Emily Lovegrove:
Autism, Bullying and Me.
The Really Useful Stuff You Need to Know About Coping Brilliantly with Bullying.
Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2020
This is not a review — but it is a notice about a useful and accessible self-help book for those who feel different, written by my partner and published tomorrow.
It’s not always easy to stand out from the crowd, especially if you’re a teenager. There’s a lot of information out there on how to deal with bullying, but a lot of it is contradictory or seems like it won’t work…
But this guidebook is different! Helping you sort fact from fiction, the book looks at the different forms bullying can take and debunks commonly held myths such as ‘bullying makes you stronger’ and ‘ignore it and it will stop’.
You’ll learn techniques to clear your mind so that you can respond to bullying situations calmly and confidently and be positive about who you are.
Finally, it’s packed with self-empowering strategies for coping with being autistic in a neurotypical world, and practical tips so you can handle any bullying scenario.
Emily is a psychologist whose doctoral thesis was on appearance and bullying, and on strategies to manage bullying. Being only recently diagnosed as autistic means she writes from experience and with insight on how feeling — as well as looking — different can affect how others treat you; and as a professional she’s well positioned to advise on how to cope positively to that treatment.
She previously authored Help! I’m Being Bullied (Accent Press 2006) which sold out its print run. She tweets and blogs as The Bullying Doctor — a passive aggressive title foisted on her, I should add!
Published by Jessica Kingsley
ISBN 978 1 78775 213 9
eISBN 978 1 78775 214 6
Published at £12.99 in the UK, it’s available from all good outlets such as indie bookshops (eg Book-ish, Crickhowell at http://www.book-ish.co.uk) so do support them at this difficult time, especially if they take online orders.*
* If you order from Book-ish you could ask for a signed copy with a personal message from Emily
Calmgrove 
I’ll make sure our library gets a copy of this.
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Thank you so much, I’m sure it’ll be appreciated by all and sundry.
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I’ve a personal interest in autism, so I may have to read it first! (Perk of the job). 😆
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You have to check it’s suitable, dontcha! 😁
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Exactly! 😉
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Congrats to your partner and you, Chris! This is a very important topic and I’m glad it gets the attention and solutions it needs. 🙂
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I can’t take much, if any, credit for this book other than moral support, Ola, but I think that not only is it an important topic with helpful solutions offered but that it’s extremely well written — and though I may be biased I say that with my literary critic’s hat on!
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I’ll definitely try to get a hold of it, then! 🙂
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Try here:
https://www.jkp.com/aus/autism-bullying-and-me-1.html
🙂
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I will! Thank you, Chris! 😀
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When I looked it said ‘out of stock’ but that may just be because it hasn’t been shipped to NZ yet.
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👍🏻
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Thanks for drawing attention to this, Paula, it’s very much appreciated.
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I think I’ll give this one a go! Thanks for writing a post about it. (I will endeavour to get it from Bookish too!)
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That’s very kind and thoughtful of you, Jo. If it’s any help, adults as well as youngsters have responded positively to it, and young naturalist Dara McAnulty has given it a glowing review.
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I was about to mention Dara too! Amidst all the participants listening to the marvellous chat between Dara and Steve Silberman on Friday I saw Emily’s name flash past. (I recognised her from the piano duet you linked too!) I was going to mention this anyway whenever I next commented but now of course I understand her interest more fully. Dara’s book is on its way to me already. I can see another order will soon be arriving too! Congratulations to Emily; she is engaged in such important work 🙂
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Thanks, Sandra, I’ll pass on your congratulations to her! And if and when you get the book I hope you find it of interest. By the way we were listening to the interview between Dara and Steve while parcelling different books up for dispatch: did you also see the Guardian Review interview with Dara?
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I wish every success to the book – it is sad that issues like this exist, but wonderful that it is becoming more acceptable to talk about them and that there are supportive people to help.
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Thank you, Lory. It feels rather strange to have her book come out during lockdown, but perhaps timely as people may well feel bullied by circumstances right now as they would be by individuals. Though she does discuss online bullying, and that’s just as invidious on social media as it would be in the playground or the workplace.
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No! I’ll seek it out, Chris, thank you! I’ve followed Dara since he started his blog a couple of years back. Such an astonishing young man! I’m also pointing a good friend in the direction of Emily’s book. She is a psychotherapist with a personal as well as professional involvement in autism. I think she’d like to see it 🙂
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Here’s the interview: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/16/dara-mcanulty-nature-writing-diary-of-a-young-naturalist And thank you for recommending Emily’s book to your friend.
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