hello! So I'm writing a book (or trying to) and one of my main characters is autistic (I didn't plan it, but I noticed that I was kinda starting to write him that way) and so I've done a lot of research to try and write him well but I don't want to offend anyone or give the wrong information if one day it gets published. Are there some things that I should write or even avoid writing? Seriously, I need advice because I wanna do it well! Thanks in advance
:OOO You're writing a book? I'd love to read it!I'm afraid I don't have any tips, but here are some quick ones:•Not every symptom of autism will show up in every autistic person. One person may be nonverbal, but have good motor skills. Another person may be verbal (most of the time) but have terrible motor skills. It depends on the person. I have a brother on the autism spectrum as well, and not all of our symptoms line up.•Stims! Not every autistic person may stim, of course, but it is common. A stim is a repeated movement and/or sound that an autistic person makes, usually to calm themself down. For example, I stim by waving my hands, clenching and unclenching parts of my body like my jaw, clicking a pen/mechanical pencil to hear the sound, or braiding my hair. I'm not sure if drawing counts as one, though.•Jokes and sarcasm. Many autistic people tend to take things literally. I can tell jokes and be sarcastic, but if someone else is I tend to think "Are they being serious?" I can catch them if they're on paper, but even then it's hard. Your character probably shouldn't catch every joke.•Slurs. R*tard is a no. It's highly offensive. Your character should never say it. Ever.Honestly, all I can say is that someone would have to read over it. But if anyone has any other tips, please share them!