Today is World Autism Awareness Day and we’ve asked Hannah Brown to join us for a guest post about how she uses her writing to elevate awareness about autism. She also shares how she brought her experiences as the mother of a son with autism  into her novel, If I Could Tell You.

From Hannah Brown:

They say write what you know. For a long time after my son Danny was diagnosed with autism, that was all I knew.

Soon, I became close to other mothers I met – in support groups and therapists’ waiting rooms – whose children had also been diagnosed with autism.

Eventually, I realized that I wanted to tell our stories. I wrote If I Could Tell You to highlight our experiences of trying to help our children, while we also coped with the pressures of work, marriage and raising other kids.  The bonds that developed among the mothers I knew and were my inspiration.

It wasn’t easy for me to write about the most urgent subject in my life. When I read certain scenes in my novel, I still cry. The opening is based on a real incident in which my son got lost.

But I hope my book encourages other parents of autistic children to open up about their lives. There’s a lot of talk about “Autism Awareness,” but there can only be true awareness if people understand what families with autistic children go through. So I hope all readers will come away with a deeper understanding of autism.

Photo credit:  Irish Nesher