When you’re autistic, or know someone who is, knowing where to turn for tips on self-care can be a nightmare. There are so many self-help books in the autism section. In this blog, I’m going to share three books on autism self-care I found the most useful.
1. Self-Care For Autistic People by Dr Megan A Neff
This is my top book for autism self-care. This book is small and each bit of information is on a single page or two at maximum. Neff has split this book into six sections; cultivating sensory safety, physical self-care, emotional self-care, mental self-care, social self-care and professional self-care.
What I really got out of this book is how to look after my senses, my wellbeing and ensuring I still get to do what I want. What I didn’t expect was for Neff to break down what it is about soaps that can make it really difficult for those with really, really sensitive skin like me. My shoulders flared at everything so I haven’t been able to use a soap for years. The tips she gave made it possible for me to find one that suits my skin type that I can use without flare ups.
You can get your copy here.
2. Unmasking Autism by Dr Devon Price
This one I finished reading a couple of months ago. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about looking after myself when it comes to my masked autistic self. Price has talked to other autistic people and it horrifies me on what people go through to get their diagnosis, support and the recognition they deserve.
Reading Price’s book has definitely encouraged me to properly examine why I mask my autism, how I mask it and how to be my most authentic self. There’s a lot to unpack there, but if I really want to be happy, I need to learn to work with how my brain does and how to work with what my priorities are. Understanding my autism will help me better understand me.
You can get your copy here.
3. How To Be You by Ellie Middleton
Although a lot of this book is geared towards those who are ADHD or have autism and ADHD to contend with, this book was really insightful for me as an autistic person. Middleton breaks down eight executive functions, how each work our society of oppression (ie white supremacy, capitalism, etc) and gives eight tips on each function that you can try to do the best you can with how your mind works.
My mind doesn’t race around quite as much as someone with ADHD, but it’s helped me realise that I need to slow down and focus on what makes me happy and that I enjoy doing. There are options for me to try in Middleton’s book to flick back to (all the exercises are on grey coloured paper so they stand out wonderfully!) but I need to not try and do them all at once.
You can get your copy here.
I hope this little blog has been useful of which autism books have been useful. If you have read any other autism books you found useful, I’d love to hear which ones in the comments below.
You can check out which other autism books I found useful here. You can also find out more about celebrating autism, writing authentic autistic characters and things to think about when writing autistic characters from my older blogs. Happy reading!