Cork author's new book looks at what it means to be an autistic child

A Cork author who has previously written for adults on the subject of autism has now written a book looking at what it means to be autistic from a child’s perspective.

Niamh Garvey is a former nurse from Blarney, and she is the mother of three girls.

In her first book, Looking After Your Autistic Self, Ms Garvey explored what being autistic means from an adult perspective, and now, in her second book, she revisits the subject from a child’s standpoint.

Being Autistic (and what that actually means) carries a recommendation from educational and child psychologist Dr Michaela Connolly, who describes it as “a fantastic book”.

Dr Connolly says the book is “a must-read for children and young people, and indeed anyone who wants to learn about autism and being autistic”.

Written in clear, concise language and delivered in succinct blocks of text that use a dyslexia-friendly font, the book looks fantastic, illustrated beautifully throughout with cartoons drawn by comic artist Rebecca Burgess.

Ms Garvey said that making the book accessible to children proved an interesting challenge, and one she found harder than writing her earlier book for adults.

“It forced me to think about how to break down big concepts, not just into easier language, but also into fun language, because children are not going to read a book a book if it just seems like heavy information, they need it to be fun and uplifting as well,” she said.

“It was more challenging, definitely, even though it’s a lot shorter than an adult book.”

The look and layout of Being Autistic were carefully decided, she said.

“A lot of autistic children are very visual thinkers, and they can have difficulties with attention span, so I wanted it to be very short bursts of information, broken up with a lot of images, in order to make it easier and more fun to read.”

Diagnosed with autism in 2020, when she was 34, Ms Garvey said that came about after one of her daughters was diagnosed.

“I went to UCC to study a diploma in Autism Studies, and while I was studying that, I realised, ‘Oh, I’m clearly autistic myself’, so I went and got an assessment done,” she said.

“It actually made a lot of sense, because in my own life I have often struggled with certain parts of life, especially social things like making friends and keeping friends.”

Ms Garvey said that her book features three main characters, all of whom have different traits and personalities, as well as having different forms of autism.

“I wanted to show children that autism can be so different in different people, because sometimes when children are being told they’re autistic, they might know one autistic person who is nothing like them, and they find it really hard to see that.

“I have three main characters, one doesn’t speak at all, two do speak, one is very giddy and boisterous and one then is very quiet and introverted, and that to me was very important, to show children that there’s no one way to be autistic, there are many ways to be autistic and it’s very individual,” she said.

“No matter what way you are autistic, as long as you know your own autism, that’s very empowering.”

The book Being Autistic (and what that actually means) will be launched at 5.30pm in Dubray Books on Patrick Street, tomorrow.