The Late Diagnosis Club Podcast and Companion Book Launch 31 October. You Comin'?

The Late Diagnosis Club podcast and Am I Actually Autistic? book launch is almost here. This Friday we will gather on Zoom for a Halloween launch party. It will be a celebration of the podcast, the book, and the strange and very autistic journey behind both. Everyone who comes gets a free copy of the book.

If you have not registered yet, you can do that here:
Register for the launch.

At the launch I will tell the inside story of how this book led to a contract with Bloomsbury, and why that matters for anyone who has dreamed of publishing. But more than that, I want to share with you the deeper truth of what this book is about. Here is a longer passage so you can see the heart of it for yourself.

Here’s an excerpt from the book which shares a little of my late diagnosis:

“Being told I was Autistic – even with a medical diagnosis – was not what changed things for me. Getting the gold standard care for Autistic people was not what changed things either. Seeing autism as a superpower or thinking of myself as gifted or highly sensitive instead – was not what changed things.

What changed things was coming to accept autism as a culture with its own values, norms, traditions, passions, and proclivities. That changed things because finally I felt like I was part of a community that made sense and fit with who I was. I no longer felt like I was on the wrong planet. I felt whole and hopeful for the first time.

And that is how I hope this book will make you feel too.

I was diagnosed in 2012 at the age of 39. There was some relief that came with finally knowing what had been wrong with me my whole life, but it was not enough. I tried everything I could to fix myself. I went to therapy, I practiced mindfulness, I paid thousands of dollars for miracle cures and pseudoscience treatments, I even allowed a Mexican medicine woman to dance around me with scissors making vomiting noises to try to cut the autism out of me.

None of it worked.

What finally helped me was not a cure, it was acceptance. Acceptance that being Autistic is not a disease, it is not something to be ashamed of, it is not something that can be erased. It is an identity and a culture. Like being left handed. Like being Italian American. It is a way of being that carries both strengths and struggles, and the only way forward is to live it as truth.

When I stopped seeing myself as broken, I began to heal. When I stopped hiding my autistic traits, I began to connect with people who understood me. When I stopped chasing the false promise of therapy that only taught me to mask, I began to create a life where I could be myself without apology.

That is what this book is about. It is not about fixing you. It is about finding a way to stop hating yourself for being who you are, and beginning to live unmasked in a culture that finally feels like home.”

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Join us on Friday to celebrate the release of the book, podcast, and to hear the behind the scenes story of how it all came to be. You will leave with the book in your hands, but more importantly, with a sense of belonging to a community that has always been yours.