Why Write NOKI?

It’s time to move past the idea that being autistic is a curse. Autism has many benefits and many people on the spectrum go on to do incredible things.

James Sinclair, Creator/Founder of Autistic & Unapologetic

The story of Noki was stuck in my head for over ten years. It is a blend of my personal passions due to my experiences as a doctor and my involvement in the boxing world.

You will truly understand the story of NOKI once you finish it but I want to clarify a few things.

  • I am not autistic. I can never be the voice for people with autism. Only they can speak for themselves.
  • The fact that Noki has autism is very important to the story. I hope, however, I am not accused of hijacking this issue to make the book work. That was never my intention.
  • Noki becomes somewhat of a hero to those with special needs in this story, which I think is pretty cool. I did not show Noki making a big deal of this because I do not think he, or most people with autism, would do that.

When you read Noki you won’t see many changes in him as a character. That was done on purpose. That doesn’t mean I didn’t give Noki depth. Far from it. I just wanted the other characters to have arcs and the need for growth. I did this because I felt it would be nice if a story showed that those with autism don’t need to be anything but themselves and maybe it is the rest of us who need to change.

Lastly, as Mr. Sinclair so eloquently stated in the quote above, I hope, after you read the book, that you do not feel that I treated Noki’s autism as a curse. He deals with things in his own way and sometimes that is very tough for him. I did give Noki the ability to do incredible things. Truth be told, only about one in ten people with autism have some savant skills and there is a large range of what these skills encompass. I really hope that people don’t use Noki as an example of every person with autism. That is not fair to them. Noki is Noki. And that is all he wanted to be.