To quote Kieran Rose, “There are a million books in the world written about Autistic people and most of them are absolutely awful, pathologising promoters of streotypes and tick box strategies that neither encapsulate what it is to be Autistic or provide anything but unimaginative, useless guff.”
For those who wish to avoid the unimaginative, useless guff, here’s some neurodiversity-affirmative book and resource suggestions from Autistic people and Autistic-led organisations.
The Autism Books by Autistic Authors Project – follow on Bluesky for updates on new books
Aucademy Glossary and resource list (books, articles, blogs and videos)
Neuro Pride Ireland’s Recommended Book List
More lists:
Books by Actually Autistic Authors on Goodreads
Not an Autism Mom 100ish Books on Autism and Neurodiversity
Jade Farrington’s Substack provides a wealth of neurodiversity-affirmative resources on a monthly basis including upcoming events
Book Groups
That Au-Some Book Club – learn about autism by discussing books, Autistic voices are prioritised. Run by Not an Autism Mom.
Book Shops
Makes Sense to Me – the world’s first bookshop specialising in neurodiversity that exclusively stocks books by neurodivergent and disabled authors as well as fidget toys
World of Books – a useful international stockist of second-hand books which purchases excess stock from charity shops and supports causes that boost literacy and protect the planet