Autism @lemmy.world Deestan @lemmy.world 2 mo. ago

Fern Brady's book "Strong Female Character"

This is part strong recommendation and part wanting to know thoughts of others who have read it. :)

Fern Brady is a scottish comedian who grew up with undiagnosed autism in a very catholic small town.

It's a brutally honest and personal story, and she manages to write everything in a way that I found captivating. She can describe situations of absolute torture in a way that makes them seem both heartbreaking, and almost funny in their absurdity. Like a scene where she got recommended an app to help her with meltdowns and describes how she is crying and punching her fist bloody against her living room wall, while with her other hand opening an app and seeing suggestions like "think of a puppy!", "count to ten and think of the last nice thing you ate!"

For me, the description of a years long struggle to push through a medical system with little and outdated understanding of autism resonnated deeply.

14 comments

I had no idea she wrote a book. I love her humor, though! Will add it to my reading list!
- The audiobook is voiced by her, if that's your medium :)
  
  Where can I find the audiobook? Sounds very interesting, might give it a listen!
I loved that she narrated the audio book, her accent is fantastic! I enjoyed her memoir. I don't really remember how it ended, so maybe that part could have been tightened up. I mean, she is still so young, I wouldn't expect her to have worked out a big overarching moral for her story yet. I hope she writes another as her career progresses.
I always sing her little song she made on Taskmaster whenever I see her name, I love her!
This is on my list to read but if anyone wants another recommendation I am currently reading Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things by Pierre Novellie which is about his diagnosis, it is thoroughly researched and Fern Brady's quote is on the front saying how good she thinks it is.
- Thanks for the recommendation!
She's brilliant 🙂

I keep forgetting to buy anything of hers though because my brain translates her name to Fern Britton, and I think of the wrong person 🙈
I know her from her appearance on 'Taskmaster'.

I can recommend watching that season.
- I was heartbroken when it ended. Was a big fan of Dara already, now I love all of them.

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