Our Autistic Lives

This collection of narratives from autistic adults is structured around their decades of experience of life, covering 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60 and 70s+. These are varied and diverse, spanning different continents, genders, sexualities and ethnicities, yet the author highlights the common themes that unite them and skilfully draws out these threads.

Each chapter is based on accounts from one age group and includes accounts from people of that age, giving an insight into the history of autism and signifying how gaining a diagnosis (or not) has changed people's lives over time. The book is about ageing with an autistic mind, and helping the reader find connections between neurotypical and neurodiverse people by acknowledging the challenges we all face in our past, present and futures.

“Uniquely covering a lifespan and intersecting a range of communities and cultures; This book adds to the growing voice of an enormously diverse population of people who've spent a lifetime suppressing who they are, in order to fit into a world that fears difference.”

-- Kieran Rose, theautisticadvocate.com
Too often, we forget that roughly 75% of Autistic people are adults. Our Autistic Lives is invaluable because it offers intimate insights from Autistic adults in every decade of life, to their seventies and beyond. Ratcliffe's book is crucial reading for understanding autism across the lifespan. -- Maxfield Sparrow, author of The ABCs of Autism Acceptance and No You Don’t: Essays from an Unstrange Mind

Alex Ratcliffe has worked within the field of autism for over 12 years. This includes working at a senior level in special educational needs and as an assessor for an autism course. She has extensive writing, researching and interviewing experience. She identifies as being autistic (self diagnosed).

This collection of narratives from autistic adults is structured around their decades of experience of life, covering 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60 and 70s+. These are varied and diverse, spanning different continents, genders, sexualities and ethnicities, yet the author highlights the common themes that unite them and skilfully draws out these threads. Each chapter is based on accounts from one age group and includes accounts from people of that age, giving an insight into the history of autism and signifying how gaining a diagnosis (or not) has changed people's lives over time. The book is about ageing with an autistic mind, and helping the reader find connections between neurotypical and neurodiverse people by acknowledging the challenges we all face in our past, present and futures.

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