Resources

An empowering lived-experience guide to celebrating and supporting neurodivergence from 24-year-old actor, social media star and disability advocate Chloé Hayden

'Fierce, unapologetic and joyous . . . This book is a marvel.'
-Jordon Steele-John, Disability Rights Advocate and Australian Senator

Growing up, Chloé Hayden felt like she'd crash-landed on an alien planet where nothing made sense. Eye contact? Small talk? And why are you people so touch-oriented? She moved between 10 schools in 8 years, struggling to become a person she believed society would accept, and was eventually diagnosed with autism and ADHD. When a life-changing group of allies showed her that different did not mean less, she learned to celebrate her true voice and find her happily ever after.

‘My autistic fight song’ is a memoir that follows Rosie Weldon’s journey from a college drop out as she tries to achieve her dream of being a qualified accountant. With the odds stacked against her and the stakes high, she refuses to give up on her dream.

Of two things Rosie was sure. First, she wanted to be an accountant. Second, she was destined to be alone. But when life threw at her an autism diagnosis and a mystery girl, she was left asking: who would employ her and was she capable of falling in love?

‘My autistic fight song’ is an honest and raw account of facing life as the underdog. When everyone around her doubts if she can, can she prove them wrong?

‘My autistic fight song’ sees Rosie face high school, sexuality, relationships, mental illness, education and work life.

Order your copy today to step into Rosie’s journey and get a first-hand experience of autism and mental illness as she fights for her dream.


‘My autistic fight song’ is intense and dramatic, yet heart-warming and uplifting. Through the darkest times of Rosie’s life there is love and laughter, a bittersweet balance of life’s cruelty and beauty.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A summary of my book:

1. I'm diagnosed with autism 20 years after telling a doctor I had it.
2. My terrible Catholic childhood: I hate my parents etc.
3. My friendship with an elderly man who runs the corner shop and is definitely not trying to groom me. I get groomed.
4. Homelessness.
5. Stripping.
6. More stripping but with more nervous breakdowns.
7. I hate everyone at uni and live with a psycho etc.
8. REDACTED as too spicy.
9. After everyone tells me I don't look autistic, I try to cure my autism and get addicted to Xanax.
10. REDACTED as too embarrassing.

For every visibly Autistic person you meet, there are countless 'masked' people who pass as neurotypical. They don't fit the stereotypical mould of Autism and are often forced by necessity to mask who they are, spending their entire lives trying to hide their Autistic traits. In particular, there is evidence that Autism remains significantly undiagnosed in women, people of colour, trans and gender non-conforming people, many of whom are only now starting to recognise those traits later in life.

Written by two late-diagnosed neurodivergent women and the founders of fast-growing online community @IAmPayingAttention, HOW NOT TO FIT IN is an handbook-meets-rallying cry.

Foregrounding real experiences with autism and ADHD, this book explores the journey of discovering, accepting and flourishing with your neurodivergent brain. It explores why getting diagnosis can be so fraught and gendered, and how to navigate a world which centres neurotypical brains in the realms of relationships, careers, friendships and finances.

By reading this book, you’ll:

• Start to understand why so many people are being diagnosed with ADHD and autism right now

• Learn the impact that not knowing your own brain can have on your mental health

• Find the confidence to ask for accommodations and adjustments at work – without apologising

• Have the chance to note down how this journey is evolving for you in chapter-by-chapter workbook sections.

• … and, most importantly, get to know yourself and your needs better.

Featuring the latest research and thinking on neurodivergence, contributions from dozens of experts and the real stories of people just like you, this innovative book – which has been written and designed especially for *spicy* brains – is essential reading for anyone whose brain seems to see the world in a different way.

Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction
Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize
Shortlisted for the MJA Health Book of the Year Award
Shortlisted for the BMA Medical Book Awards
A Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller
Foreword by Oliver Sacks

What is autism: a devastating developmental condition, a lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more - and the future of our society depends on our understanding it.

Following on from his groundbreaking article 'The Geek Syndrome', Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.

Going back to the earliest autism research and chronicling the brave and lonely journey of autistic people and their families through the decades, Silberman provides long-sought solutions to the autism puzzle while casting light on the growing movement of 'neurodiversity' and mapping out a path towards a more humane world for people with learning differences.

Whether you are neurodivergent, suspect you might be, or want to be a better ally, UNMASKED will help you make sense of it all, and put the power in your hands.

Ellie was 24 when she learned she wasn't broken. She wasn't a bad person, she was neurodivergent. Her late diagnosis of ADHD and autism was like a lightbulb being switched on and she could finally start to heal from the trauma of being un-diagnosed and mis-understood for so long.

Since getting her diagnosis, Ellie has made it her mission to change the way we think about autism, ADHD and neurodivergence and in UNMASKED she shares what she has learned along her journey.

Written in a bite-sized style for whizzy brains like hers, Ellie shares chapters on mental health, pretty privilege, how to navigate the workplace and the importance of self-diagnosis so that we can all better understand and celebrate neurodivergence, and ultimately make the world a more inclusive place.

It’s time to remake the world – the ground-breaking book on what steps we should all be taking for the autistic people in our lives.

The modern world is built for neurotypicals: needless noise, bright flashing lights, small talk, phone calls, unspoken assumptions and unwritten rules – it can be a nightmarish dystopia for the autistic population. In Untypical, Pete Wharmby lays bare the experience of being ‘different’, explaining with wit and warmth just how exhausting it is to fit in to a world not designed for you.

But this book is more than an explanation. After a late diagnosis and a lifetime of ‘masking’, Pete is the perfect interlocutor to explain how our two worlds can meet, and what we can do for the many autistic people in our schools, workplaces and lives. The result: a practical handbook for all of us to make the world a simpler, better place for autistic people to navigate, and a call to arms for anyone who believes in an inclusive society and wants to be part of the solution.