Bad Choices Make Good Stories

Book excerpt: This book is about all the ways that I, and millions of people with autism, experience the world.When I was in high school, I attended a seminar for people with Asperger's. There was another individual there (pretty safe bet he was on the spectrum) who raised his hand and repeated the cliché "there's no normal." He said, "We're all different! We're all weird in our own way! So, there really is no such thing as normal."I raised my hand and said, "You know what? That's bullsh*t. There is such thing as normal! The difference between us and everybody else is that they all have quirks that fall within the range of what society considers normal, and we fall outside that range." I almost felt bad, because he didn't have much to say after that.I encourage you to read our first book, Chasing the Rabbit, because it will give you a very different perspective on my life, as it's mostly written from my dad's point of view.The first book I wrote (with my dad) was Chasing the Rabbit: A Dad's Life Raising a Son on the Spectrum. My dad chose that title--he always describes me with the analogy of a greyhound chasing a mechanical rabbit: the greyhound can see the rabbit but can never catch it. My dad says that the rabbit represents normal, and I'm the greyhound. As someone with Asperger's--what's now called "high-functioning autism"--I am always trying to be "normal." I know what "normal" is, and I know what "normal" looks like, but I am perpetually trying to catch the rabbit, which is "normality." A lot of people have an issue with the term "normal." I don't. When people say things like, "There's no such thing as normal," it devalues the struggle I go through every day.