‘On the Rosie Result tour, I adopted the broader disability community slogan: nothing about us without us. So I wanted autistic representation at every event: as an opening reading, as interviewer or mediator, as panellist…And it absolutely made the events better: Clem Bastow launched the book and I did an in-conversation with her and Yenn Purkis. Tom Middleditch of A_tistic Theatre did a brilliant monologue at a bunch of my Melbourne events, John Elder Robison travelled to Boston for an ‘in conversation, Katherine May, who’d been an articulate critic of The Rosie Project joined me in London. Kay Kerr did her first ever reading from Please Don’t Hug Me. I had to follow autistic comedian Michael McCreary in Toronto—tough assignment! And lots more. But we had to push through sometimes. In Brisbane, they said: we’re sold out, we’ve got you and Tony Attwood (professor of psychology specialising in autism) in conversation, what more autistic rep do you need? And, of course, the answer was: someone who’s actually autistic. We got Barb Cook as mediator and she did a brilliant job.’

— GCS