A Better Understanding of What I Go Through

Question:

Hi there, and first of let me just say I love your Alice books. I see that you write a lot about real issues that people face in everyday life. Now, I have only gotten up to The Grooming of Alice, but I was wondering if there are any books in the series that will have the topics of Autism and Asperger’s? I have Asperger’s, and I think it would be helpful for people to get a better understanding of what I go through. I know I’m not the only one with it either, so to see this in a book that many people are reading, and to know that more people are aware of this disorder would be nice.

Phyllis replied:

I don’t know if I had introduced Amy Sheldon yet in that book, but a number of readers have asked me if Amy has Asperger’s. I’ve purposely not named her problem because I wanted her to represent any student who has social difficulties, and Amy has problems in several areas. But I agree with you that most people don’t know too much about Asperger’s. It would be very helpful to our readers if you would write a paragraph or two that I could post on this space, telling us in your own words some of the difficulties you’ve faced. I know that two paragraphs hardly scratches the surface, but this would still be a real value to our readers.

Posted on: March 15, 2010