Ember Babiak

I’ll be 59 month after next, and we didn’t realize I was on the spectrum until I was 56. That’s a long time to struggle and not know why. Part of why I went undiagnosed for so long for both ADHD (in my late 30s) and autism is because both of those are terribly misunderstood, especially in regards to how they present in girls and women (I was one of those doodling gifted-program girlies). RFK Jr.’s ignorant and harmful statements have muddied the waters even further, so I begged Brian to write about autism, after he’d done such a good job with ADHD Brain.

When I had finished reading (as editor) that book, it felt like I glowed for days with the reiterated message received, that I am not broken, but differently made; a phrase from the Japanese culture I found especially lovely to refer to folks with ADHD still makes me happy: butterfly mind. No wonder I ended up a butterfly gardener! We really are kin.

So he did. He dug into the research and discovered that, despite what we had thought just a short time before when a relative had called hoping to learn more about autism when their grandchild was having difficulty so they could advocate for them, we actually do know a fair bit now. There was a major study in 2025, and he drew on it heavily.

Brian’s been marketing his books for a bit now, and one of the things he’s found distressing is how little curiosity there seems to be about autism, as much as it’s often in public discourse. People search for stuff about ADHD all the time. Hardly anyone searches for books about autism. I told him I think it’s because people assume there’s nothing to find. 2025 was last year. It takes a minute for stuff to make its way into public consciousness. People don’t even know there’s anything to know yet. But there is! And here’s where to find it, written for laypeople.

I learned so much editing this book, and now I’m eager to get it into the hands of the people who need it, not just autists who can benefit both from understanding what’s different about their brains but also from hearing reiterated a message the wider culture doesn’t send: that they are whole human beings, worthy of understanding and accommodation.

But also family members, partners, teachers, law enforcement officers…those latter two especially may not realize how badly they need to read this book, but they do. They really, really do. So much so that I’m gifting copies of it and the book on ADHD to our local police department.

Brian crafted a press release earlier in the month.

I plan on recording the book to provide access to those for whom reading isn’t the best way for them to engage with a text. I’m currently recording myself to help me memorize my set for the upcoming poetry festival, and when I’m done with all that, I’ll be ready to tackle it (and equipped with an app—Dolby On is working well). I hope to have it ready for next year’s Autism Awareness Month. I hope you don’t wait until then to get curious about autism. There are a lot of people whose lives would improve if what we know now were more known.