How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing (2022), by KC Davis, LPC

This revolutionary approach to cleaning and organizing helps free you from feeling ashamed or overwhelmed by a messy home.

If you’re struggling to stay on top of your to-do list, you probably have a good reason: anxiety, fatigue, depression, ADHD, or lack of support. For therapist KC Davis, the birth of her second child triggered a stress-mess cycle. The more behind she felt, the less motivated she was to start. She didn’t fold a single piece of laundry for seven months. One life-changing realization restored her sanity—and the functionality of her home: You don’t work for your home; your home works for you.

In other words, messiness is not a moral failing. A new sense of calm washed over her as she let go of the shame-based messaging that interpreted a pile of dirty laundry as “I can never keep up” and a chaotic kitchen as “I’m a bad mother.” Instead, she looked at unwashed clothes and thought, “I am alive,” and at stacks of dishes and thought, “I cooked my family dinner three nights in a row.”

Building on this foundation of self-compassion, KC devised the powerful practical approach that has exploded in popularity through her TikTok account, @domesticblisters. The secret is to simplify your to-do list and to find creative workarounds that accommodate your limited time and energy. In this book, you’ll learn exactly how to customize your cleaning strategy and rebuild your relationship with your home, including:

-How to see chores as kindnesses to your future self, not as a reflection of your worth
-How to start by setting priorities
-How to stagger tasks so you won’t procrastinate
-How to clean in quick bursts within your existing daily routine
-How to use creative shortcuts to transform a room from messy to functional

With KC’s help, your home will feel like a sanctuary again. It will become a place to rest, even when things aren’t finished. You will move with ease, and peace and calm will edge out guilt, self-criticism, and endless checklists. They have no place here.

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum: An Autistic Comics Anthology (2022), ed. Bex Ollerton

A colorful and eclectic comics anthology exploring a wide range of autistic experiences—from diagnosis journeys to finding community—from autistic contributors.

From artist and curator Bex Ollerton comes an anthology featuring comics from thirty autistic creators about their experiences of living in a world that doesn’t always understand or accept them. Sensory: Life on the Spectrum contains illustrated explorations of everything from life pre-diagnosis to tips on how to explain autism to someone who isn't autistic, to suggestions for how to soothe yourself when you’re feeling overstimulated. With unique, vibrant comic-style illustrations and the emotional depth and vulnerability of memoir, this book depicts these varied experiences with the kind of insight that only those who have lived them can have.

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ISBN: 978-1524874766

I Am Autistic: A Workbook: Sensory Tools, Practical Advice, and Interactive Journaling for Understanding Life with Autism (By Someone Diagnosed with It) (2022), Chanelle Moriah

Navigate the world of autism with this friendly, full-color guide for those interested in learning more about autism spectrum disorder (ASD), getting an early diagnosis, and recognizing how being autistic can impact a person’s life.

In this first-ever creative guide, author and illustrator Chanelle Moriah offers an interactive tool for both diagnosed and undiagnosed autistics to explain or make sense of their experiences. It also offers non-autistic people the chance to learn more about autism from someone who is autistic.

Packed with full-color illustrations, sensory elements, and spaces for reflection, this book is designed to be personalized to the individual’s experience. I Am Autistic helps people feel less alone in their autism and brings knowledge to an often-misunderstood condition.

Paperback: 144 pages
ISBN: 978-1646044184

F*ck Anxiety: 101 Ways to Soothe Anxiety, Stop the Panic + Get Back to Your Badass Self, by Lauren Douglas (2022)

A beautifully illustrated, irreverent guide to breaking out of the anxious thought patterns that hold us back.

This little self-help book contains 101 anxiety spiral-stopping exercises, inspiring pep talks, and calm-the-F-down activities. With a no f*cks given tone, research-backed therapeutic techniques, and fun, fresh illustration, F*ck Anxiety will help you take control over your anxious thought patterns and make you laugh at the same time.

