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.
My inspiration for producing this book, I think came about from
the reaction and the interest that I received about being an autistic Rhodes Scholar that was about to attend Oxford University,
and this was perhaps a bit of a surprise to me,
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.
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.
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.
And I'm I'm hoping that it will turn out that way for many readers.
And in the process of producing the book with Lyric,
there were a lot of really special moments and one that comes to mind in particular was when Lyric
was visiting in Oxford and we were at the University Botanical Gardens and we were walking
and eventually we sat to talk on this bench.
And it turns out this was a particularly significant bench for literary reasons for fans of the Philip Pullman series,
which which feature this particular bench, I guess, very heavily.
And I did not know that this particular bench had this significance, and neither did Lyric.
But eventually we were sort of questioned about whether we could perhaps relinquish the bench for a little while.
And we discovered that indeed this particular bench had that literary significance.
And yeah, it was quite, it was,
it was a fun surprise and fitting in many ways. And you know I think
I think the I guess the process of working with on the book had many surprises,
but I think by and large it was many positive surprises and it was it was a great process, I think, in many ways.
And I think Worcester played a role in that process in that if there's one thing
perhaps that I learnt that was helpful is that attention to detail is is really,
really great. You know, I think that in sharing about autism
and the way that it affects me as an autistic individual,
I think one of the things that I hope that the book conveys for readers is perhaps those details that maybe
sort of give you a sense of that different perspective and enable you to maybe latch onto it in a way.
And, you know, in a similar manner, when you take a walk through Worcester
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,
new, inventive patterns of grass on the front quad.
My favourite one personally was one that I just called Wi-Fi grass because it radiated outwards from the corner in these nice curves.
And I think noticing details like that in your environment can really enrich your experience of that.
And in some ways, I think autism
influences my perception in that way, where I notice details, whether it's about the environment,
whether about people, and I hope that readers can latch on to certain details in the book as well.
And if you have a chance to read the book, I'd love to know what some of those details are.
So thank you for for listening.
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,
a colleague, and and perhaps ask them about their experiences, too, if they're willing to share.