Joanna Grace is the founder of The Sensory Projects and works as a sensory engagement and inclusion specialist. She has been a special school teacher, a foster carer and a support worker for people with disabilities and neurological diff erences. She grew up on a boat at sea and now lives in rural Cornwall close to the ocean that she loves. Joanna is autistic.

• Introduction Mapping Experiences of Being a Diagnosed Autistic: More of a Doodle than an Ordinance Survey Map Travelling from Autism Awareness to Autistic Identity Fragments of Difference Reflections on Difference Fragments of Awareness Moving Between Difference and Awareness Diagnosis The Report Blog Part One: The First Weeks after Diagnosis Reflecting on the Impact of Diagnosis on my Identity Blog Part Two: The First Months after Diagnosis Reflection Blog Part Three: Half a Year after Diagnosis Reflection: History Repeating Love Across a Neurodiverse Divide Reflection: Interoception Emotional Connection Pregnancy Special Interests Reflection: Recognising the Impossibility of Change was Crucial To be Identified is Our Pride Bibliography

This wise and compassionate book provides a roadmap toward what author Jo Grace wonderfully calls 'a small private place, unseen by the outside world, a hidden gem' -- to personal acceptance of oneself as autistic, and the discovery of autistic community, in a world built for non-autistic people. It's engaging and uplifting reading for anyone on the spectrum, and for readers who want to comprehend the nature of autistic experience.Steve Silberman, author, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity Grace writes with candour and intensity and this book supports those currently looking to claim an autistic identity as a definition of self, ‘like a handrail you grab when trying to stand unaided’. It will also be of value to those working with adolescents and adults with a diagnosis of autism.Mary Mountstephen, SEN Magazine

Joanna Grace is the founder of The Sensory Projects and works as a sensory engagement and inclusion specialist. She has been a special school teacher, a foster carer and a support worker for people with disabilities and neurological diff erences. She grew up on a boat at sea and now lives in rural Cornwall close to the ocean that she loves. Joanna is autistic.

• Introduction Mapping Experiences of Being a Diagnosed Autistic: More of a Doodle than an Ordinance Survey Map Travelling from Autism Awareness to Autistic Identity Fragments of Difference Reflections on Difference Fragments of Awareness Moving Between Difference and Awareness Diagnosis The Report Blog Part One: The First Weeks after Diagnosis Reflecting on the Impact of Diagnosis on my Identity Blog Part Two: The First Months after Diagnosis Reflection Blog Part Three: Half a Year after Diagnosis Reflection: History Repeating Love Across a Neurodiverse Divide Reflection: Interoception Emotional Connection Pregnancy Special Interests Reflection: Recognising the Impossibility of Change was Crucial To be Identified is Our Pride Bibliography

This wise and compassionate book provides a roadmap toward what author Jo Grace wonderfully calls 'a small private place, unseen by the outside world, a hidden gem' -- to personal acceptance of oneself as autistic, and the discovery of autistic community, in a world built for non-autistic people. It's engaging and uplifting reading for anyone on the spectrum, and for readers who want to comprehend the nature of autistic experience.Steve Silberman, author, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity Grace writes with candour and intensity and this book supports those currently looking to claim an autistic identity as a definition of self, ‘like a handrail you grab when trying to stand unaided’. It will also be of value to those working with adolescents and adults with a diagnosis of autism.Mary Mountstephen, SEN Magazine

Joanna Grace is the founder of The Sensory Projects and works as a sensory engagement and inclusion specialist. She has been a special school teacher, a foster carer and a support worker for people with disabilities and neurological diff erences. She grew up on a boat at sea and now lives in rural Cornwall close to the ocean that she loves. Joanna is autistic.

• Introduction Mapping Experiences of Being a Diagnosed Autistic: More of a Doodle than an Ordinance Survey Map Travelling from Autism Awareness to Autistic Identity Fragments of Difference Reflections on Difference Fragments of Awareness Moving Between Difference and Awareness Diagnosis The Report Blog Part One: The First Weeks after Diagnosis Reflecting on the Impact of Diagnosis on my Identity Blog Part Two: The First Months after Diagnosis Reflection Blog Part Three: Half a Year after Diagnosis Reflection: History Repeating Love Across a Neurodiverse Divide Reflection: Interoception Emotional Connection Pregnancy Special Interests Reflection: Recognising the Impossibility of Change was Crucial To be Identified is Our Pride Bibliography

This wise and compassionate book provides a roadmap toward what author Jo Grace wonderfully calls 'a small private place, unseen by the outside world, a hidden gem' -- to personal acceptance of oneself as autistic, and the discovery of autistic community, in a world built for non-autistic people. It's engaging and uplifting reading for anyone on the spectrum, and for readers who want to comprehend the nature of autistic experience.Steve Silberman, author, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity Grace writes with candour and intensity and this book supports those currently looking to claim an autistic identity as a definition of self, ‘like a handrail you grab when trying to stand unaided’. It will also be of value to those working with adolescents and adults with a diagnosis of autism.Mary Mountstephen, SEN Magazine