Divided into six chapters—the first two will help kick that anxiety spiral in it's scrawny ass, and the next four help build and flex anti-anxiety powers on the daily—F*ck Anxiety covers the following:

• Get Out of Your Head in Ten Minutes or Less
• Get Stubborn Against a Longer Spiral
• Do These Eight Things Every Day—You Deserve It!
• A Grab Bag of Ways to Be Amazing to You
• Truths + Tending for Shitty Situations
• Hush Up, It's Time for Your Daily Moment of Zen

In addition, the book also includes an explanation of how anxiety works, as well as recommendations for additional tools and practices. 

Paperback: 208 pages
ISBN: 978-1524870584

Self-Care for Autistic People: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress, and Unmask! by Dr. Megan Anna Neff (2024)

Ditch the stigma, celebrate your identity, and put yourself first with these 100+ exercises that reinforce the idea that neurodiversity is a strength and teaches you how to relax, destress, find your community, practice self-love, and more.

When you’re autistic, it can be tough to prioritize wellness.

Self-Care for Autistic People can help you engage in some neurodivergent self-care—without pretending to be neurotypical. You’ll find more than 100 activities that help you accept yourself, destigmatize autism, find your community, and take care of your physical and mental health. You’ll find solutions for managing the challenging aspects of autism, as well as ideas to bring out the many positive aspects. With expert advice from therapist Megan A. Neff, this book will help you make the most of your life and your diagnosis.

Hardcover: 192 pages
ISBN: 978-1507221938

The Autistic Burnout Workbook (2025), by Dr. Megan Anna Neff

Navigate the challenging terrain of autistic burnout with expert guidance, insightful visuals, and transformative exercises designed to help you pursue your own recovery from neurodivergent psychologist Dr. Megan Neff.

Feeling burnt out? You’re not alone. Autistic burnout is a challenge faced by many individuals on the autistic spectrum. And The Autistic Burnout Workbook is here to help.

This transformative guide is designed to empower individuals on the autism spectrum to manage and overcome burnout. Crafted with empathy and insight, this workbook provides practical strategies and exercises to help you navigate the unique challenges associated with burnout.

Through interactive prompts and activities, The Autistic Burnout Workbook teaches individuals how to identify triggers, manage sensory overload, and build resilience. It encourages self-reflection and cultivates a supportive environment for personal growth. This user-friendly workbook is a proactive approach to mental health, promoting self-care and fostering a sense of control that makes it a lifeline for those grappling with the realities of autistic burnout.

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Adams Media
ISBN: 978-1507223062

The Everything Parent’s Guide To Sensory Processing Disorder: The Information and Treatment Options You Need To Help Your Child With SPD (2014), Terri Mauro 

If your child has been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder (SPD), you understand how simple, everyday tasks can become a struggle. With The Everything Parent's Guide to Sensory Processing Disorder, you can help your child learn how to reduce stress and minimize the symptoms of SPD. In this all-in-one guide, Terri Mauro provides all the information you need regarding SPD, including:

• An in-depth definition of SPD and its effects
• The newest treatments, therapies, and diets
• Techniques for use outside of the therapist's office
• The latest research on physical causes of SPD
• Advice for coping at school, home, and play

Your child deserves to live a life free of the difficulties SPD can bring. The Everything Parent's Guide to Sensory Processing Disorder gives you professional advice to help your child to manage sensory needs and feel calmer, happier, and in control, now and in the future.

ISBN: 978-1440574566
Publisher: Everything

Autism in Heels: The Untold Story of a Female Life on the Spectrum, by Jennifer Cook O'Toole  (2021)

"Autism in Heels," an intimate memoir and Wall Street Journal bestseller, reveals the woman inside one of autism’s most prominent figures, Jennifer O'Toole. At the age of thirty-five, Jennifer was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and for the first time in her life, things made sense.

