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“What Did I Do Wrong?” – An Accessible Guide to Preventing Traumatic Misunderstandings Between You and Your Autistic Loved One
“What did I do wrong?”
“What Did I Do Wrong?” helps you decode commonly misunderstood autistic traits at a glance, so you and the autistic person in your life can start communicating more effectively with each other right away!
This book will help open your eyes to the way autistic people see, feel, and experience the world and clear up the confusion you have about your daily interactions with them.
Whether you’re a non-autistic parent, partner, teacher, sibling, friend, etc., or whether you’re an autistic person yourself who needs the allistic people in your life to better understand you, this book is for you.
Early Reviews:
I feel like getting a review copy gave me a ‘cheat sheet’ before anyone else into understanding the world of my students.
Alexis Marta
What Did I Do Wrong is a thought-provoking book that delves into the complex dynamics between neurotypical individuals and their autistic loved ones. The author, who speaks from personal experience as an autistic person, sheds light on the unintentional harm that can occur due to miscommunication and misunderstandings.
I highly recommend this book as a vital resource for anyone seeking to improve their relationships with autistic individuals and create a more inclusive and empathetic world.
Vandita Malviya Wilson
I spent Sunday reading the book, and let me tell you that I found to be super helpful. Not surprisingly, I recognized myself in many situations, like having a monotone voice or a monotone face, and not showing any emotions when speaking.
Perhaps I am on the spectrum (I never was tested), as my son and my nephew both are on the spectrum. I think this book is very good for someone who has no experience with people on the spectrum, as when you have a family member, you would start to google and observe, and most of what I read – I am already familiar with.
However, I now have a clue why my son might not want to have lunch in school, but does well in the small setup at the therapy.
Dmytro Klymnko
This gives me such a world of insight into my conversations with my daughter. Thank you.
Erik Wang
As a late-in-life diagnosed autistic, I have spent several years trying to figure out why I do many of the things I do. I have known that being neurodivergent means that I’m not quite a part of the world I’m forced to live in. I wish this book had come packaged with my diagnosis paperwork.
Even as an “expert” in adult neurodiversity, I learned things about myself on almost every page. If you or someone you know is neurodivergent (particularly on the Autism Spectrum Level 1), this book will be an invaluable resource.
My biggest takeaway is that feeling differently than others often isn’t the issue; it’s the fact that we express that feeling in an unexpected way: sending a meme or buying a gift instead of picking up the phone to say “I love you.”
Written in a straightforward and easily-approachable style, this book provides insight for both neurodivergents and neurotypicals alike. This book should be required reading, on the shelf with Neurotribes and The Divergent Mind.
Jessica Michaels, coachjessicamichaels.com
I have been looking for this book for years! Reading this was a very emotional experience for me. Right off the bat, I’m not sure where I fall on the allistic/autistic binary. I have at least one family member who is autistic and many loved ones who are.
Reading this and other materials I am not sure about myself. Regardless, I think that people who are autistic, allistic, or unsure can all learn from this book. I feel like I have been looking for a book like this for a long time.
I think it is a fantastic resource to start improving communication and help people learn more about their loved ones and themselves. Following resources from the Articulate Autistic blog and Instagram, I have already learned things that have been helping me improve empathy and build understanding for loved ones and myself. I love the formula at the end of the book for how to have an effective conversation.
I had expected the book to expand on what has already been published online, but it seems to be more of a compilation of blog and Instagram posts than much of an expansion. Additionally, I would have appreciated more depth discussing communication breakdowns including the fact that sometimes autistic people do things with malicious intent. It happens.
However, since the book is directly written for non-autistic people and given the hugely ableist systemic oppression that autistic people face I understand why this wasn’t considered relevant or included. For me, it was a fast and helpful read from an “own voices” perspective and one I plan to go back to, re-read and share with loved ones. I already have three people I plan on sending it to on speed dial when it comes out.
Anonymous
