A review by liseyp
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady

emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Thank you to the author and publisher Octopus Books for access to this as an ebook as part of a blog tour with Random Things Tours. I bought the audiobook too as I wanted to keep reading while walking the dog and doing the housework - it’s that good. This is an honest and voluntary review.

 

Scottish stand-up Fern Brady’s raw and compelling autobiography about her experiences as an autistic woman.

 

Autism is severely under diagnosed in women. I’ve heard this said many, many times, but it’s not until reading this book that I really understood what it meant. Under diagnosis means people being misunderstood and blamed for behaviour that they’re given no support to develop coping strategies for. It means individuals feeling isolated and scared about feelings they cannot control or do not understand. Like permanently living in a country where you do not understand the customs and no one explains them to you.

 

I’m a parent to an autistic teenage boy who, thanks to gender in all likelihood, was diagnosed at a relatively young age. But, it came as a shock to us because he makes eye eye contact and is a very good hugger, those assumptions and stereotypes getting in the way again. While our family’s experience isn’t the same as the author’s, the insight into her internal thought processes are really powerful and helpful on understanding how I can better talk to my son about things that as a neurotypical person I might take for granted.

 

The book is a great blend of facts, backed up by reference points, and how these relate to her real life experiences. My only caution is that for people with no existing experience or knowledge of an autistic spectrum diagnosis, they may make just as many incorrect assumptions about a typical autistic person based on this book as they would based on other media depictions. But, for someone just diagnosed or who has self-diagnosed, or for friends and family members who want a greater insight into the perspective of an autistic person, this is a great read.