Re-Writing The Narrative On Asperger’s

Born in New York City and raised in lower South Carolina, Tanya Green is now a loyal California resident. She’s a devoted mother of four and works at the Taco Bell Restaurant Support Center (RSC) in Irvine, CA as an Administrative Assistant for Marketing. But that’s just Tanya at a surface level. Digging deeper, she is a talented writer and active pursuer of her dream to become an author. This year, she published her very first Young Adult self-help book titled I Am Ollie Flintlock, Nice to Meet You!

The book follows her son, an 11-year-old 5th grader who sees and hears everything amplified. His clever outlook on his earliest memories gives the reader a sense of his inquiring and playful mind. Describing her son as focused, curious, and uniquely intelligent, Tanya intentionally saves one detail until the end. Ollie has been medically diagnosed as having a condition known as Asperger's Syndrome Disorder. 

When asked about the start of her passion for writing, she shares that she has been a writer since her early elementary days, writing her first play at 10-years-old and being very excited to show off its five pages. 

She also admits, “I’ve always been a lover of words spelled correctly and stories that provide hope and joy.” Well, a story of hope and joy is exactly what she has written. Her book is more than a glimpse of Ollie’s life. It’s 38 digital (78 paperback) pages that are intended to feel like a huge hug from one family to another. Tanya realized she wanted to share Ollie’s story from the very first moment she learned about high functioning autism. 

“I had been a mom who took pride in knowing everything there was to know about her children and who was always there with answers and support when they needed it.” She was presented with something that she had no previous idea about but was enlightened by her thought that, “there must be people all over the world who were also in the dark or feeling alone in learning about high functioning autism.”

It’s been a little over 10 years since the initial idea to write I Am Ollie Flintlock, Nice to Meet You! And the celebrated 11-year-old is now 20. We wanted to know how Ollie feels about being the face of his mom’s first book. Tanya shared, “He’s very happy to see that something he’d been anticipating for over a decade has finally come to light.” Could Ollie inspire another book? Perhaps an update to his view on life as he gets older and continues to face the world? Tanya said that her plans for an Ollie follow-up are to write an elementary school-aged series which follows Ollie around as he completes everyday typical actions. Such as Ollie Learns to Tie His Shoes and Ollie Goes to the Movies, etc.

Tanya is indeed sharing her gift with the world. That gift being her son, Ollie.