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Hello, my name is Jory Fleming, and along with Lyric Winik, I'm an author of the book How to be Human an Autistic Man's Guide to Life.

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My inspiration for producing this book, I think came about from

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the reaction and the interest that I received about being an autistic Rhodes Scholar that was about to attend Oxford University,

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and this was perhaps a bit of a surprise to me,

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because autism has always been a part of me and has shaped how I think how I communicate with others my way of seeing the world.

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And I suppose I just hadn't considered that this could be of interest to other people as well in the form of a book.

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But I suppose it makes sense because at the end of the day, a book can be a great way of encountering a new perspective.

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And I'm I'm hoping that it will turn out that way for many readers.

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And in the process of producing the book with Lyric,

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there were a lot of really special moments and one that comes to mind in particular was when Lyric

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was visiting in Oxford and we were at the University Botanical Gardens and we were walking

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and eventually we sat to talk on this bench.

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And it turns out this was a particularly significant bench for literary reasons for fans of the Philip Pullman series,

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which which feature this particular bench, I guess, very heavily.

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And I did not know that this particular bench had this significance, and neither did Lyric.

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But eventually we were sort of questioned about whether we could perhaps relinquish the bench for a little while.

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And we discovered that indeed this particular bench had that literary significance.

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And yeah, it was quite, it was,

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it was a fun surprise and fitting in many ways. And you know I think

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I think the I guess the process of working with on the book had many surprises,

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but I think by and large it was many positive surprises and it was it was a great process, I think, in many ways.

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And I think Worcester played a role in that process in that if there's one thing

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perhaps that I learnt that was helpful is that attention to detail is is really,

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really great. You know, I think that in sharing about autism

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and the way that it affects me as an autistic individual,

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I think one of the things that I hope that the book conveys for readers is perhaps those details that maybe

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sort of give you a sense of that different perspective and enable you to maybe latch onto it in a way.

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And, you know, in a similar manner, when you take a walk through Worcester

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I think there's always new flowers to visit and observe and that can teach you a lot about the seasons is always, pretty regularly anyway,

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new, inventive patterns of grass on the front quad.

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My favourite one personally was one that I just called Wi-Fi grass because it radiated outwards from the corner in these nice curves.

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And I think noticing details like that in your environment can really enrich your experience of that.

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And in some ways, I think autism

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influences my perception in that way, where I notice details, whether it's about the environment,

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whether about people, and I hope that readers can latch on to certain details in the book as well.

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And if you have a chance to read the book, I'd love to know what some of those details are.

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So thank you for for listening.

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And I hope one day you might get a chance to read the book, or even better, to find an autistic individual that's a friend,

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a colleague, and and perhaps ask them about their experiences, too, if they're willing to share.