Jennifer exposes the constant struggle between carefully crafted persona and authentic existence, editing the autism script with wit, candor, passion, and power. Her journey is one of reverse-self-discovery not only as an Aspie but--more importantly--as a thoroughly modern woman.

Beyond being a memoir, Autism in Heels is a love letter to all women. It’s a conversation starter. A game changer. And a firsthand account of what it is to walk in Jennifer's shoes (especially those iconic red stilettos).

Whether it's bad perms or body image, sexuality or self-esteem, Jennifer's is as much a human journey as one on the spectrum. Because autism "looks a bit different in pink," most girls and women who fit the profile are not identified, facing years of avoidable anxiety, eating disorders, volatile relationships, self-harm, and stunted independence. Jennifer has been there, too. Autism in Heels takes that message to the mainstream.

From her own struggles and self-discovery, she has built an empire of empowerment, inspiring women the world over to realize they aren't mistakes. They are misunderstood miracles.

Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN: 978-1510758698

Laziness Does Not Exist, by Devon Price (2022)

Extra-curricular activities. Honors classes. 60-hour work weeks. Side hustles.

Like many Americans, Dr. Devon Price believed that productivity was the best way to measure self-worth. Price was an overachiever from the start, graduating from both college and graduate school early, but that success came at a cost. After Price was diagnosed with a severe case of anemia and heart complications from overexertion, they were forced to examine the darker side of all this productivity.

Laziness Does Not Exist explores the psychological underpinnings of the “laziness lie,” including its origins from the Puritans and how it has continued to proliferate as digital work tools have blurred the boundaries between work and life. Using in-depth research, Price explains that people today do far more work than nearly any other humans in history yet most of us often still feel we are not doing enough.

Filled with practical and accessible advice for overcoming society’s pressure to do more, and featuring interviews with researchers, consultants, and experiences from real people drowning in too much work, Laziness Does Not Exist “is the book we all need right now” (Caroline Dooner, author of The F*ck It Diet).

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 978-1982140113

This Is ADHD: A Workbook: Practical Advice and Interactive Journaling for Understanding ADHD (2024), by Chanelle Moriah 

Discover the essential guide to understanding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder—commonly known as ADHD—for people with ADHD and their families, friends, colleagues, and more.

Chanelle Moriah was officially diagnosed with ADHD at 22 and soon discovered just how inaccessible a lot of information can be for ADHD adults and those who may not yet have been able to obtain an assessment or support.

So Chanelle created a simple resource that explains what ADHD is and how it can impact the different areas of someone's life. This is ADHD: A Workbook is a tool for both diagnosed and undiagnosed people with ADHD to explain or make sense of their experiences. It also offers non-ADHD people the chance to learn more about ADHD from someone who has it.

With clear sections explaining the many aspects of ADHD, accompanied by Chanelle's beautiful illustrations and with space for readers to write down their thoughts, this workbook is designed to be personalized to the individual's experience. This is ADHD: A Workbook helps people feel less alone in their ADHD and brings knowledge to an often-misunderstood condition.

Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Ulysses Press
ISBN: 978-1646046126

Self-Care for Caregivers: A Practical Guide to Caring for You While You Care for Your Loved One (2022), by Susanne White

Take care of yourself as you care for others with this accessible, easy-to-follow self-care guide to relax and rejuvenate.

It’s been said that there are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will become caregivers, and those who will need caregivers. Chances are you or someone you know is taking care of a loved one at home. If you do, you also know that caregiving—however fulfilling—is also hard on the caregiver’s mental and physical health. Self-care is vital to caregivers maintaining stamina and a positive outlook for both themselves and the people they care for. But being so busy caring for others can make it hard to find time for yourself.

In Self-Care for Caregivers, you’ll find short, easy-to-read—and often easy-to-do—ways to replenish your mind, body, and spirit, including:
-Practicing mindfulness by focusing in on your five senses
-Remembering to HALT to check if you’re hungry, angry, lonely, or tired
-Making a gratitude list of at least three things you're grateful for
-And much more!

