My Prison Without Walls: Growing Up Autistic in a World Nothing of It

By Rev. John Orkin Smith

Imagine growing up with a mind wired differently than almost everyone around you. Then imagine everyone expecting you to be what they are, and you cannot be. Imagine them constantly expecting you to be different and chastising you when you fail. Add to that ridicule and ostracizing from peers, and the adults in your life were blaming you for it. Then imagine it paralleling a time when neurodiversity was first being seriously studied; each discovery brought a rush to treat whatever "disorder" they discovered without fully knowing what they had, subjecting you to every treatment and then wondering why it didn't work. That was my life for many years. As an adult, and only in my middle age, I discovered what was happening. I found I am autistic. My story is of struggle, discovery, overcoming obstacles, and hope. It is also a story where I hope to change your mind on the approach toward neurodiversity and educate the world about neurodiversity and look at it differently. Finally, I hope to inspire adults with autism that there is someone who understands them and wishes to speak for them and to push for more of an effort to focus on adult autism and provide the resources to help them, or to discover if they are autistic.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09XSSDPGC
• ISBN13: 9798802055205
• Release Date: April 2022
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"