Drama Queen: One Autistic Woman and a Life of Unhelpful Labels

One Autistic Woman and a Life of Unhelpful Labels

By: Sara Gibbs

Narrated by: Sara Gibbs

'It has taken me several years of exploration, but I am at a place now where I see autism as neither an affliction nor a superpower. It's just the blueprint for who I am. There is no cure, but that's absolutely fine by me. To cure me of my autism would be to cure me of myself.'

During the first thirty years of her life, comedy script writer Sara Gibbs had been labelled a lot of things - a cry baby, a scaredy cat, a spoiled brat, a weirdo, a show off - but more than anything else, she'd been called a Drama Queen. No one understood her behaviour, her meltdowns or her intense emotions. She felt like everyone else knew a social secret that she hadn't been let in on; as if life was a party she hadn't been invited to. Why was everything so damn hard? Little did Sara know that, at the age of thirty, she would be given one more label that would change her life's trajectory forever. That one day, sitting next to her husband in a clinical psychologist's office, she would learn that she had never been a drama queen, or a weirdo, or a cry baby, but she had always been autistic.

Drama Queen is both a tour inside one autistic brain and a declaration that a diagnosis on the spectrum, with the right support, accommodations and understanding, doesn't have to be a barrier to life full of love, laughter and success. It is the story of one woman trying to fit into a world that has often tried to reject her and, most importantly, it's about a life of labels, and the joy of ripping them off one by one.

(P)2021 Headline Publishing Group Ltd©2021 Sara Gibbs

Critic reviews

A moving read.

A touching and funny memoir.

Both funny and fascinating in equal measure.

A brilliantly told biography

I was planning to listen to it over a week, in reality, I couldn't stop, and listen every waking moment between kids and work.
Sara expresses her thoughts and feelings in a way that allowed me to see the world through her eyes, and made me aware of many things in my own life, things i thought everyone suffered from, but were presented as not normal in the book.
She is very self aware, and writes in an open and honest manner that I wish we all could communicate in one day.
It inspired me to take an autism test, something i kind of suspected for years, but never really confirmed.

Highly recommend.

I look forward to the sequel, helping us with better coping strategies.

relatable sooooo RELATABLE....TY

narrated nicely story laid out great excellent. and fun to hear I would definitely read it again or rather....listen again...def recommend.👍

Fantastic perspective!

The author does an amazing job of sharing what it’s like to be an undiagnosed autistic woman throughout most of your life in a funny and poignant way. Her stories really bring to life all of the complex angles. I cherish this book, not only because it reflects many of the experiences that I have had in my life, but what I’ve watched my daughter go through in her life while waiting for a diagnosis.

Must read for women on spectrum

Especially if you got diagnosed as an adult you should read this book. First time in my life I felt understood by another woman. Sara is extraordinarily honest and I finally don't feel alone in all these drama queen stuff. I wish I could give her a hug or at least send her an email.

Couldn’t Stay With the Voice

After hearing great reviews on here and elsewhere, I really wanted to listen to this…. but I gave up after about 40 minutes. The pace of the writing/story and something about the voice narration just irritated me to the point that I couldn’t continue and gave up.