‘Strong Female Character’, by Fern Brady.
What’s it about:
A memoir from the late-diagnosed autistic comedian. A highly insightful read with lessons in the negative impacts of going without diagnosis.
What Lynn learned:
If you don’t like hugs, people will be offended and you should probably hug them anyway so as not to appear rude.
Autistic women can have boyfriends/lovers, especially because they are blunt/do not obey social hierarchies/ seem like ‘manic pixie dream girls’ (p. 18), although medical professionals may take this as a sign that they are not autistic.
The qualities of autistic women can make them seem counter to the stereotypical role of women – the way they speak the truth and excitedly explore interests.
That being a stripper as a vocation can actually be a very accessible job for autistic women – lack of small talk, structure, clear contracts of service. Which is very sad that this is such a struggle in other vocations.
Fave quotes:
‘Gradually I came to understand that I was supposed to engage in a social game of pretending I wanted to meet the person not for work purposes, but for a coffee…Sometimes you had to keep these games up for years at a time to get to work with them’ (p. 23).
‘Autistic women are chameleons and can become brilliant at masking, but doing so is like having a computer that should only be running one or two programmes at once and forcing it to run up to ten. The computer will do it but eventually it’ll overheat and shut down’ (p. 32)
Why relevant right now:
I’ve heard people questioning the amount of people sharing their late-diagnosis (‘Are we all a bit autistic now?’ No.) and wondering if diagnosis is really needed. This book shows the power of diagnosis and how it can help frame, and reframe, a person’s life.
Interest factor: 5/5
Coffee table cred: 4/5
Ignorance of external world while reading: 5/5
Book cover design: 3/5
Help the existential crisis: 5/5
