Nobody Nowhere: The Remarkable Autobiography of an Autistic Girl - Paperback

by Donna Williams (Author)

Donna Williams was a child with more labels than a jam-jar: deaf, wild disturbed, stupid insane... She lived within herself, her own world her foreground, ours a background she only visited. Isolated from her self and from the outside world, Donna was, in her words, a Nobody Nowhere. She swung violently between these two worlds, battling to join our world and, simultaneously, to keep it out. Abandoned from all connection to the self within her, she lived as a ghost with a body, a patchwork of the images which bombarded her. Intact but detached from the seemingly incomprehensible world around her, she lived in what she called 'a world under glass .

After twenty-five years of being misunderstood, and unable to understand herself, Donna stumbled upon the word 'autism': a label, but one which held up a mirror and made sense of her life and struggles, and gave her a chance to finally forgive both herself and those around her.

Nobody Nowhere is disturbing, eloquent and ticklishly funny: it is an account of the soul of someone who lived the word 'autism' and survived in an unsympathetic environment despite intense inner chaos and incomprehension. It describes how, against the odds, Donna came to live independently, achieve a place at university, and write this remarkable autobiography. It is now an international bestseller, sold in over 14 languages throughout the world. This is a book that will stay with you as one of the most exceptional works you will ever read.

Front Jacket

Labeled deaf, retarded, disturbed and insane, Donna Williams lived in a world of her own. Alternating between rigid hostility and extroversion, she waged what she termed her "war against the world." She existed in a dreamlike state, parroting the voices of those around her in the hope that they would leave her alone. Few people understood her, least of all Donna helself.
It was not until the age of twenty-five that Donna discovered the word- autism- that would at last give her the opportunity to understand herself and begin to build a bridge to join the world as most know it.
"Nobody Nowhere, Donna Williams' extraordinary autobiography, is her heroic attempt to come to terms with autism. This eloquent memoir reveals a fierce intelligence, great creativity and much humour. It will shatter many myths and misconceptions.
The poetic sensibility and extraordinary insights of "Nobody Nowhere make it inspiring reading for everyone.

"From the Trade Paperback edition.

Author Biography

Donna Williams was born in Australia in 1963 and raised in a working-class inner-city area in Australia. She grew up hearing words such as `deaf', `disturbed', `crazy' and `spastic', and like many able people with autism born in the 1960s and earlier, she was wasn't formally diagnosed with autism until adulthood. As well as writing, composing, painting and sculpting, she lectured and ran workshops on autism all around the world.