For an estimated one in 100 women, being autistic is an inextricable part of life and identity. As natural as breathing. But in the mainstream, neurotypical world, the very existence of adult autistic women has only recently been acknowledged and represented, let alone celebrated.
Kay Kerr is one of the voices changing that. The 34-year-old autistic author and writer is a star of YA literature, penning Please Don’t Hug Me and Social Queue — both of which feature an autistic teenage girl, coming of age in a complicated world — to great acclaim.
But for the 34-year-old Sunshine Coast dweller, herself a mother to an autistic daughter, there’s much more work to be done. We spoke to Kay about the diagnosis process, radical self-acceptance and her new book, Love and Autism.
You received your autism diagnosis at 27 while writing the first draft for . Can you share what circumstances led up
