An Emerald guide to creativity in autism

Creativity in autism extends to all areas of life - to the visual arts, to music, to dance - but our backgrounds in English and Applied Drama mean that it is a particular pleasure for us to explore autistic interaction with words.

Stereotypes of autism suggest that autistic people are concrete thinkers, people who struggle to move beyond literal interpretations, and that language used by and understood by autistic people lacks flexibility and creativity.

We challenge this perspective, instead suggesting that autism may bring new richness and originality to language that can provide creativity and insight.

This book shares and discusses two recent projects using the written word to explore autism.

The first used the shared reading of literature as a scaffold for discussion of autistic identity.

The second involved creative writing by a group of autistic adults.

All involved throughout were 'insider' members of the autism community, and both projects were completed collectively.