Authism - exploring the probable autism of Carrie Cornish (fictional character)

Today I want to do a blog about another of my books with an autistic character. This is the book, The Other Side of Carrie Cornish who is having to deal with neighbour noise while her own mental health is suffering and the physical health of her partner. This is the main thrust of the story.

There's no doubt in my mind now that Carrie is autistic but when I began writing it in the noughties I had no idea. But this books is semi autobiographical. I couldn't finish it at the time as it was too close to my own experiences so rewrote it some years later.

But you'll find no mention of autism in the book at all. Carrie does however mention her anxiety, her panic attacks, her social anxiety and agoraphobia. She withdraws into her fantasy world with her alter-ego—Seroxat Sid. We also see that she suffers with noise and light sensitive and other sensory overload and trichotillomania (hair-pulling) though she doesn't refer it by name. She refers to trichotillomania or trich as a guilty secret. I didn't know for years that this is what's known as a 'stim' (or self-stimulation) nor that it's a very common stress-buster in autistics.

In the video here I also read a small passage from the book about this. Apologies for the suboptimal quality of the vid in my places and it got cut off rather abruptly but I hope you'll stick with it!

 

The news also significant to Carrie and partner Sandy (there's also a reference to this in the book excerpt). They particularly follow the welfare reform changes in news which impact on them, as was happening around 2012.

I shall be returning to this book as I feel there's a lot relevant to anyone with personal experience of autism eg more about sensory overload and meltdowns.

As always your comments and feedback most welcome.

Authism - Manifesto On Never Growing Up!

I've just finished reading the autobiography of Bernadine Evaristo 'Manifesto On Never Giving Up' and I kept reading it as 'Manifesto On Never Growing Up' which would be a good title for autistics!

I've seen many comments about autistic people looking a lot younger than their years.  Why do you think that is? Do you think it's because we never lose touch with our child selves or because we have a youthful approach to life and get lost in our special interests? That we avoid certain life events if possible that would age us? Or do you think it's the same neurological wiring that determines our autism and also how we age? Possibly there's a bit of truth in all of these hypotheses. I know that we are delayed in some areas as children and perhaps we're always playing catch up. As a teenager I was always thought to be older but that's because I was trying to get in pubs and clubs! But once I reached my late twenties everyone thought I was younger and still do. It's the same for my sister and we're both in our sixties now.

Mind you, I was saying to my sister recently how people don't fall through the floor now when they know our age. That's either because I look my age now or perhaps people don't think sixty-something is any big deal. I'm hoping it's the latter! 

Anyway I thought I would Google this subject after I'd jotted some notes and came across some interesting thoughts on Quora. So am posting the links below:

https://www.quora.com/Ive-read-that-people-who-have-Aspergers-tend-to-look-younger-than-their-years-Does-it-make-any-sense

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-with-autism-look-much-younger-than-their-age

The Quora links made an interesting read and some suggestions centred around the fact that we use fewer facial muscles. This definitely isn't true of me as I mimicked and reflected people a lot as a child and young person. It wasn't until middle-age that I started disagreeing or not having to mimic. Other suggestions are that because autistic people spend longer time alone then they'll be using fewer facial muscles. This makes sense. Others suggested the higher proportion of people with Hypermobility Syndrome amongst Autistics where the elasticity of the skin would lead to slower ageing. There was also mention of social constructs and the way we don't do those.

Anyway, as always, I would love to hear your views. We please do leave a comment below.