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This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon Somebody Somewhere single work   autobiography  
Issue Details: First known date: 1994... 1994 Somebody Somewhere
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Diagnosed in the 1960s as psychotic at the age of two when autism was known as Childhood Psychosis, Donna has lived 26 years believing she was born mad.  Now, Donna meets psychologist and autism expert Dr Marek who reconfirms her diagnosis with the more modern day term of autism and offers to work with her.  But when he suggests he can give her training in social skills and handshakes, she is not interested in learning to further bury herself in 'acting normal'.  Instead she determines to get from him the non-autistic translations for the array of experiences and concepts she has only ever made sense of in her own special language, kept secret within her own world.  

Dr Marek is soon not the only teacher.  Navigating the combinations of xenophobia, charity, curiosity and kindness, Donna graduates as a teacher and travels overseas to work with autistic children and other adults like herself.  In the process, she finds a way of belonging and 'simply being' among others without selling out who she really is and lays foundations for changing forever the way autism is understood by the wider world.

(Source: author's website)

Affiliation Notes

  • Writing Disability in Australia:

    Type of disability Autism.
    Type of character Primary.
    Point of view First person (autobiography).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Doubleday , 1994 .
      image of person or book cover 4079541026978274140.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 239p.
      Note/s:
      • Includes index
      ISBN: 0868245380
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Jessica Kingsley Publishers ,
      1999 .
      image of person or book cover 8596818198773263682.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 208p.p.
      Edition info: Rev. ed.
      ISBN: 9781853027192, 1853027197
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Broadway Books ,
      2004 .
      image of person or book cover 342685757824268326.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1 September 2004.
      ISBN: 9780812925241, 0812925246
Last amended 14 Feb 2024 16:10:12
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