Motherness: A Memoir of Generational Autism, Parenthood, and Radical Acceptance

Spanning 13 years -- beginning with pregnancy and ending with diagnosis -- Motherness offers a deeply personal account of an autistic mother raising an autistic child. It covers sensory processing, meltdowns, masking, empathy, bullying, special interests, and more. Tender and incisive, it’s essential for adults and parents navigating their own autism diagnoses.

A funny, unflinchingly honest, and deeply compassionate memoir about one woman’s experience of raising an autistic child while discovering she is also ＂on the spectrum＂

Almost 10 years after learning that her son is autistic, Julie Green was also diagnosed, shedding light on a lifetime of feeling othered and misunderstood. Motherness traces Julie’s journey from childhood to early motherhood, when she must advocate for her son while navigating her own struggles.

With more girls and women being diagnosed in the last decade -- many of them later in life -- the face of autism is changing. Motherness provides a rich, intensely personal account of what it is like to be autistic, through the lens of both a mother and child. Topics include sensory processing, meltdowns and shutdowns, masking, empathy, alexithymia, bullying, elopement, special interests, disordered eating, gender diversity, twice exceptionality, and more.

Motherness is a story about accepting your child while learning to accept yourself. This extraordinary, groundbreaking memoir speaks to the great challenges and great joys of autism, providing valuable insights to parents of autistic children, adults newly diagnosed or questioning their place on the spectrum, and anyone seeking a greater understanding of neurodiversity.

Julie M. Green is a Kingston-based writer whose work has been featured in the Washington Post, HuffPost, The Globe and Mail, Today’s Parent, and Chatelaine. She has appeared on CTV, BBC Radio, Sirius XM, and CBC Radio. She writes The Autistic Mom on Substack. For more information, visit JulieMGreen.ca.