I Ma
rried
a Gee
k!
My Life with John Elder Robison
There are certain people in the autism community with whom everyone in the community is
familiar. John Elder Robison, an autistic adult
and advocate for people with neurological differences as well as the author of New York Times
best seller books Look Me in the Eye, Be Different,
and Raising Cubby, is one of those people!
However, as the old saying goes, behind every
great man is an even greater woman, and that
lovely lady is his wife, Maripat Robison. Maripat,
you will see, is every bit as awe-inspiring as her
spouse and is certainly deserving of her own
limelight. She blogs about her life with John in a
humorous way at I Married a Geek. It is obvious
that humor plays a big part in John and Maripat’s relationship too, for when we asked John
what his favorite thing was about his charming
bride, his response was, “I would have to say that
the best thing about Maripat is that she is small
enough to fit in the trunk of an English sports
car. And thanks to years of yoga, she is flexible
enough to bounce right out on arrival!”
After that response, we kicked John out of the
room and got Maripat to put down her kettle
corn long enough to answer a few questions
about herself, being a mom/stepmom to children
with different abilities, and, oh yeah, what it is
like being married to one of the world’s most
notable autistics.
Zoom: So in addition to being “a kettle corn
loving gal married to John Elder Robison,” how
would you describe yourself in 10 words?
Maripat: Theophilic, Philalethist, Philomath,
Ergophile, Caretaker, Advocate, Philotherian,
Phytophilous, Nemophilist, Rockhound.
Needless to say, we had to ask Maripat to define
a few of those words: Theophilic (one who loves
God), Philalethist (lover of truth), Philomath
(lover of learning), Ergophile (loves work), Phi-
S
TERVIEW N
ZOOM INT ROBISO
MARIPA
Zoom Autism Through Many Lenses
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