Full of practical advice and reminders to have a quick snack, call a friend, create a sanctuary, write in a journal, and more ways to take care yourself—plus resources for caregiving—this book will go a long way towards making your caregiving experience a happier and more healthful one for you and the people you care for.

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Adams Media
ISBN:  978-1507218396

The Autism Job Club: The Neurodiverse Workforce in the New Normal of Employment (2015), Michael S. Bernick and Richard Holden

The Autism Job Club is a groundbreaking book for bringing adults with autism and other neurodivergent conditions into the work world.

The book has its basis in the autism job club that the authors have been part of in the San Francisco Bay Area, the job-creation and job-placement efforts the club has undertaken, and similar efforts throughout the United States.

The authors review the high unemployment rates among adults with autism and other neurodivergent conditions more than two decades after the ADA, and national data on autism employment and unemployment with the individual employment searches of job club members.

Bernick and Holden also outline and explain six strategies that, taken together, will reshape employment for adults with autism:

*The art of the autism job coach.
*The autism advantage in technology employment.
*Autism employment and the internet economy.
*Autism employment and the practical/craft economy.
*Autism and extra-governmental job networks.
*Autism and public service employment.

The Autism Job Club will be a vital resource for adults with autism, their families, and advocates who are committed to neuro-diverse employment, not unemployment. But it will also speak to a far broader audience interested in how to carve out a place for themselves or others in an increasingly competitive job world.

Paperback: 272 pages

The Rules of Rain by Leah Scheier (2017)

Rain has taken care of Ethan all their lives. Before she even knew what autism meant, she was her twin brother’s connection to the world around him. Each day with Ethan is unvarying and predictable, until one night when her world is turned upside down by a mistake she can’t take back. As her new romance with her longtime crush and her carefully constructed life begin to unravel, Rain discovers that the fragile brother she’s always protected has grown into a young man who no longer needs her. And, for the first time, she discovers just how much she needs him.

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
ISBN: 9781492654261
Reading Age: 14-17

Doctor Dogs: How Our Best Friends Are Becoming Our Best Medicine by Maria Goodavage (2019)

New York Times bestselling author Maria Goodavage takes us on a thrilling, delightful, globe-trotting journey to discover the heartwarming and fascinating new world of doctor dogs.

In this groundbreaking book, Goodavage brings us behind the scenes of cutting-edge science at top research centers, and into the lives of people whose well-being depends on their devoted, highly skilled personal MDs (medical dogs). With her signature wit and passion, Goodavage explores how doctor dogs are becoming our happy allies in the fight against dozens of physical and mental conditions.

We meet dogs who detect cancer and Parkinson’s disease, and dogs who alert people to seizures and diabetic lows or highs and other life-threatening physical ailments. Goodavage reveals the revolutionary ways dogs are helping those with autism, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. And she introduces us to intrepid canines who are protecting us from antibiotic-resistant bugs, and to dogs who may one day help keep us safe from epidemic catastrophe. Their paycheck for their lifesaving work? Heartfelt praise and a tasty treat or favorite toy.

The emotional element in Doctor Dogs delivers as powerfully as the science. You don’t have to be a dog lover to care deeply about what these dogs are doing and what we are learning from them—although if you’re not a dog lover, you probably will be by the end of the book.

Publisher: Dutton
ISBN: 978-1524743048

Anything But Typical (2010), Nora Raleigh Baskin

Told from the first-person perspective of an autistic boy, Nora Raleigh Baskin’s novel is an enlightening story for anyone who has ever worried about fitting in.

Jason Blake is an autistic twelve-year-old living in a neurotypical world. Most days it's just a matter of time before something goes wrong. But Jason finds a glimmer of understanding when he comes across PhoenixBird, who posts stories to the same online site as he does.

