Aquamarine Blue 5 — 2002 ·

Personal Stories of College Students with Autism

Edited by Dawn Prince-Hughes

“This is the first book to be written by autistic college students who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome or with High Functioning Autism. It demonstrates their unique way of looking at and solving problems and the challenges they face. Aquamarine Blue 5 details the struggles of these highly sensitive students and shows that there are gifts specific to autistic students that enrich the university system, scholarship, and the world as a whole. "Her unusual approach to understanding human behavior leads to powerfully clear analysis of the problems faced by people with Autism.”

ForeWord

“These essays… exhibit a level of awareness, effective writing, and sophisticated understanding of the world they must cope with that are usually thought beyond the capabilities of even the highest-functioning people with autism.”

Clara Claiborne Park — author of Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s Life with Autism

This is the first book to be written by autistic college students about the challenges they face. Aquamarine Blue 5 details the struggle of these highly sensitive students and shows that there are gifts specific to autistic students that enrich the university system, scholarship, and the world as a whole.

Dawn Prince-Hughes presents an array of writings by students who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism, showing their unique ways of looking at and solving problems. In their own words, they portray how their divergent thinking skills could be put to great use if they were given an opportunity. Many such students never get the chance because the same sensitivity that gives them these insights makes the flicker of fluorescent lights and the sound of chalk on the board unbearable For simple—and easily remedied—reasons, we lose these students, who are as gifted as they are challenged.

Aquamarine Blue 5 is a showcase of the strength and resilient character of individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome. It will be an invaluable resource for those touched by this syndrome, their friends and families, and school administrators.

Dawn Prince-Hughes lives in Bellingham, Washington. She is the author of the best-selling memoir Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey through Autism. Her other books include Gorillas among Us: A Primate Ethnographer.