MICHELLE LABINE, PHD
Her Face of Autism
by Michelle Labine, PhD
A guide for women who have always felt different, misjudged, or as though they were working twice as hard just to hold it all together.
Whether you are self-identifying, newly diagnosed, or still untangling questions in midlife or beyond, this book offers clarity, context, and a grounded path forward.
Written by an AuDHD (Autistic + ADHD) psychotherapist, this book does not speak about you, it speaks with you.
THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU IF
You’ve Always Felt Different, But Could Never Fully Explain Why
Inside, you’ll find reflective prompts and invitations to pause, helping you make sense of your story and begin relating to it with greater clarity and compassion.
This is not a clinical checklist.
It’s a real-talk guide for women who are finally beginning to see themselves clearly and often for the very first time.
WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS BOOK
When the Questions Finally Make Sense
- Why so many autistic women go undiagnosed for decades and how adapting, social expectations, and misdiagnosis shape that experience.
- How internalized stigma, perfectionism, and chronic self-doubt develop and how to begin unlearning them.
- The ways masking, burnout, and trauma can shape identity, relationships, and emotional well-being.
- How to reconnect with your authentic self after years of trying to fit into systems that were never built for you.
- Reflection prompts and guided exercises to help you make sense of your story and begin relating to it with greater clarity and compassion
ABOUT THE BOOK
Seeing Yourself Clearly for the First Time
This book is for women who had to adapt their way through school, work, parenting, and relationships without realizing that what they were doing was survival. It walks with you through the doubt, grief, and moments of recognition that often follow late diagnosis or self-understanding.
Blending personal narrative, clinical insight, and client stories, the chapters explore the many layers of this experience, including:
- The cost of long-term adaptation (masking) and burnout
- Misdiagnosis, misunderstanding, and missed recognition
- Trauma and nervous system responses
- Identity development and self-understanding
- Psychosexual development, intimacy, and desire
- Navigating relationships as a neurodivergent woman
A Book for Recognition
When the Questions Finally Make Sense
If you’ve ever wondered:
Why has this always felt so hard?
Why did no one see me?
This book is for you.
Here, you can begin to understand why and explore what comes next.
You weren’t missed because you were fine.
You were missed because had to adapt.
You were always Autistic.
You have always been enough.”
FROM THE AUTHOR
Author’s Note
I came to understand my own autism later in life, after years of functioning well on the outside while feeling chronically overwhelmed, misread, and exhausted on the inside. Like many women, I learned to adapt early to mask, perform competence, and push through without having language for what those adaptations were costing me.
I wrote Her Face of Autism at the intersection of lived experience and clinical practice. As an Autistic and ADHD psychotherapist, I have had the privilege of sitting with many women who arrive in therapy carrying the same questions I once did: Why has this always felt so hard? Why didn’t anyone see me? What does this mean now?
This book was born out of those conversations and out of my own process of unlearning shame, making meaning, and coming home to myself.
While my professional training informs the framework of this work, this is not a diagnostic guide or a replacement for therapy. It is a companion one that offers context, reflection, and permission to see yourself with more compassion and clarity.
My hope is that as you read, you feel less alone. That you recognize yourself in these pages. And that you begin to trust your own story as evidence of resilience, intelligence and survival in a world that often failed to understand you.
Hardcover & Paperback:
eBook:
FOR WOMEN WHO ARE SEEING THEIR LIVES THROUGH A NEW LENS
What If Nothing Was Ever “Wrong” With You?
This book invites you to see your life with new clarity, to understand the adaptations that helped you survive, and to recognize yourself in ways you may never have been given the chance to before.