Today is world autism awareness day. My eldest son has Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, and so I’m keen to spread the word about the condition and give as much information as I can.

The main problem with autism is that there are no outward physical signs of a disability. The general public has little awareness of the difficulties faced by those with autism, often assuming those with the condition are rude, naughty or stupid. Society places emphasis on our ability to socialise and although many people with autism are talented, intelligent individuals they find life difficult because the rest of the population fail to understand their needs.

Autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning that some people are more disabled than others, but all share the ‘triad of impairments’. They are:

• difficulty with social communication
• difficulty with social interaction
• difficulty with social imagination

Many also suffer from a heightening of the senses, meaning that strong light, noise, smell or touch can be unplesant.

You probably know someone with undiagnosed autism.

It is estimated that one in every hundred people have autism, but a diagnosis is often only obtained for those at the more severe end of the spectrum.

Does this sound like someone you know?

• Rigidly follows rules
•  Talks endlessly about a single subject
• Unable to understand facial expressions
• Incapable of lying
• Has inflexible routines
• Thinks literally
• Has difficulty understanding sarcasm

If you’d like more information the National Austic Society is a fantastic source of information.

The Best Fiction Books About Autism?

Since my son received his diagnosis I’ve made an effort to read as many books as possible containing autistic characters. Most have the factual details of the condition right, but very few capture the difficulties and emotions correctly.

Here are my favourites:

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

An entertaining romance involving a man with Asperger’s syndrome. It is a fantastically positive book and is the first I recommend to someone looking for fiction involving autism.

Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon

Speed of Dark is set in the near future, at the moment they find a cure for autism. This is a fantastic book that questions whether or not we’d be better off without autism in our society.

 Note: Author is known as Matthew Dicks in the US

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Green

This is a wonderful book for older children, but I loved it too. It is narrated by the imaginary friend of a child with autism and gives a fantastically original perspective on the condition. The audio book is particularly good.

When I Was Five I Killed Myself by Howard Buten

This little gem deserves to be more widely known. It questions how responsible children are for their actions and is a gripping, forgotten masterpiece.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork

This YA book questions whether or not we should force those with autism to integrate with society. It is entertaining and insightful and the book I am most likely to recommend to family members unfamiliar with autism.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

This modern classic was the first to bring autism to a wider audience. It remains one of the best books on the subject.

Which is your favourite book that deals with autism?

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Five words from the blurb: different, sisters, secret, parents, suspicious

The Death of Bees is a strange book. Strange in terms of premise, but also in my response to it – I can’t decide whether or not I liked it. The book gripped me throughout, but I found the characters, the plot, and the writing style annoying. Perhaps it is one of those books you are meant to love-to-hate? I’ll take the fact I had such a strong emotional response as a positive and try to explain the reasons for my reaction.

The Death of Bees begins with fifteen-year-old Marnie and her younger sister, Nelly, burying the bodies of their parents in the garden. Rather than risk being taken into care and separated the two girls decide to cover up the death of their parents and try to continue life as normal.

Unfortunately both Marnie and Nelly were irritating characters. A stream-of-consciousness writing style is normally enough for me to abandon a book, but even though their teenage thoughts drove me nuts, the ramblings of these girls was strangely mesmerising: 

The only reason I know him at all is because he used to go to school with Lorna, but then they kicked her out and now she goes to our school, but he’s still hanging around her and so are we these days. Kimbo and Lorna are pretty tight. Both of them want to be artists and they spend hours in her studio and I don’t blame them. Lorna’s house is amazing. 

The plot was weird and unconvincing. Lots of aspects felt unrealistic and I groaned at the plot twists on numerous occasions. The next door neighbour was especially strange and I failed to understand his motivations. But, despite continual issues with the book, I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know what happened to these strange characters and I guess that proves the book was a good one. 

On a positive note, the inclusion of a child on the autism spectrum should be commended. I especially liked the fact this wasn’t included in the marketing and many people will be oblivious to it. *

Overall this book really annoyed me, but I can’t escape the fact that I enjoyed my mental rants at its absurdity. Recommended to book clubs who’d like an animated discussion!

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

…the writing was incredible and the story line was unique and original! A Simple Taste for Reading

…the end was just too pat, too sweet, too nice, too happy, whatever you want to call it. 2013: The Year in Books

  …refreshingly different The Book Jotter

* although in an ideal world I’d like everyone to spot an autistic character/person straight away.