Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Author: J.K Rowling

So, for the first time ever, I read a Harry Potter book.  I’d never expressed any interest in reading the series but decided to give it a shot and ended up really enjoying it.  I have several thoughts, most of which have to do with neurodiversity/autism, that have come to me after reading my first Harry Potter.  I hope that you will enjoy hearing my thoughts!

Disclaimer: I do not support any of J.K Rowling’s discriminatory views.  I’m very passionate about social justice and do not stand for discrimination of any sort.  Her views have hit me hard as well since some of her discriminatory comments were aimed at autistic people; however, I am personally choosing to separate the book from the author.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (also known as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone if you live in the U.K) is about a young boy named Harry who lives with his abusive aunt, uncle and cousin (Harry’s an orphan as his parents died when he was a baby), and Harry generally lives a pretty miserable life.  One day, on his 11^th birthday, Harry’s visited by a giant, Hagrid, and Harry discovers that he is a wizard and that his parents were too but his abusive relatives kept the truth from him as they didn’t want to fill his brain with “nonsense.”  Harry also learns that he has been accepted into the Hogwart’s school to educate him more about magic.  At the school, Harry is doing well but he notices some strange happenings around the school (well, the school has strange happenings in general since it is, of course, a magic school but Harry notices even stranger than “usual” things).  Harry is determined to find out, with the help of his new friends, Ron and Hermione, what is going on at the school.  This book is actually quite good and the magical world that H.P. takes place in is fun and whimsical and has great characters (besides Harry, of course, there’s Ron, Hermione, Hagrid and Dumbledore just to name a few).  There is, however, an interesting comparison I’d like to make and that is about Harry Potter and being autistic.  Similar to my experience being an autistic person, Harry spends his entire life wondering who he really is and he gets into trouble at school for things he didn’t realize he was doing and he lives with people who don’t understand him and he is made fun of by his “family,” classmates and teachers.  But, when he finally figures out who he really is (ironically not too far from the age I was when I found I was autistic), Harry feels like he understands himself better.  There are those times where Harry doubts and his “family” is telling him “Just forget your supposed wizard heritage and act normal!”, which isn’t too far of a cry from “Just forget your supposedly autistic and act normal!” Or Harry doubts, “Am I really a wizard?” like I doubted myself, “Am I really autistic?”  And yes, I am just as much autistic in “real” life as Harry is a wizard in the book; and like Harry’s “wizardness,” being autistic affects every part of me and there’s never gonna be a day where I won’t think about it.  And despite some people thinking so, that’s not a bad thing.  Harry eventually finds his group of people in school, a bunch of people who are like him and who accept him for who he is.  However, that doesn’t mean his problems go away.  There are always going to be people who don’t accept Harry and autistic people are always going to have our own versions of muggles (non-magical people) to deal with in their lives too!

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” From none other than Albus Dumbledore