It is with great excitement that Thursday 21st April was our official publication day and it has dawned on me that I’ve not put that information readily accessible on this page.
So as some of you will know already I have been working on a writing project with Harry Thompson (a highly influential voice from the PDA community) over a number of years.
We set about writing a book for children/young people to encapsulate what it is like to have PDA from the perspective of a young girl. The book is aimed also for professionals working with anyone who has a PDA profile and to parents, carers, siblings or wider friends and families wanting to understand more.
Welcome to my downside up life! My name is Ariana and I have something called Pathological Demand Avoidance which is a form of autism. Most people just think I’m naughty and misbehaved, but I want to show you why that’s not true by telling you about what my life is like from inside my head. Come join me in understanding why I feel like I have to be in control all the time and why it’s just not as simple as doing as I am told.
Harry Thompson and Danielle Jata-Hall
We were soon joined by the wonderfully talented illustrator Mollie Sherwin to help visualise the story into life.
Well, the sales of the book went off with a bang, so to speak! All copies were already bought on the Jessica Kingsley Publishers website and there was an incredible rush in the first two days to purchase copies on Amazon.
This led to a boom of sales and our little old book about PDA rose up the ranks on Amazon:
Even more exciting is that we have our official book launch tomorrow (Sunday 24th April) in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire where Harry, Mollie and I will be doing a live Q & A and signing books.
For anyone wanting to join us, there are a few tickets remaining.
Please see our event page by clicking here.
Thank you to everyone who has shared information on our behalf and supported us along the way. A big shout out also for the team at JKP for making this dream become possible.