see it as a “me” problem, but that the rest of the world just hadn’t caught up to him yet.
I want to see more autistic characters with friends, especially if they have a shared special interst (or just a hobby if the friends are neurotypical) I want them to watch dr who together or go to the theatre together or photograph trains together (because even though this is a steriotypical special interest, presenting it as a way to make friends would make it intersting)
These Autism Awareness post are golden and have inspired me a lot. I’d like to write autistic characters but I still have a bit research to do because I want to get the rep right so these really help. Personally I’d like to see a) more autism rep that is just a part of the character and isn’t meant to be “cured” or looked down on and b) stories with more than one autistic character because just like you said 1 out of 70 people.
I am not autistic myself but I did have the pleasure to meet a wonderful dude who happenes to have autism a couple of months back and he is now one of my closest friends. The thing is, I never would have known he had autism if he did not tell me himself. That just goes to show just how bad representation of autism is in media and books, the stereotypes just creep their way into our minds. I should mention that I’m a pretty open person who tends to not judge people if I can avoid it, which is why I was especially shocked about my own prejudice (if that’s the correct word in this context lol) against autism. This is exactly why we need more representation of autism in books, movies, shows etc which actually show autistic people realistically, as normal people with normal lives and problems because that’s just what they are.
Yes I agree 100% 👏👏 Autism + disability rep in general is sooo important. I also love it when books show characters who treat the disabled character with respect and like they’re an actual person which EVERYONE should do. As of right now, I don’t personally feel experienced enough to write an autistic character, due to lack of research, me not having autism, and wanting to support #ownvoices authors. But I am currently working on a character who has MS and is in a wheelchair for my next sci-fi book! 🙂
Question… when writing an autistic character in a fantasy setting (for example), would you outright say that that character is autistic? Like since it’s a fantasy setting, our current words/terms would be different. But like you want to be clear about the rep and promote that character?! I want to write more disabled characters in fantasy settings but I’ve always wondered about that.
It’s been really great to learn more about autism because most of the rep that is in books/movies is usually extreme or inaccurate or only one part of the spectrum. The first time that I was told that there was a spectrum was through an autistic Youtuber that I watched when I was 15. FIFTEEN!!!! This stuff should be taught in schools.
You have really broadened my understanding and knowledge of neurodiversity. Thank you!!!
I love, love, love that you guys did this. We need to see so much more in terms of representation and I’m so happy that you each spoke up about what you hope to see in the future. We’ve got a long way to go, but I’m proud of you guys for doing a post like this and hope you are heard! Here’s to hoping for much, much, much more in the future. I’m so ready for autistic rep to be on high and explore all ends of the spectrum–and to stop treating these voices, or characters, as ones that need to be fixed.
Cheers, legends!
Great post!
Regarding change/being asked to change: I think the most important thing is to pursue your dreams, and do what it takes to get there. So maybe your dream is to become a badass defense lawyer helping the underprivileged. Along the way, you might find you have to adjust to annoyingly loud/crowded lecture halls and courtrooms (just as an example). But in that case, you’re changing yourself because YOU want to, and you’re out there living your best life. It’s not something done to accommodate others or conform to their expectations.
Wonderful article 😊 It’s so heartening to see Aspies and autistic characters finally being represented in literature, and represented broadly too – not just the savants/Sherlock Holmes-rip-offs that you see in films and on TV all the time! I’m an Aspie too, and maybe this is just wish-fulfillment, but I love to read books where the autistic character is loved for who they are, and their family and/or other half doesn’t try to change them to suit society. Which, from reading the reviews and comments on this blog, I think your latest book will excel at!
I’d just like to see more books with autistic characters from all parts of the spectrum. I feel like most of the books or media that I’ve seen with autism rep focuses mainly on characters that also have savants syndrome. And while it’s great that there’s autism rep out there, having only one type of rep can form a stereotype, just as much as having no rep can. Representing * everyone * is key.
My younger brother has ASD, and we never really get to see anyone like him in books and media. I want more autistic rep, of characters who are on all parts of the spectrum, so that it’ll be easier to overcome stereotypes about people with autism, and also help people realize that autistic people are people too!
Cait, thanks SO much for sharing this post! I love seeing how people who identify a specific way, or have lived experience in a specific topic, react and talk about a “trend” in publishing. I really appreciate you, and all the other bloggers, for being so honest and open about everything. <3
This is SUCH an amazing post ahh, thank you for this! I don’t read enough books featuring autistic characters, which is horrible and something I am definitely working on changing. I’m not autistic, but it breaks my heart to know that so many books out there treat autistic characters so horribly (and even in real life), when you deserve all of the respect and love. I really hope we see more of the representation everyone talked about in this post in more books in the future. 💕 Lovely post!
Thank you for sharing. I think these kind of posts are so important for those of us non-autistic to see what could be good rep and what not. I am reading The Outside by Ada Hoffmann at the moment and this has a queer autistic mc. It was the reason I requested it at Netgalley because I need to read more books with autistic mc’s. I hadn’t heard anyone talk about it. 🙁
I’d like to see more books featuring multiple characters with autism. It’s such a diverse spectrum, and a lot of that gets missed when autism is tokenised. There are many ways in which autistic characters can have a large circle of friends with similar traits. It can run in families, gravitating to people with similar interests, SENCO support in schools, or through finding others in message boards. I would love to see more of this in books.
(So people know where I’m coming from – not autistic personally, but neurodiverse with ADHD)
this was such a lovely post to read <3 <3 <3 thank you so much for taking your time to organize these (and thank you to all of the contributors!!) because I know that this must have taken time and effort from everyone! <3 <3 <3 I seriously need to read more books w/ autistic main characters & autistic authors! also, question: if you've read The Gilded Wolves, do you think that Zofia's character arc centered around finding love?
Loved this post. Don’t have much to say because I would be out of my depth here, but I really did love reading this post. Just wanted to say 🙂
Hi Cat! Great post, I’m wondering which books you think do have good representation?
I have to admit that my main experience with autistic characters in books is Ty Blackthorn, and Avery Lou (I finished TBWSH today !!!), so I’m really quite uneducated on this but I’m really loving these posts! All of your points seem very valid, and what really got me in TBWSH is how people refuse to see that Avery is different, and it’s not just acting out or whatever? C.R.R. Hillin said: “I want something more subtle still. I want the average reader to fall in love with them, relate to their adorkable struggles and their anxiety and hatred of crowds and their naive assumptions that everyone means exactly what they say, and THEN find out they’re autistic.”. Books are definitely missing this, if sexuality, gender, mental illness, etc can be subtle autism can be too. One of my friends has an autistic brother and they’re not the type to talk about it, I’ve known them for three years and only found out he was autistic this year. It just seems really important that the rep is not all the same and based on stereotypes etc especially since it’s a spectrum.
Aspies aren’t mentally ill, they aren’t scary, they aren’t robots, and they don’t need pity.
this post is everything! thank you so, so much for taking your time doing this, cait 💛✨
it’s so infuriating that so much of the autistic rep out there is either cishet white savant males mcs or problematic/inaccurate. the amount of times i’ve read ‘recommendations’ lists for autism rep that are little more than the curious incident of the dog in the night time and big bang theory is disheartening. and don’t even get me started on books that try to ‘cure’ with romance. *shudders*
i really relate to your stomach clenching nervousness of picking up books with rep, knowing how often it can be Not Good. i definitely do the same thing! and then end up avoiding said books which does not help. and i should definitely make it a goal to read more #ov books.
I’m not autistic but this post is so so important and was just generally super interesting. 🙂