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Contact March 30, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WRITER WITH AUTISM UNVEILS HER WORLD IN LATEST BOOK FREDERICK, MD — What is it like to have autism? To experience sights and smells — life itself — so differently? To long to communicate but be unable to speak or move about at will? Sarah Stup, a writer with autism, answers these questions in her newly released self-published book, Are Your Eyes Listening? “I have no sounding voice,” says 23-year-old Stup, who cannot speak. However, “by typing words I can play with my life and stretch from my world to yours.” It is into this world we journey via Stup’s heart-warming and heart-wrenching collection of poems, reflections and essays. And as we travel, Stup teaches us that “people with disabilities are real people worth knowing.” This is a particularly important message as April — Autism Awareness Month — approaches. Autism affects an estimated 1 in 166 births. About 1.5 million Americans today are believed to have some form of autism, and their number is growing. Stup, herself, was diagnosed at a young age with severe autism. At the time, the prognosis for people with autism was discouraging, and there were few books that shed light on the disability. Today, however, Sarah is a writer — her childhood dream — and has written books that both educate and entertain. “Sarah Stup opens a window into a world most of us never experience,” says Brian Cox, executive director of the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council, which awarded her a grant to produce her first book, Do-si-Do with Autism. Released in 2006, it introduces children to the joy of building relationships with those with autism. Are Your Eyes Listening? does much of the same, but for adults. But what makes the book truly unique is that it also addresses universal themes like love, meaning, the desire to belong and the need to communicate. “I am pleased to be typing away,” Stup writes in her book’s introduction. “Typing away loneliness, typing away silence, using paper to hug you and slap you and join you. Click, click, clicking keys are my heartbeat. Listen with your eyes.” To read excerpts of Are Your Eyes Listening? or to order copies, visit www.SarahStup.com. For media inquiries, contact Beth Mende Conny, 301-694-9921 or Beth@WriteDirections.com.
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