Why My Current Writing Projects Feature Autistic People

I am an autistic person (and yes, folks, this is the preferred way to express it rather than a “person with autism”). My son is an autistic person. It gives us a different world view and life experiences and the real reason I want to write about autistic people as my main characters is that I want to celebrate what it is to be autistic.

All my childhood, I felt different. I was exposed to dreadful bullying and became convinced I was worth less than others simply because I was different. I didn’t understand my peers when they made jokes and was often the butt of the next joke for laughing two seconds behind everyone else.

Like many girls with autism, I learnt to mask my feelings (most of the time) and I mostly learnt the expected behaviours of society, but it was something I had to struggle to learn. I was undiagnosed until after my son was diagnosed. I still make mistakes, get awfully anxious in social situations (even with people I know well) and I still have social issues that can cause big problems in my life.

I find I have to be my son’s advocate to get him the consideration and accommodations he needs at school. I believe this is not because the school doesn’t care about him, because I truly think the school does. Certainly, his teacher and teaching supporters do care deeply about helping my son to feel comfortable at school and to learn. I believe it is because there is a general lack of understanding in society of what it means to be an autistic person. Other parents of autistic children find the same: they have to constantly advocate on behalf of their children. Autistic children are more likely to be expelled or suspended from schools than the non-autistic student population. It doesn’t have to be this way. Autistic children can achieve great things with support and understanding of how their minds work.

Our minds are neurodivergent and therefore work differently to ‘normal’ or neurotypical people. This can actually be a joyful and wonderful thing. Some autistic people see, hear, touch, taste, and smell in ways that are different – often hyper-sensitively. Our brains can register sights, smells, and sounds that others can ignore or just don’t experience.

If I walk into a room with fluorescent lights, I can hear the lights humming. If one is about to end its life, the humming becomes a buzzing sound (more like a thousand bees at once). Other people in the same room don’t seem to hear the constant humming I do and even when the light is buzzing loudly, can ignore the sound and continue to work. Now, this is just one example of hypersensitivity. If I am in a room with a continuous sound, I become enervated and stressed.

However, I can also experience things other people don’t get to. I can watch the dust motes dance and shiver and create intricate patterns in a shaft of sunlight. It’s actually joyful to watch. My son can do puzzles quickly and sees patterns in numbers, helping him to grasp maths easily. Some autistic people have solved major problems or have created unique inventions that are used daily by everyone simply because they approached a problem in a different neurological way than others do.

This is why I want to write about autistic people. I want to share the experiences and hopefully, in sharing experiences of autistic people, we will gain greater understanding from society. I hope that by writing about autistic characters who can achieve amazing things (as real life autistic people do), I will contribute to helping someone else learn to celebrate their differences and have joy in their lives. Maybe, I can prevent some of the bullying that occurs because other people just don’t understand autistic people. Maybe, I can change the perceptions that are harmful, one reader at a time. Maybe my writing can make a difference and help my son to be proud of who he is.

My current writing projects include chapter books with three autistic children who solve mysteries and a couple of picture books that aim to explain autistic experiences. I’m writing, re-writing, editing, and starting to seek publication of these works. I’ll let you know when I am successful in getting published.

About the author: Hayley Hunkin is a published children’s author and a freelance journalist. Her website is www.hayleyhunkin.com.au