The Girl with the Curly Hair - Asperger's and Me

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Meet Alis Rowe, the autistic creator and entrepreneur behind the Curly Hair Project , a social enterprise that creates resources to support autistic people, their families and carers.

I discovered Alis and her work in 2014 and felt an immediate connection. I read Aspergers & Me and felt that Alis was writing about my daughter. It helped us make sense of so many things that had happened to our daughter, growing up. The training, books and social media posts were such a fantastic support to our family as we learned to understand the diagnosis and how it presented itself in our daughter. Going forwards, Alis never stops creating new and innovative ways of communicating her experiences of the world and strategies that support it, more recently through her animations and also her own songs. CHP has something for everyone. I wanted an explanation for why I could not fit in with other people and seem to have “normal” relationships, as well as an explanation that I could give to people who misinterpret my behaviour as me not liking them, or being uninterested. For example, at the end of university, all the students and lecturers met up on a sunny day by the river to celebrate. Everyone was having a wonderful time. I stayed ten minutes. I had made a massive effort to attend, but it was such an excruciatingly difficult experience. How did it feel when you got the diagnosis?Alis Rowe writes complex psychological material with such simplicity and dead on truth.” Meet The Girl With The Curly Hair

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when I was 22 and I started The Curly Hair Project to innovate the way the world views and understands autism. I’m extremely passionate and disciplined about what I do! It is thought that lots of autistic women and girls present as very quiet, shy and introverted, which means that their problems can be ‘invisible.’ Nobody thinks that there is anything wrong, because sometimes they don’t express themselves, or interact much in everyday life. They may have very high anxiety, but not externalise their thoughts and feelings. To the outside eye, this sort of person is quite ‘neutral’ and isn’t ‘challenging’ or ‘naughty,’ so no one really notices them. However, I always say that people noticed that I really struggled to interact with other people when I was growing up– being so invisible made me stand out! What advice would you give to someone who has just received an autism diagnosis? Being autistic has also contributed to me being extremely introverted. Being around people for any length of time is exhausting. I cannot do a lot of ‘normal’ activities because they require me to be around other people for too long. I also have to work very, very hard to be responsible, polite and friendly, even though I’m feeling very flustered and anxious. It may be very helpful for you to learn more about autism and common strategies other autistic people use to manage their life. Everyone on the autism spectrum is different, so finding a particular author or speaker that you can personally relate to might also be helpful. Any upcoming projects?Being autistic, for me, means having a very strict and rigid routine and feeling devastated, like the world is going to end, when it gets disrupted. When someone shows up ten minutes late, asks me to do something last minute, or strikes up spontaneous conversation, it causes me an enormous amount of stress. However, I do think that an earlier diagnosis would have helped me emotionally. I would have loved to have found a book or a person that I could relate to. What is being autistic like for you? My favourite hobby is Olympic weightlifting (snatch and clean & jerk), which I do 6 times per week.

I have combined all of my interests and skills – and learned plenty of new skills along the way! – to create some amazing resources including: books, visual guides, blog, infographics, podcasts, training courses, webinars, songs and animated films.Your commitment and dedication in sharing your experiences, your thoughts and feelings indeed changes the hearts and minds of all of us who read your posts and blogs. You teach professionals through your training programmes and your books. Your skills in raising awareness alter the mind set of people world wide. Above all, you continually help me to understand my darling grandson more and more every day. A thank you never seems enough, but I do thank you hugely. I send you boundless blessings every day x”