“Hear Our Spectrum of Voices” Autistic Advocacy Comic

By Jodi Murphy, Geek Club Books

Every conversation about autism must be centered around autistic perspectives. We must do whatever we can to amplify autistic voices, correct misconceptions and spread the real truth about autism. For us, this means working with creative autistic freelancers to produce digital comics and other pop-culture based materials that help the world understand the autism experience.

Our “Hear Our Spectrum of Voices” comic was created by Rebecca Burgess, the autistic comic artist and illustrator who made the popular comic strip, Understanding the Spectrum, featured here on The Art of Autism. Spectrum of Voices features some of our favorite quotes by our autistic team of writers who advocate for their rights and educate the misinformed public. Seeing their words as a collection is so powerful. They are truly “moving thinking forward about autism.”

DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE COMIC HERE.

Soon, we’ll have a video version of the comic featuring the quotes voiced by the advocates who spoke them. The comic has also been translated into Danish and Hungarian! I am open to any others who’d like to translate it into their native languages.

Rebecca Burgess and I are also brainstorming new ideas for the comic—to feature more quotes by other autistics and to possibly expand to advocate stories in a comic anthology. The possibilities are very exciting so stay tuned for more spectrum of voices!

Credits: Hear Our Spectrum of Voices Comic is produced by Geek Club Books, an autism nonprofit. The art is by Rebecca Burgess and the quotes are from the following autistic advocates: Lydia Wayman, Chloe Rothschild, Megan Amodeo, Becca Lory, Jonathan Murphy, Rochelle Johnson, Robert Watkins, Emma Dalmayne, Christa Holmans (Neurodivergent Rebel), and Sara Harvey (Agony Autie).