Emma Keyes ’23 Stands Up for Neurodivergent Injustice with Self-Published Novel

Emma Keyes was tired of hearing the “Hollywood version” of Autism and thought the world deserved a genuine one. As a compassionate, caring, and motivated young woman, and also one living with Autism, she decided to do just that by self-publishing her first novel, entitled Through My Eyes: A Different Perspective.

The novel articulates the perspective of how Emma perceives the world as neurodivergent. It depicts her compassion for the community and for others, as well as a deep desire to be accepted and possibly understood, or at the very least validated. Her work acknowledges that there is a plethora of unfounded fear and misinformation about Autism on the Internet and in pop culture.

In an excerpt from her story, Emma writes, “The real reason (Autism) symptoms tend to show up after a child’s first inoculations is because that’s a normal age for Autism diagnosis. So, refusing to vaccinate your child because of that has no effect on whether or not they develop it. And wanting to “protect” your child from Autism is actually a little insulting to the Autistic community. Did you know that Albert Einstein was one of us?”

"Emma’s inspiring novella evokes emotion while motivating her readers to find the very best in humanity by fighting for a social movement that creates justice, builds empathy, and creates compassion for all of us,” said Dr. Nicole Parsons, Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Program for Advancement of Learning (PAL).

Emma recently presented at the final Curry Authors event, inspiring our community with her story. She was also honored with the PAL Unsung Hero Award for her efforts in taking a strong stance on injustices toward the Neurodivergent community.