We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation

This book is a message from autistic people to their parents, friends, teachers, coworkers and doctors showing what life is like on the spectrum. Its also my love letter to autistic people. For too long, we have been forced to navigate a world where all the road signs are written in another language. With a reporters eye and an insiders perspective, Eric Garcia shows what its like to be autistic across America. Garcia began writing about autism because he was frustrated by the medias coverage of it: the myths that the disorder is caused by vaccines, the narrow portrayals of autistic people as white men working in Silicon Valley. His own life as an autistic person didnt look anything like that. He is Latino, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, and works as a journalist covering politics in Washington, DC. Garcia realized he needed to put into writing what so many autistic people have been saying for yearsautism is a part of their identity, they dont need to be fixed. In Were Not Broken, Garcia uses his own life as a springboard to discuss the social and policy gaps that exist in supporting those on the spectrum. From education to healthcare, he explores how autistic people wrestle with systems that were not built with them in mind. At the same time, he shares the experiences of all types of autistic people, from those with higher support needs, to autistic people of color, to those in the LGBTQ community. In doing so, Garcia gives his community a platform to articulate their own needs, rather than having others speak for them, which has been the standard for far too long