The front cover states: “An interactive and informative guide to autism (by someone diagnosed with it)”, and this is what the book is. Chanelle has created what she noticed was a missing resource from an autistic person’s point of view. The intention is for this book to be a guide for autistics (diagnosed or undiagnosed), but also can be used as a resource to help non-autistics understand. If you do fill out the book yourself, you may want a second copy if you plan to give it to others to read if you aren’t ready to bare your autistic soul.
This book is full of bite sized information on aspects of being autistic. Each topic gives just enough information to understand, and you can always look up more information if you identify with that topic and want to know more. On the pages there is room to fill things out, doodle, tick boxes or draw whatever you need relating to the topic. The book can be read through, used as a workbook, done in order, or you can just go to the contents and pick the topic that is relevant to you at that moment.
It is a great starting point for someone beginning to discover what it means to be autistic. It's important that Kiwi resources are being written for our experience of being autistic, as a lot of resources are US or UK based and the information and systems there can be quite different. Chanelle has done a wonderful job combining information and illustrations to create a book that feels friendly to both autistics and non autistics.
Review by Stacey Francis, from a neurodivergent household and owner of a mini bochord