My Autism Led Me To Become a Champion of Outsiders
Charlotte Amelia Poe
Charlotte Amelia Poe grew up knowing she was different. Now it’s her mission – through her art and writing – to bring about change. She is a 30-year-old writer and artist living in Blundeston, England. Her first book, How To Be Autistic, was published September 19th 2019, and in 2018, Poe won the inaugural Spectrum Art Award.
Charlotte’s purpose was to show the side of autism that she has lived through, the side people don’t find in books and on Facebook groups. “The title "How To Be Autistic" was taken from the idea that neurotypical people are always writing about us, with an idea of how to fix us,” says Poe to Joanna Moorhead for The Guardian.
She wants everyone to understand how it feels to be an individual on the autism spectrum because it really matters, perhaps more than it’s ever mattered. Her mission to break open the mystery of how it feels to be an adult with autism has already been impressively successful: last year she won the Spectrum art prize for her video piece How To Be Autistic and recently she wrote a book of the same name, How To Be Autistic.
Her story is about survival, fear, and finally, hope. “It is an open letter to every autistic person who has suffered the verbal, mental or physical abuse and come out snarling and alive,” says Poe to Moorhead for The Guardian. Her hope is that, by opening up about her own journey through childhood, school and adolescence, so she can change other people’s perceptions and expectations about what autism is like, from the inside.
“I hope my book help prevent others from missing out on opportunities I felt I missed out on because of my later diagnosis, such as going to the university”, she says to Moorhead for The Guardian, “if I can help at least one person, then it’s all been worth it. There's a whole generation, at least, of people who don't know they're an individual in the autism spectrum, and I feel that this book could be the spark that leads to diagnosis”.
Poe was just six or seven years old and at primary school when she realized she was different. But it wasn’t until she was 21 that she received a diagnosis of autism. “Autistic children are often quiet and obedient when they’re very young – and if you’re a girl, that’s not unusual. But for a boy it is. If I’d been a boy, I’d have been diagnosed years sooner”, she says to Moorhead for The Guardian.
Today, Poe looks as different as she feels. Her arms and legs are covered in tattoos and her hair is dyed blonde with hues of light pink and pale blue. Being an individual on the autism spectrum still limits her life – agoraphobia means she only manages to leave the house once or twice a month, and she has to take tranquilizers first –but stumbling on the existence of the Spectrum Art Award for people with autism, and then making the winning video, changed her life.
Her most important point, though, is also her simplest. “If there’s one thing I’d like people to take away from my experience, that would help others with autism, it’s this: be kind,” she says to Moorhead for The Guardian. “Kindness is underrated. You don’t need to know their story, you just need to think about being friendly and helping, rather than deciding they’re strange or worthless and moving on fast. A little bit of kindness can make the world of a difference to someone who’s struggling.”
She hopes to create a discussion and a movement that allows for individuals on the autism spectrum to be seen as equal and vital members of their communities, and as the unique and varied individuals they are.