A Knaresborough writer with Asperger’s Syndrome and attention-deficit disorder wants to show young people diagnosed with similar conditions that they will not stop them achieving their dreams.
Matt Wilkinson was only diagnosed with Asperger’s, a form of autism, in recent years.
He had always struggling academically but said his disorder never stopped him working towards his goal of becoming a writer.
Mr Wilkinson fell in love with writing at a young age whilst watching cult science fiction films, such as Back to the Future and Ghostbusters. They inspired him to write his first science fiction novel in 2017 called Drive Time.
It tells the story of three friends who invent a machine to send messages back in time in the hope of saving humanity from itself.
Mr Wilkinson is now working on a second novel, which he hopes to finish by the end of the year.
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He said:
“I’ve always loved writing, I remember in primary school we’d be asked to write a story and I would make mine the most extravagant I could. At school I was always difficult, I was really clever but I struggle to focus.
“I think it’s good for younger people to see that just because they may have autism it doesn’t mean they can’t succeed doing what they love.”
Mr Wilkinson works with APM UK as part of a government’s work and health programme to help people improve their employment skills.
He hopes it will help him find work writing for TV and film companies that understand his needs.
