# * [ACKNOWLEDGMENTS](#acknowledgments) --- # ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my agent Jenny Herrera for seeing the potential in my writing, and giving me the confidence to pursue a life as an author I’d never had the courage to embark on myself. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: you have truly changed my life. To my editor Michele Eniclerico: thank you so much for your interest in and support of this book, for your astute questions, your insightful restructuring suggestions, and your trust in my judgement. I’m so grateful that you encouraged me to make this a book that speaks to Autistics specifically, rather than appeal to a neurotypical gaze. Chapter eight is now the part of the book I’m proudest about having written, and it wouldn’t even be here without your suggestions. Thank you Jeanne Widen at Loyola’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies for always supporting my writerly work and viewing it as a worthwhile part of my scholarly identity. You’ve always treated me with such warmth and trust, and I’m incredibly grateful. Thank you to the entire team at Harmony for making this book look beautiful and helping me bring it to the world. So many Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent writers and thinkers have played an integral role in shaping this book: Heather Morgan, James Finn, Jesse Meadows, Marta Rose, Keillan Cruickshank, Timotheus Gordon Jr., Jersey Noah, and Jess White, thank you for every conversation we have shared, all the resources you have created for the community, and all the feedback you have given me. Amythest Schaber, Rabbi Ruti Reagan, Jen White-Johnson, Sky Cubacub, Samuel Dylan Finch, ChrisTiana ObeySumner, Rian Phin, Tiffany Hammond, Anand Prahlad, and everyone else I quoted in this book: thank you for everything you have created. Thank you to everyone who allowed me to interview you for this book, as well as the hundreds of Autistic people online who responded to polls and requests for your thoughts and feedback on my ideas. I tried to take in as many Autistic perspectives as possible while writing this book, and I hope that I’ve honored all the stories you have shared with me and treated your generosity with the respect and gratitude it deserves. Thank you to everyone who has helped me feel less broken over the years, particularly every friend who has extended me grace when I didn’t understand myself or how to relate to other people. I’ve done so much to turn myself away from those who love me, because I was so consumed with doubt and fear, but your love and honesty have been my touchstones. Thank you to every Autistic and neurodivergent friend who has come out to me since I started writing about my own disability, giving us both a wonderful opportunity to trade life hacks and commiserate. Thanks to my family for always allowing me to be my own person, and to speak from my own experience without ever trying to stifle my voice. To all my friends on the Dump Truck Discord server, thank you for keeping me feeling relatively stable and truly connected during the pandemic. Finally, thank you to Nick for dimming the lights, giving me excuses to leave busy functions, constructing a sensory overwhelm panic room under the bed, and plugging in your headphones when the chess.com sound effects get too painfully loud. A lot of the time, I still hate myself for being so irritable and needy, and can’t fathom how anybody could love me as I am. I promise someday I will be able to recognize your unconditional acceptance and love as a thing that I (and you! And all people!) deserve.