Eric Garcia ’14 discusses his new book ‘We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation’

By Beth Hatcher

Autistic people don’t need to be fixed, they need to be included — that was the theme threading through 2014 graduate Eric Garcia’s Jan. 19, 2022, talk at UNC.

Getting to that inclusion starts with something Garcia, a journalist based in Washington, D.C., knows well: questions.

“What are the kind of social and policy gaps that exist for autistic people? How do our conversations, our myths, our misconceptions about autism actively harm autistic people?” Garcia asked those questions and more as he wrote his new book “We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation.”

“Essentially this book is part memoir, part reporting, part manifesto,” Garcia told Emily Jones, a librarian at the Health Sciences Library, during the webinar hosted by UNC’s University Libraries as part of the “Well Read” series, which brings Carolina-connected authors to campus.

Garcia, a journalist who has previously worked for The Washington Post, The Hill and National Journal, was inspired to start writing about autism to combat its misperceptions and the media’s one-dimensional portrayals of autistic people.

“Eric Garcia is raising public awareness and deeper understanding of important and complex issues,” said Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, interim dean of UNC Hussman. "Eric’s book not only reflects the story and experiences of the autism community, he centers their voices. That’s something we emphasize at the school and is critical for full and better understanding of the challenges faced by those in the community. We look forward to welcoming him back to the school for an event soon.”

Garcia will speak as part of the Hussman Media Justice Speaker Series in March 2022.

Weaving in Garcia’s own life experiences, “We're Not Broken” profiles a diversity of autistic people across the country, from those with higher support needs, to autistic people from underrepresented communities.

Throughout the book, Garcia examines the social and policy gaps that exist in supporting those with autism.

During the virtual conversation, Garcia spoke about how those support systems need to serve autistic people throughout their lives, not only in childhood. Aspects like inclusivity and accommodation in higher education and at work also need to be addressed. However, much of society still seems focused on “fixing” autistic people rather than supporting them.

“You really profile in your book how much funding goes toward finding a cure for autism but not toward identifying services and better support systems for people with autism,” Jones said.

Nixing the notion that autistic people were “failed versions of normal” was key in changing that narrative, Garcia said, as was broadening outdated ideas about autism traits.

Rethinking language is also important. Throughout the book, Garcia eschews the terms “high functioning” and “low functioning” in describing autistic people. He finds the terms stigmatizing and too broad to describe the needs of autistic people, as well as the diversity of their lived experiences.

For example, in “We’re Not Broken,” Garcia profiles a married mother who’d be called “high functioning” by many, but who had great difficulty graduating from college. He also profiles a nonspeaking man who was one of the first nonspeaking autistic students to ever go to the University of California, Berkeley.

They, and the others Garcia writes about, don’t fit neat categories and traditional notions about autism — their life experiences are varied, their common bond is that they matter.

In writing and researching his book, Garcia found an important personal connection to the autistic community while also giving its members a greater public platform.

“I didn’t know a lot of autistic people before I started writing about it,” he said. “[Writing this book] gave me a kinship and connection.”

As the virtual conversation ended, Garcia also recognized his connection to Carolina and expressed gratitude for his time at the University, mentioning the influence of the journalism school. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you to Carolina, thank you to [Dean Emerita] Susan King, thank you to the journalism school,” Garcia said.

The recording of Garcia’s talk is available on the University Libraries website.