Invisible Differences: A Story of Asperger's, Adulting, and Living a Life in Full Color

Warnings: Mentions of stereotypes people place on people with autism

This book not only was a joy to read, but very informative for people who have autism and people who don’t, but want to understand. Throughout the graphic novel, I could feel Marguerite’s pain of trying to figure our how to live in a world where we unfortunately there is little to no research when it comes to the diagnosis of women with autism and how little people know. Despite being published in September, the authors of Caroline and Julie were able to capture the world where autistic individuals are forced to navigate with little to no help.

This story was able to slowly show how Marguerite was able to find joy slowly after finding out she has autism, but then comes the uphill battle of having her needs met. Whether it was through her work, where she asks for her own office to which she is turned down constantly by HR to the medical team, where they deny her diagnosis, despite being met with professionals in France who were able to make a diagnosis with comments of “you don’t have autism, you can look at me” or “This has to be a mistake, I’ve known you since you were…”. So many stereotypes/ignorance are set in stage in this graphic novel and as much as it hurt/disgusted me to read this, it does happen and we see how Marguerite responds to it. This graphic novel took me b y surprise because when we first get into it, we get a solid introduction on Marguerite and believe it’s her narrating her own life. However, the twist comes when it turns out it’s the book owner narrating the story. It was a nice twist that I didn’t expect and all these little subtle details integrated in the graphic novel that I loved to read.

I also enjoy the simplistic art style because I was able to really dive deeper into the character’s journey rather than get pulled away through the art style and clever how at first the story is in black and white then slowly becomes colorful when Marguerite is diagnosed and can bring some peace into her life and begin again. If you do read this graphic novel, I will warn you as there are some scenes that are realistic but uncomfortable to see such as a neighbor Guillame and boyfriend Florian have little to no understanding of how to help marguerite to the point where the neighbor straight up hits on her and kisses her without consent, which is jarring to see and humiliating to her. It’s heartbreaking but shows how much people can take advantage of those that are a little different than them. There are some stereotypes/phrases that will make you gasp and won’t say it as it would take away the effect the graphic novel would have on the readers. However, if you can read past these warnings, this graphic novel should be read by all, whether they are autistic or not.