Filled with first-hand accounts and the best kept secrets to help your relationship bloom, this book is a deep dive into loving autistic relationships and the unique strengths that drive them. Based on clinical experience and emerging research, ASC counselling expert Eva Mendes explores the complex and fulfilling relationships between neurodiverse couples. This book takes you on a journey into the relationships of 20 neurodiverse couples from all walks of life, offering insight into how they meet the challenges of daily life and the unique strengths being neurodiverse can bring to a being a partner or co-parent. The couples share down-to-earth and candid recollections of the ups and downs of their relationships, weighing in on topics from emotional connection and sex to managing co-parenting and finances. Exploring multiple intersections from race, gender and sexuality across autistic relationships, and ironing out the common myths surrounding them, Eva offers a specialist, clinical perspective on each dynamic and provides examples of best practice to have a healthy and happy relationship.

Proven counseling strategies that will help improve the relationships of married, long-term or co-habiting couples with Asperger's Syndrome (Autism Spectrum Disorder). ASD relationship expert Eva A. Mendes provides advice straight from the couples' counselling room that can be applied in day-to-day living and help with the challenges that can arise in relationships where one or both partners are on the autism spectrum. This includes issues surrounding diagnosis, mental health, sexual compatibility, sensory needs, executive functioning, theory of mind, communication, and co-parenting. She offers unique practical ideas for positive change such as creating a relationship schedule, making expression of appreciation and gratitude a part of every day, and finding mutually satisfying activities and special interests to engage in with your partner. The strategies in this book will be useful to couples themselves and any couples' counselors or therapists working with them.

Bringing together a collection of narratives from those who are on the autism spectrum whilst also identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and/or asexual (LGBTQIA), this book explores the intersection of the two spectrums as well as the diverse experiences that come with it. By providing knowledge and advice based on in-depth research and personal accounts, the narratives will be immensely valuable to teenagers, adults, partners and families. The authors round these stories with a discussion of themes across narratives, and implications for the issues discussed. In the final chapter, the authors reflect on commonly asked questions from a clinical perspective, bringing in relevant research, as well as sharing best-practice tips and considerations that may be helpful for LGBTQIA and ASD teenagers and adults. These may also be used by family members and clinicians when counselling teenagers and adults on the dual spectrum. With each chapter structured around LGBTQIA and autism spectrum identities, Gender Identity, Sexuality and Autism highlights the fluidity of gender identity, sexual orientation and neurodiversity and provides a space for people to share their individual experiences.