Stuart Neilson

GalleryASD fiction Cullinan, Heidi - Carry the Ocean

Cullinan, Heidi - "Carry the Ocean"
Emmet Washington has always known that he is autistic and is blunt about his limitations and how he is disabled in his life. Jeremey Samson is sad, but much more than sad, and is hospitalized with clinical depression and panic disorder. When the two young men are attracted to each other, even Emmet's supportive mother and aunt find it difficult to support this choice in his life, and they collude with Jeremey's outraged family in keeping them apart. The book sensitively explores the difficulty of coming out - both gay and disabled - contrasting Emmet's lifelong impairment with Jeremey's acquired disability in neat plots. The two find a measure of happiness and independence through an assisted living centre, where even other disabled people (of course) can be bullies and bigots. The book addresses autism, disability and sexuality very comprehensively and from a first-person perspective throughout.
Fiction Vixen review
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