Cover Photo: Illustration by Ellen Weinstein for Catapult
Illustration by Ellen Weinstein for Catapult

Friendship Has Always Been Hard for Me—I Hope I Can Make It Easier for My Kids

Unwritten social rules might as well not exist for me. The only reason I can read them at all is because I’ve forced myself to learn them.

This isa monthly column byKatie Rose Pryalabout family life, mental illness, and raising disabled kids as a disabled parent.

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That’s Katie, you don’t talk to her

Katie is an author, speaker, an expert on mental disability. She is autistic and has bipolar disorder. She's the author of more than fifteen books that center mental disability, an eclectic mix, including an IPPY-award-winning series of romantic suspense novels and four essay collections on mental health and trauma (two of which won national awards). After earning her master's from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, she earned her law degree and doctorate in rhetoric. She works toward accessibility for everyone. A professor of writing, she lives in Chapel Hill, NC, with her family and horses.