Looking for Normal – An Autistic Boy Who Beat The Odds.

looking for normal

Looking For Normal is the memoir of author,
musician and filmmaker, Steve Slavin.

His obsession with music, as a child, led to a long career in the creative arts; albeit one plagued by clinical depression and the symptoms of a condition he was unaware of until 2008.

In recounting the 48 years that led to his autism diagnosis, this darkly humorous memoir will inform and inspire anyone with an interest in mental health and autism. But more than this, it is the story of an “emotionally disturbed child, without a future” who, against the backdrop of low expectation, became an ambitious, independent adult, with a wife, daughters, and a career stifled by the long shadow of his childhood dysfunction. Read More

Odd Girl Out-A Woman On The Autistic Spectrum

AN AUTISTIC WOMAN IN A NEUROTYPICAL WORLD

Odd Girl Out-A Woman On The Autistic Spectrum A memoir by autistic journalist, Laura James. Watch my interview with Laura here… “What do you do when you wake up in your mid-forties and realize you’ve been living a lie your whole life? Do you tell? Or do you keep it to yourself?” Laura James, Odd Girl Out. I was recently invited along to the offices of Bluebird Books (Macmillan), for Read More

Diagnosed with high functioning autism

In 2008, I was diagnosed with high functioning autism. I’d had very little knowledge of autism before this diagnosis. I was being assessed by a clinical psychologist to see if I was suitable for cognitive behavioural therapy for my problems with anxiety. During the session she told me that she thought I was probably on the autistic spectrum and asked me if I would like to have a diagnosis. This came Read More

40 years to get an autism diagnosis

autism diagnosis, aspergers diagnosis

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of older adults being diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. If, like me you were diagnosed with autism in your late 4o’s, we may share a similar story. It goes something like this: As a child in the 1960’s, or 1970’s, you suffered from anxiety and depression. You may have “stuck out” because you appeared different to the other children. You found Read More