This beautifully illustrated, moving and revelatory book will inspire readers to see that it is often that which gives us the deepest sorrow in life that can bring us the greatest joy. 'Welcome to my world. I have autism. 'But A Painful Gift is not about my autism. It is about the struggle to be truly ourselves in the world. To be fully human, to touch people and to be touched by people in return. 'Autism is a blessing, a gifted way of seeing the world. It is also deeply misunderstood. There is much talk of finding a cure for autism, but it is only our inability to accept difference that cries out to be remedied. 'Although autism is a gift, it can be a painful gift. I have shared my woundedness in full so that you might be given the strength to bring to light your woundedness. Great love and great suffering are part of the spiritual journey. Suffering can not only break us down, it can also break us open. This book is a pilgrimage of the mind to the heart and is a testimony to the fact that it is not the absence of affliction that makes us who we are, but our faithfulness in adversity that is the deeper measure. 'My deepest prayer is that all who read this book will be inspired to see that it is often that which gives us the deepest sorrow in life that can bring us the greatest joy.' Christopher Goodchild