Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum by Michael McCreary

Rating:

3 Stars

Themes:

Memoir, Nonfiction, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Own Voices

Thoughts:

This memoir is a bit of everything. As McCreary says you wouldn’t expect a memoir from a twenty something year old but I think it’s important for young people with ASD going through school to be able to find voices who can relate which with the developing nature of technology many older people who didn’t grow up with phones and social media can’t (McCreary himself admits they were only just getting internet and Facebook was new when he was at camp and now most young people have easy daily access to the internet and multiple social media sites). There are funny elements but since it is a memoir in a serious element of his life the balance between realism and comedic undertones is struck well in my opinion.

Favourite Quote:

"Having autism is like having too many tabs open on a computer. Or more accurately, it’s like trying to surf the web without an ad blocker. Every time you click on something, another window pops up."

Comments

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Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, LGBTQ+ Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is definitely a difficult read and it took me quite a while to get through it for that very reason. It is split up into 17 different peoples experiences with a foreword and afterword. It’s definitely an important read for many as these practices are still legal in many countries, including my own, and without knowledge of the damage of the practices many may not join in the protests or sign the petitions to try to get laws in place. As a member of the community myself I found some of these stories such as the ‘Sniffing the Gay Away’ and ‘Convert’ especially difficult to read and reminded me just how lucky I was to have such a supportive and loving community around me. I appreciated that the afterword highlighted the limitations of the collection such as having little to no religious, geographical or racial diversity but that they did try to ga...

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