Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum

by Michael McCreary

I figured out that people don’t usually change if you put bananas in their desks. When they change is if you help them see the other as a human being.

Instead of letting you spend time doing what you’re great at, the structure of school usually means you have to spend more time on what you’re not good at.

This is the truth. Not just for those on the spectrum. It’s a broken system.

It turned out that the whole Learning Strategies class had signed up for Anime Club, because, well, we’re autistic. And because only autistic people watch anime, we ended holding our sessions in the special ed room, which we dubbed “the Hub.” The Hub was like an autistic Batcave.

Don’t fear awkwardness. Embrace it.

The problem with presenting autism on-screen is that it becomes the crux of the character. Having autism is a characteristic, not a character.

Love the phrasing here. Characteristic and character are terms that are too often conflated.

We were having a water-balloon fight. I refused to throw my balloon because it was green, my favorite color. One of the parents told me to “just run with it.” So I did … all the way through the suburbs. It took them two hours to find me.

One of my favorite laugh-out-loud moments in the book, and a great example of literal interpretation from aspies.

figured being in a relationship was sort of like being in a buddy cop movie. You just make quips and tolerate each another.

Sometimes, yes.

I’m so bad at math, my tutor at Kumon told me, “I think we should see other people.”

You should say yes to life when it benefits you and those you care about, but you always have the right to say no when it doesn’t.

Beautiful advice.

“Sadly, the high school triathlon will be postponed as the race track is now covered in bears.”