Looking for books and media with positive neurodivergent representation!

January 2, 2023 11:10 AM

I'm looking for any books or media with positive neurodivergent representation, just as the question title says. It's probably important to mention that this is for an employee resource group/DEI initiative, specifically a list of media that we can put on an internal website as a way for people to understand the neurodivergent experience, so while I know that there's representation in media aimed at kids and teens we'll probably want something a bit more adult-focused in audience.

I'd also accept positive, non-ableist podcasts, etc. as well, but the representation is primarily what I'm looking for at this time. And don't let me scare you off entirely from talking about shows like She-Ra; Entrapta was rad! I just don't think a list composed ENTIRELY of media aimed at a younger audience is going to give the right message.

Thanks in advance!

posted by daikaisho to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

I absolutely loved this book from an autistic young adult chronicling a year in his life as seen through his special interest in nature and conservation. His way with words is remarkable, like a young Aldo Leopold. One of the most wonderful things about it is that most of his family is also autistic, which creates a feeling much more like a cultural exchange and less like a Very Special Episode of a show for a neurotypical audience.
posted by eirias at 11:17 AM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, a near future science fiction story from the point of view of a young autistic man.
posted by Zumbador at 11:23 AM on January 2, 2023

Rivers Solomon's An Unkindness of Ghosts is about so much more (slavery, race, gender, intersection of all three with a generational ship and various sci-fi tropes), but it also has an absolutely unapologetically autistic narrator and main character, in a way that feels so very natural. I think it helps that Rivers is autistic themself. It's a heavy-hitting book, definitely adult, and extremely good. (Deep is more of the monster/alien kind of take on neurodiversity and I haven't read Sorrowland yet.)

From a completely different angle, The Apothecary Diaries by Natsu Hyuuga is a light novel set in not!imperial China, a series of detective stories with a romance undertone set first in the imperial harem and then in wider society. It features both a 100% autistic and authentic protagonist as well as her wider family who are so many diverse flavours of neurodivergent, it's absolutely delightful. It's also a lovely portrayal of an autistic girl/woman (as she ages through the story) as desirable in a romantic context, as well as eventual negotiations of various relationships between characters who have various degrees of aromanticism. Plus sensitive treatment of various kinds of trauma.

And honestly for ADHD you could do much worse than Sherlock Holmes, the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:59 AM on January 2, 2023

Extraordinary Attorney Woo "...is a 2022 South Korean television series.... It follows Woo Young-woo, a female rookie attorney with autism spectrum disorder, who is hired by a major law firm in Seoul. Being different from her neurotypical peers, her manner of communication is seen by them as odd, awkward, and blunt. With each legal case and through her intelligence and photographic memory, she becomes an increasingly competent attorney." (There's also a romance with one of her neurotypical coworkers, where they work through a number of issues.) It's streaming on Netflix.
posted by belladonna at 12:35 PM on January 2, 2023

Seconding Greta Thunberg's ecowarrior pal Dara McAnulty's Diary of a Young Naturalist cited by eirias above. Although that could be a bit young adulty for your audience?
Temple Grandin was born 50 years earlier but was similarly bullied and othered as a child. Her penchant for "thinking like a cow" got her a PhD and faculty position in Animal Science . . . and a lucrative side-line in developing [cw: !] more humane / more efficient abattoirs across North America.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:37 PM on January 2, 2023

I'm reading "The Man Who Knew Infinity" right now. Based on a true story, he was probably autistic.
posted by aniola at 2:44 PM on January 2, 2023

Loud Hands

everything by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarashima
posted by spiderbeforesunset at 2:57 PM on January 2, 2023

Recent autobiographies by autistic women:

I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder: A Memoir [GoodReads link] by Sarah Kurchak (or any of the many essays she has written)

Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby [she is also ADHD]

(There are a lot more but I prefer to recommend only the ones that I've read.)

Also, The Square Peg podcast hosted by Amy Richards (interviews with autistic women and non-binary people)
posted by heatherlogan at 7:21 PM on January 2, 2023

I've also heard very good things about the autistic representation in the TV series Heartbreak High, though I haven't seen it myself. The best autistic representation happens when the autistic character is played by an autistic actor -- true in this case, but not true in Extraordinary Attorney Woo (which I also haven't seen).
posted by heatherlogan at 7:25 PM on January 2, 2023

Katherine Mays books
posted by mani at 11:42 PM on January 2, 2023

The Center Cannot Hold
posted by aniola at 10:39 AM on January 3, 2023

Rom from Star Trek: Deep Space 9 might be autistic.
posted by aniola at 10:57 AM on January 3, 2023

Just came across this: Lady Sybil Ramkin from the Discworld is a vivid picture of a certain kind of autistic middle aged woman, for the record.
posted by aniola at 11:33 AM on January 3, 2023

Unmasking Autism is a recent non-fiction book describing what it is like to be an undiagnosed autistic person. It is primarily about autism but there is substantial general knowledge about neurodiversity as well.

Neurotribes by Steve Silberman is showing its age (it's 2015 so not ancient, just getting stale) but it is a really good overview of the history of the neurodiversity movement.
posted by cCranium at 1:00 PM on January 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've also heard very good things about the autistic representation in the TV series Heartbreak High, though I haven't seen it myself.

I have seen it and the characterization of the autistic character (Quinni) is great. She is even played by an autistic actor (who also has ADHD), Chloé Hayden, who also wrote a book and has a bunch of content on autism on her TikTok.

Heartbreak High is a thoroughly enjoyable show - it's all on Netflix. Episode 6 (Angeline) focuses on Quinni and starts out with her morning routine, which was pretty eye-opening to me as someone without autism, but the whole series has lots of little bits about how Quinni experiences the world as someone who (explicitly, not implicitly) has autism.

TikTok in general is probably a good place to look for content from adults who have autism who are sharing their experiences - it's really quite unparalleled in terms of representation, with content by autistic creators in their own words talking about autism from their own perspectives. There is a list here of Autistic TikTokers. I'm not familiar with all of them, but Nicole of soundoftheforest is a young adult with primarily autism-related content. Chloé Hayden is also mentioned on that list.
posted by urbanlenny at 1:15 PM on January 3, 2023