Book Nook - The Actually Autistic Guide

What if the most useful, honest guide to autism wasn’t written about autistic people—but by them?

This July, Apollo Publishers is releasing The Actually Autistic Guide, a vibrant, interactive book created by autistic activists Elora Dodd—the voice behind the 700K+ following @online1roomschoolhouse—and educator/social worker C. R. R. Hillin. It’s a first-of-its-kind activity-driven guide designed explicitly for the neurodivergent community, blending humor, lived experience, and practical tools.

At a time when an estimated 168 million people worldwide are on the spectrum—and still facing widespread misunderstanding and underdiagnosis—The Actually Autistic Guide flips the script. Instead of clinical language or outsider perspectives, it offers an insider’s voice: candid, funny, and deeply validating.  

Why this matters now:

Autism conversations are rapidly evolving, especially across social platforms where creators like Dodd are helping people recognize and understand neurodivergence in real time. Her content has already helped thousands seek diagnoses and feel seen—this book brings that impact into a tactile, lasting format.  

What makes the book stand out:

• Practical, experience-based strategies for sensory challenges, burnout, and communication
• Interactive elements—coloring, journaling, and activities—that meet neurodivergent readers where they are
• A tone that’s refreshingly funny, irreverent, and empowering
• Insights drawn directly from the #actuallyautistic community

I had a chance to learn more in this interview with C. R. R. Hillin.

Why is it important to have a book written for the autistic community, by members of the autistic community?

Put frankly: because allistic folks don’t have the lived experience that we do! And especially in the modern environment, when autistics are finally able to speak for themselves, it is so important to let us speak, to each other and to allistics, and to hear what we have to say. 

For parenting, our perspective is especially important. A lot of parents don’t realize that if they have a neurodivergent child, they are likely neurodivergent as well. Our book is designed to help autistics adjust their life to suit their individual needs and sensitivities. This is especially important for parents! So many parents think there is a “right way” to raise a child, but sometimes the “right way” just won’t work for their family because their child (and likely they themselves) are neurodivergent. We simply don’t operate the same way! Having two people who have made those adjustments for themselves show the way is so helpful, but it’s more than that. We are living proof that you don’t have to follow all the made up rules—for living and for parenting. A few small changes made in a neurodivergent household can be the difference between struggling and thriving. 

Why do a lot of traditional autism resources miss the mark?

Because they treat autism as a disease first and a neurotype second. Often, autism “symptoms” are ignored until they cause problems (usually for the people around them, regardless of how they affect the person themselves) and then the focus becomes making the autistic person act more “normal,” not to help them be happy on their own terms. This is a critical difference. Treating autism this way means that the metric by which all autistic people are judged and diagnosed is their compatibility with “normalcy,” and aside from all the other problems that causes in the treatment of autism, it means “atypical” cases of autism fall through the cracks, because what people perceive as typical can vary wildly between practitioners and their resources. A person can fail to be diagnosed because their grades are good, because they are too old, because they are AFAB, or because they are Black. 

We as humans know next to nothing about autism—it’s just enormously complex. We cannot look at a brain or a blood sample and confidently say, “There’s the autism.” We diagnose people based on  highly individualized, downstream effects of autism that we call “symptoms.” With such a huge margin for error, and such dire consequences if they are wrong (due to how disabled and autistic people are treated and seen), practitioners tend to be over-cautious or allow their personal biases to get in the way. This is why self-diagnosis is such an important tool: because self-diagnosed autistics don’t want benefits or special treatment. They just want to find a community and learn how their own brains work. 

Why can it be helpful to approach discussions about neurodivergence with humor and creativity?

Actually, I think this is the most important question of all! For too long, so many disciplines have come at this subject with gravity and seriousness, and it has led to so much grief and fear and panic around autism. But many of us are thriving and happy how we are! It doesn’t have to be seen as a death sentence! Approaching the subject with some whimsy and lightheartedness lets everyone know that we love our unique brains, and that having an autism diagnosis—or an autistic child—isn’t something to be pitied or mourned. It’s awesome. The book is fun and happy because WE are fun and happy. 

I think humor is a useful tool for difficult subjects, and for some types of neurodivergence, like mental illness, humor can help light the darkness. With autism and ADHD our humor is often expressed through self-deprecatory jokes and exasperation at the way our brains work. And that’s important too. Talking about yourself this way is a sign of self-acceptance and self-love, even if it doesn’t seem like it. No matter what your disability, you have to accept it at some point, and learn to live with it instead of fight it, and humor is a wonderful tool for that. Plus, it helps other people to understand and connect, and brings us closer together as humans. It reclaims power, agency, and humanity from the people who try to take it from us. Elora is the funny one between the two of us, and her Instagram and TikTok are great examples of how humor can do all of these things!