Comments on: If I’m Neuro-Typical, Can I Write About the Neuro-Diverse?

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 12:33:21 +0000

I don’t see the problem with Rain Man. It was telling one very particular and extraordinary story, and it was based on a real man.

By: Jeanne Felfe

Jeanne Felfe — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 15:37:16 +0000

Thank you for writing this. I am firmly in the camp with Lionel Shriver that authors should be free to write whatever characters their minds can invent. If we all only wrote characters who were exactly like us, literature would be a boring endeavor. That said, writing outside of your own experience requires study and understanding to get it right.

I was recently told by an agent not to write the book that has captured my heart. She said that because the story is about a 14 year old Somali Muslim refugee who settles in a (fictional) Southern Baptist town. She said that because I am not black she wouldn’t be able to sell it. It may well be that SHE wouldn’t be able to sell it, but I can’t not tell this story. So I am telling with an eye to understanding, to capturing the truth of the story. I don’t have to be a black Somali Muslim (or a 14 year old girl for that matter) to paint a compelling portrait.

By: Kathryn R. Biel

Kathryn R. Biel — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 00:00:35 +0000

While the jury’s out on my neurotypicality, it certainly has not held me back from writing a whole bunch of characters whose bodies and minds are not cookie-cutter. I touch on Autism in my last release, Once in a Lifetime, in which one of the 5 main characters deals with her son being diagnosed. Many readers have talked about that being the most poignant part of the book, including her struggle to process it and her family’s struggle to accept. Of course, that character is Asian, and I’m not. But Autism doesn’t discriminate, although it is much more prevalent in males. I’ve also written characters who were depressed and suicidal, characters with bipolar disorder, characters with physical disabilities, a character with a spinal cord injury, and a character with significant ADHD. I should note that while I have none of these conditions, I’m also not an Olympic athlete, a professional singer, or royalty, and I felt free to write about those as well.

As with anything outside one’s own personal experience, do your research. Make your best effort to be honest. Yes, some of it may be stereotypical–the stereotypes exist for a reason, but don’t be lazy and rely on them. Understand why those stereotypes are associated with a condition.

But, with 1 in 64 children affected by Autism, I think those stories need to be told. And I challenge anyone to challenge me about writing about Autism. I may not have it, but I live it every single day.