Review and Blog Tour courtesy of the Author
Thanks so much to the author, Mickey Rowe, for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Publication Date: March 15, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, Neurodiversity/Austism Spectrum Disorder
“People want so desperately to fit in that they forget what makes them stand out. Be loud. Take up space. Our differences are our strengths.”
Mickey Rowe, Fearlessly Different: An Autistic Actor’s Journey to Broadway’s Biggest Stage
Description from Goodreads:
My name is Mickey Rowe. I am an actor, a theatre director, a father, and a husband. I am also a man with autism. You think those things don’t go together? Let me show you that they do. Growing up, Mickey Rowe was told that he couldn’t enter the mainstream world. He was iced out by classmates and colleagues, infantilized by well-meaning theatre directors, barred from even earning a minimum wage. Why? Because he is autistic. Fearlessly Different: An Autistic Actor’s Journey to Broadway’s Biggest Stage is Mickey Rowe’s story of growing up autistic and pushing beyond the restrictions of a special education classroom to shine on Broadway. As an autistic and legally blind person, living in a society designed by and for non-disabled people, it was always made clear to Mickey the many things he was apparently incapable of doing. But Mickey did them all anyway–and he succeeded because of, not in spite of, his autism. He became the first autistic actor to play the lead role in the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, landed the title role in the play Amadeus, co-created the theatre/philanthropy company Arts on the Waterfront, and founded the National Disability Theatre. Mickey faced untold obstacles along the way, but his story ends in triumph. Many people feel they are locked out of the world of autism–that it’s impossible to even begin to understand. In Fearlessly Different, Mickey guides readers to that world while also helping those with autism to feel seen and understood. And he shows all people–autistic and non-autistic alike–that the things that make us different are often our biggest strengths.
Review (5 Stars):
TW: in-depth discussion of ableism, discussion of sexism/racism, statistics related to death/murder, physical/mental abuse of children by family, police violence, postpartum depression, bullying
I always want to start off reviews for biographies and memoirs and the like by saying that I don’t necessarily like rating them because the stories in them are so personal to the author, and just because I might not see myself in it or relate to it doesn’t mean that someone else won’t. That being said, this was an easy 5 stars for me.
This book. I read this book once when I first received the galley at the end of 2021, and then just reread it again in order to write a review for the publication date, and I found myself flying through it both times. And while I am good friends with the author, and am so freaking proud of my friend for this thing that he has created, I don’t think that that is the reason I was able to read through this so quickly both times. Sometimes I struggle with nonfiction and memoirs because they can tend to lean into statistics and be a bit dry, but not this one.
Even the parts of this book that do lean more factual with statistics and mentions of news stories felt narrative, and that’s all thanks to the way Mickey wrote them. Instead of feeling like a text book or a school lecture during these parts, it really did feel like chatting with a friend about these issues. And that’s how the whole book felt. I really believe that anyone picking up this book, even if they have never heard of Mickey Rowe before that moment, could feel like they really know and connect with him by the end of the story. And to be able to say that and that you learned something from the same book is really special, I think.
Obviously, looking at the trigger warnings at the beginning of this review, there are a couple of parts that can be a little bit difficult to read just because of the content that is being discussed. But I think that it is absolutely worth pushing through those parts if you’re able to, because they are so important. So much of our communities are facing these same issues every single day that Mickey is talking about in Fearlessly Different. It would be easier if we could think that these are isolated incidents, but they aren’t. So I think that this book is really important as a tool to really make those experiences visible to those of us that aren’t experiencing them.
I would recommend anyone read this book. Whether they are autistic or neurotypical or somewhere in between, I think that this is a story and a point of view that we don’t see nearly enough of coming from the people whose stories they are. And hey, I read an electronic version, but if you are a fan of audiobooks I would recommend it for this book as well. Mickey reads his story for the audiobook, and I can only imagine the way he is able to bring everything to life through that medium. I think the best way to read or listen to this book would be on a slow Sunday morning with a cup of tea, while you are able to really take in the information in a calm and comfortable setting.
Want to learn more?
Check out these amazing resources (along with many more listed in the back of the book) for more information!
Disability Memorial: https://disability-memorial.org/
Autistic POC Fund: https://autismandrace.com/autistic-people-of-color-fund/
Autistic Women and Non-Binary Fund: https://awnnetwork.org/
Meet Mickey:
Mickey Rowe (he/him) has had a prolific and varied career as an actor, director, consultant, and public speaker; now highly sought after both nationally and internationally. He was the first autistic actor to play Christopher Boone, the lead role in the Tony Award-winning play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He has also appeared as the title role in the Tony Award-winning play Amadeus and more. Mickey has been featured in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, PBS, Vogue, Playbill, NPR, CNN, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, Forbes, and has keynoted at organizations including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Kennedy Center, Yale University, Columbia University, Disability Rights Washington, The Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, the DAC of the South Korean government, and more. Mickey was the founding Artistic Director of National Disability Theatre, which works in partnership with Tony Award-winning companies such as La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He is the Author of Fearlessly Different – In bookstores everywhere March 2022. Mickey Rowe is in Seattle on the land of the Duwamish people past, present, and future.
Connect with Mickey
Website: https://mickeyrowe.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21609793.Mickey_Rowe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themickeyrowe/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themickeyrowe
Twitter: https://twitter.com/themickeyrowe
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