Wow, when I consider how much damage the idea that I could be "normal" has done to my life...I just...It's not that I don't have words, it's that I have far too many words. They're all crowding in at once so I can't really figure out which ones come first. It hurts so much to see that people think this shit is okay.
I think Mockingbird is a young reader - not YA/teen but younger - that deals with that issue, but it has one of those awards on the front cover. I think with more children being diagnosed, it puts the issue of autism into more of a spotlight. And of course it's going to come up more in books.
The plus side is that some authors will research autism and portray it in a manner that is sensitive to the subject. The downside is that some authors will pull this shit.
Speaking up against such ableism is a start. Readers who may not have known that this is ablest will now have the information out there, and if enough people speak up against this, saying they don't want that in their fiction, the more of a chance that the author may realize that this is incorrect information and that people don't want to pay to get that!
The plus side is that some authors will research autism and portray it in a manner that is sensitive to the subject. The downside is that some authors will pull this shit.
Speaking up against such ableism is a start. Readers who may not have known that this is ablest will now have the information out there, and if enough people speak up against this, saying they don't want that in their fiction, the more of a chance that the author may realize that this is incorrect information and that people don't want to pay to get that!
I really hope Autism doesn't become the new "thing" in YA. :/