Stim

As an autistic person who often feels isolated from representation in media and art this is such a refreshing read. Non autistic writing, while still entertaining, is just structured differently. And while I've gotten used to it, the opportunity to hear pure unfiltered autistic literature is so special. It feels like I have a more direct connection to the authors than I generally do from non autistic writers. As if the compatibility layer I always use to read books can just be removed. This is of course very difficult to explain effectively but it's just a feeling I get.

All of these stories are very personal and heartfelt and they go into very intense places sometimes, but the tone almost always resolves to positivity. Also, each story has a content warning at the start which is thoughtful.

Some of the stories focus in particular on British life as it is a British book, but that did not really detract from the content in my mind as the stories are diverse. (It not being US-centric is a bit of a nice change of pace anyway)

The stories were short and it was worthwhile to take a long pause after each one to really absorb it and bask in the feelings and thoughts of each author.

All in all I would recommend this book to everyone, autistic folks as well as non autistic folks who want to understand the autistic mind better.

This one of the first books I backed on Unbound—the very first being Larry Bundy Jr's Fact Hunt—and Stim: An Autistic Anthology was worth every penny.

Lizzie Huxley-Jones does a wonderful job in curating these stories and memoirs from autistic individuals who all have different experiences on the spectrum. Many, if not all of these narratives and accounts, are well written and seamlessly allow the reader a glimpse into what having autism is like. There's a section at the end of the book where Huxley-Jones summarizes what autism, quoting the saying, "If you've met one Autistic person, you've met one autistic person," which is another way of saying that not all autistic people are the same. In should go without saying that every story here, much like a short story in a creative writing anthology, is the experience and narrative of one person out of many. The more clever thing is the placement of said section at the end, solidifying this point in an eloquent fashion.

There also some artwork and mini-graphic novels that add to an already excellent anthology, reinforcing the above. Unfortunately, but understandably, they are few are far in-between.

Either way, this book should be a must-read for those interested in neurodiversity advocacy and its associated inclusion initiatives.

Personal favorite piece: "More Human Than Human" by Agri Ismaïl