Want to share your story?

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The Important Bit:

My question to you is: do you have a story from your own personal experience with autism, whether you or a loved on is on the spectrum, that you would like to see illustrated? In particular, a story you feel that explains any aspect of autism quite well? Your stories will be used to inform the research, used in part to illustrate aspects of life in the spectrum or in full. By participating you agree for your stories to be used in the above manner. In order to protect anonymity, all names and locations will be changed.

I aim to create 10 – 12 short comic books based on true stories I have been given from friends, family and the lovely people of the Internet. These stories will help educate members of the general public on what life on the spectrum is like, and can maybe provide some insight for those recently diagnosed. The stories will be collected into a full graphic novel, and will be displayed in my final year degree show. To clarify: this is a completely self-printed book for my course. There’s no plan as of yet to publish it but you never know what the future holds!

I can't post a link, but if you'd like to keep up to date with the project once it gets off the ground, the link to my blog is in my profile.


The Project:

My aim is to create a graphic novel that educates the general public on what life on the spectrum is really like. I have often found that when I try to explain to someone who doesn’t know what autism is, I end up telling them a true story about my brother that shows how his mind works.

For example: When he was younger, he heard my mum shouting at my sister for misbehaving. Mum repeatedly told my sister to “pull her socks up”, meaning for her to stop misbehaving. My brother, however, thought that my mum was literally angry at my sister for not pulling her socks up. To make my mum stop being angry, her ran over to my sister and started pulling at her socks, hoping that would make everyone happy again.

This is a good, simple way to explain to someone the difficulties my brother had in differentiating metaphors and figures of speech from their literal meaning. This is how I plan to use my graphic novel to teach people. I want to collect and illustrate a number of short stories based on real life situations that people on the spectrum and their families actually face. While we all know there are many challenges and struggles, I also know that autism and Asperger’s can have a positive impact, and would like to show that in the book too. I know I wouldn’t change my brother for the world, and his autism is part of what makes him so great!


About Me:

My name is Louise and I’m currently in my final year of art school. My brother was diagnosed with autism as a toddler and since then, myself; my mother, my sister and many of our extended family have worked with a charity called Strathclyde Autistic Society. My brother is now 18 and also works at a scheme run by the charity, so it’s pretty much been our whole lives! I wanted to base my project around people on the spectrum and their families, as it is a subject I am very close to and I feel I have enough background knowledge to pursuit it.

Thanks for your time!

(Edited for clarity)

Last edited by louised on 15 Nov 2013, 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

no. i have no story. i tried once to write a book that explains in a detailed way why i never have anything to say, and after 300 pages, i found that i could not stop typing so i just went cold turkey and never finished the book.

Completely understandable, thanks for reading the post. It can be pretty difficult (and daunting) to make your point understandable to others. 300 pages is really impressive though!

I don't have too many stories that illustrate autistic behaviors in kids-- at least, not ones that other people won't have, as they're common.

I do have one that illustrates, painfully, the dangers of misinformation and stigma for adults. If you're interested.

I would absolutely interested! I hope to be able to tell stories from all different age gaps, all across the spectrum. From behaviours, sensory issues, etc to social issues such as, as you said, misinformation and stigma as well!

Also, if you would rather not answer public, you are more than welcome to send me a private message .

At about 7 years old the school class was formed in typical arrangement for the yearly photo. The photographer said “Heads up, shoulders back and chests out.” So I tilted my head toward the sky, pushed my shoulders back until my scapulars met and projected my chest as far as I physically could. I remember thinking at the time “Why is he telling us to do this?” Then he took the photo.


This bit's rhetorical, drawn from experience:

You're told “Now go and get something to eat, and no pushing.” You look around waiting for an orderly queue to form. The horde descends upon the food in a seething mass. Rubbing their sweat and their snot and their stink all over each other. Then grimy hands push forth to snatch at the food, shoving it straight in their mouths. And a hand doesn't stop snatching even when another snatches the food from it. Then a hand smacks you across the back of the head for doing exactly what it told you to do. You move up closer to the horde to avoid another belt. Moving as close as you can while trying to avoid the assault of being touched, and frequently failing. You then make your one person demonstration of an orderly queue in the hope it will have some influence. All of a sudden the horde disperses, and all the food is gone. Except for the third that has been dropped on the floor and trampled. Then a hand smacks you across the back of the head again. As you look around, these things that appear to be some form of deformed chimpanzees start to become animated. All wide eyed and red faced they squawk something about that now you have nothing to eat, the Earth is going to crack open and Hell is going to spew forth across the surface. And all you can think is “I could have been somewhere else and not eaten? How did I end up here? I never agreed to this.”

AND THE CHILDREN ARE EVEN WORSE!

When you told me I shook the soda and I responded, “No, I dropped it,” you beat me.






It is what it is..............thank gawd it is over now.

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