Author John Elder Robison’s Asperger’s syndrome wasn’t diagnosed until he was forty years old. For much of his life he was labeled deficient, difficult, eccentric and just plain bad.

His 2007 book  Look Me In The Eye was a NY Times bestseller; his latest book, Be Different, Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian with Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families & Teachers was recently published, just in time for April’s National Autism Month.

He is a popular speaker and an authority on the subject of Asperger’s. C.R. and I are pleased to welcome him to the Therapy Soup blog at PsychCentral.com.

Welcome, John and thanks for appearing in the Therapy Soup blog.

Your first book, Look Me In The Eye, is a shocking, funny, autobiographical gallop. Your new book, Be Different, is more like a travel guide to the peaks and valleys of the Aspergian mind (or at least your Aspergian mind) and the Aspergian experience of the world. It is also a guide for those with Asperger’s or just those who are “geeky” or different—it really shows readers how to navigate the world and how to avoid pitfalls of self. What inspired you to write such a guide?

For the past three-some years I have listened to readers of Look Me in the Eye as they talk about how my first book affected them and what it’s meant.  One of the messages I got fairly consistently is that people want broader and deeper insight into autism, as illustrated through the lens of entertaining life stories.

Be Different is my answer to all the people who asked for more.  I have taken most every trait of Asperger’s as found in the DSM, and written a story to show how that trait has impacted my life, either for better or for worse.

Your language in Be Different is very accessible; you take complex insights, many of them personal, and break down your thoughts and feelings with remarkable vividness and clarity.

As non-Aspergians (perhaps with a touch of geeky-ness), we were struck by how universal some of your advice seemed. We found we could easily relate to more than a few of your personal observations and insights.

For example, you include chapters called “Getting Along With Others,” “Mind Your Manners” and “Lobster Claws: Dealing With Bullies” which are packed with solid communication and relationship advice that also works for “nypicals.”  (“Nypicals” is John’s name for neuro-typical individuals who aren’t Aspergian or on the Autistic spectrum).

Set off in pithy sidebars are general good-advice statements such as, “You should respond to what others say, not just speak what’s on your mind,” and “Not making enemies is a distinct skill in its own right…” and “If you find a place you can relax and unwind, you should treasure it and use it.”

What’s compelling about these recommendations is that you’ve written a detailed “play back” of your internal dialogue on how you reached these conclusions.  Can you give tips for people who would like to develop the ability to step-back and observe themselves the way you’ve done? How do you gain such clarity and objectivity?

One of the points I make in Be Different is that most of my accomplishments are a result of hard work, concentration, or just plain stubbornness.  For example, I did not just wake up one day and have the electronic abilities that allowed me to make the KISS guitars you read about in Be Different’s introduction.  I acquired those abilities by studying electronics ever single day, for six or eight hour stretches, over a period of several years.  Seen in that light, I worked harder for that electronic skill than many engineers with doctorates in the subject.

My power of self-reflection was developed in a similar manner.  Whenever people ask me how something works, I come to understand that thing better as a result of explaining it to others.  Over the past three years, people have asked me countless questions about my thought processes.  This book interprets those thoughts while at the same time benefiting from the improved power of reflection that the process itself has given me.

Part II in the interview with author John Robison, soon. Check out John’s video about his new book and John’s Web Site and John’s Blog.

JOHN ELDER ROBISON, born in Athens, Georgia, grew up in the 1960s before the diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome existed. Today, he has claimed his spot on the autism spectrum. He is an author and frequent lecturer about his life with Asperger’s. He blogs for Psychology Today and is an adjunct faculty member at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts. John serves on committees and review boards for the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health. He is currently involved in autism research and therapy programs at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital. John also sits on the science and treatment boards of Autism Speaks. His previous book, Look Me in the Eye, was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into ten languages and sold in sixty plus countries. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

ABOUT BE DIFFERENT: [In Be Different], Robison argues that Asperger’s is about difference, not just disability. With his usual honesty, dark humor, and unapologetic eccentricity, he answers questions like:

How to read others and follow their behaviors when in uncertain social situations.

Why manners matter.

How to harness your powers of concentration to master difficult skills.

How to deal with bullies.

When to make an effort to fit in, and when to embrace your eccentricity.

How to identify special gifts and use them to your advantage.

Equally important, Robison offers practical advice—to Aspergians, their parents, and educators—on how Aspergians can improve the weak communication and social skills that keep them from taking full advantage of, or even recognizing, their often remarkable gifts. Description by Crown Archetype.

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    Last reviewed: 5 Apr 2011