What does it mean to live at the intersection of autism, physical disability, trauma, and resilience?

In Autism and Physical Disability, Wenn B. Lawson shares a deeply personal account of late-diagnosed autism shaped by decades of misdiagnosis, physical and emotional pain, and a lifetime of mistrust born from trauma. Animals, birds, and the natural world become sources of solace, offering a pathway back to meaning and connection. This narrative blends lived experience with research, opening a rare window into the life of an older, trans, disabled autistic person who chose self-acceptance, love, and hope over despair. It challenges readers to confront the overlooked struggles of autistic people while providing a roadmap of resilience, healing, and reconciliation.

Autism and Physical Disability is a story of survival and transformation, but also a call to reimagine how society understands, supports, and values neurodivergent and disabled lives.

Ideal for students, researchers, practitioners, and educators in psychology, social work, special education, occupational therapy, mental health, and medical training.

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Content warning
• Learning objectives
• Foreword
• Prologue
• General introduction
• 1 Autism for me and my physical disability
  • Introduction
  • The monotropic lens
    • A. The social and communication domain:
    • B. The domain of rigid and repetitive interests and/or behaviour
    • C. Characteristics must be present in the early developmental period (but may not be fully seen until social demand exceeds capacity or may be masked by learned strategies in later life (See: Holliday-Willey, 1999).
    • D. Characteristics cause clinically significant differences in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
    • E. These differences are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. There are varying levels of support needed:
  • Physical disability as understood within this text
  • Autism assessment
  • Autism theories
  • Monotropism and polytropism
  • What does this mean for being physically disabled?
  • Some examples (e.g., at the dentist’s)
  • Not autistic, possibly a conflict
    • Visiting a clinic or support group
  • Wenn and the builder
  • Wenn and the anesthetist
  • Now and next
  • Wenn’s experience
  • Sight, hearing, auditory processing, chronic pain
    • My eyesight
  • My auditory processing disorder
  • When the sound is too loud
  • My chronic pain
  • Conclusion
• 2 Societal expectations of human behaviour and what’s different in autism and physical disability
  • Introduction
  • Wenn’s psoriatic arthritis
  • For example, Luke says:
  • Monotropic attention compared to polytropic attention
  • The double empathy problem
  • Ableism
  • According to Wikipedia:
  • Backdraft and self-compassion
  • Older autistics and emergency preparedness
  • Wenn, when the fire alarm went off
  • What to do if, what to do when, and how to do it
  • Autistic adults and autistic children
  • Wenn’s visit to the emergency department in his local town
  • Wenn’s experience of one university that catered to Wenn’s needs, compared to another that was less accommodating
  • Increasing disability
  • Grocery shopping
  • Conclusion
• 3 A picture of autistic communication and disability
  • Introduction
  • Communication
  • Non-speaking Autistic
  • Sensory differences
  • Misophonia
  • Experience of pain and/or of being out of energy
  • Inertia
  • The medical centre
  • Conclusion
• 4 Physical disability, the demand avoidant profile of Autism, interoception, and gender: Daily impact
  • Introduction
  • The PDA profile
  • Object permanence (OP)
  • For Wenn it was
  • Conclusion
• 5 Autism, physical disability, and sexuality
  • Introduction
  • What is sexuality
  • Sensory profiling
  • Intellect and communication style
  • Decisions about the level of education and what is needed?
  • Role play?
  • Gender formation
  • Conclusion
• 6 It should be ‘nothing about me without me’: Autism, physical disability, and ageing
  • Introduction
  • Conclusion
• Recommended discussion questions
• References
• Recommended further reading & resources
• Index

Wenn B. Lawson, an autistic researcher, psychologist, and internationally recognized author, is a leading theorist of Monotropism whose work advances autism research, advocacy, and inclusive practice.