Jason can be himself when he writes and he thinks that PhoneixBird-her name is Rebecca-could be his first real friend. But as desperate as Jason is to met her, he's terrified that if they do meet, Rebecca wil only see his autism and not who Jason really is.

By acclaimed writer Nora Raleigh Baskin, this is the breathtaking depiction of an autistic boy's struggles-and a story for anyone who has ever worried about fitting in.

Age Range: 10-12 years
Paperback: 224 pages

What to Say Next: Successful Communication in Work, Life, and Love―with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2021), by Sarah Nannery

Using her personal experience living as a professional woman with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sarah Nannery, together with her husband, Larry, offers this timely communication guide for anyone on the Autism spectrum looking to successfully navigate work, life, and love.

When Sarah Nannery got her first job at a small nonprofit, she thought she knew exactly what it would take to advance. But soon she realized that even with hard work and conscientiousness, she was missing key meanings and messages embedded in her colleagues’ everyday requests, feedback, and praise. She had long realized her brain operated differently than others, but now she knew for sure: she had Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

With help from her neurotypical partner—now husband—Larry, mostly in frantic IM chats, Sarah rose to Director of Development at one of the world’s largest nonprofits. Together they have tackled challenges in how Sarah navigates personal and professional relationships, how they navigate marriage and parenthood, all of which are differently challenging for someone with ASD. But she wonders, at times, how life would be different if she’d had to figure it all out herself. So, in What to Say Next, she offers advice, empathy, and straightforward strategies from her own tool-kit—not only for others who see the world differently, but for their families, partners and colleagues.

In What to Say Next, Sarah breaks down everyday situations—the chat in the break room, the last-minute meeting, the unexpected run-in—in granular detail, explaining not only how to understand the goals of others, but also how to frame your own. Larry adds his thoughts from a neurotypical perspective, sharing what was going on in his brain and how he learned to listen and enlighten, while supporting and maintaining Sarah’s voice. At a time when more and more people are being diagnosed with ASD—especially women and girls—this book tells important truths about what it takes to make it in a neurotypical world, and still be true to yourself.

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Simon Element
ISBN: 978-1982138202

Self-Care for People with ADHD: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress, and Prioritize You! (2023), by Sasha Hamdani

Destress, find your community, and practice self-love with these 100+ exercises to reinforce ADHD as a strength.

When you have ADHD, it can be hard to stay on top of your wellness. Self-Care for People with ADHD is here to help!

This book can help you engage in some neurodiverse self-care—without pretending to be neurotypical. You’ll find more than 100 tips to accepting yourself, destigmatizing ADHD, finding your community, and taking care of your physical and mental health. You’ll find solutions for managing the negative aspects of ADHD, as well as ideas to bring out the positive aspects. With expert advice from psychiatrist and clinician Sasha Hamdani, MD, Self-Care for People with ADHD will help you live your life to the fullest!

Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Abrams Media
ISBN: 9781507219430

Disability Visibility (Adapted for Young Adults): 17 First-Person Stories for Today (2021), ed. Alice Wong

Disabled young people will be proud to see themselves reflected in this hopeful, compelling, and insightful essay collection, adapted for young adults from the critically acclaimed adult book, Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century that "sheds light on the experience of life as an individual with disabilities, as told by none other than authors with these life experiences." --Chicago Tribune, "Best books published in summer 2020" (Vintage/Knopf Doubleday edition).

The seventeen eye-opening essays in Disability Visibility, all written by disabled people, offer keen insight into the complex and rich disability experience, examining life's ableism and inequality, its challenges and losses, and celebrating its wisdom, passion, and joy.
 
The accounts in this collection ask readers to think about disabled people not as individuals who need to be “fixed,” but as members of a community with its own history, culture, and movements. They offer diverse perspectives that speak to past, present, and future generations. It is essential reading for all.

Age Range: 12-17 years
Hardcover: 160 pages
ISBN: 978-0593381670