A star of The Traitors released a ‘life-changing’ book last year (Picture: BBC/ Studio Lambert)
The Traitors star Dan Bird has been praised for ‘changing lives’ with a book about his experiences living with autism.
The 33-year-old bank risk manager from Liverpool was one of the Faithfuls on this season of the BBC series before being banished last week.
Ahead of the show starting, Dan spoke about how he ‘wasn’t too bothered’ about conforming too much, which he attributed to being neurodiverse.
Before appearing on The Traitors, Dan released a book last year which fans have said has made a massive difference to their lives.
Go Neuro Way: An autistic person’s adventure travelling the world details Dan’s travels across five continents and offers advice to ‘other autistic people, carers of neurodiverse individuals and anyone who enjoys travelling as much as he does’.
It was when he was 27 that Dan received his diagnosis, after which he said, ‘so many of the challenges he’d experienced in life made sense’.
Dan Bird wrote about his experiences travelling the world with autism (Picture: BBC)
Go Neuro Way was released last year (Picture: Dan Bird/ Instagram)
Since then, he’s adapted the way he travels based on his specific needs and challenges and also ‘found ways to harness his autistic strengths to make his overseas explorations more wholesome, memorable and personalised’.
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This week one of his readers told Dan how significant the book had been to them.
‘There’s almost no chance you’ll see this, but I just wanted to say that you’ve genuinely changed my life,’ lxmonsunshine posted on Reddit
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‘School is absolute hell, but reading your book helped me in ways I can’t even explain. Knowing there are people like you, who’ve lived through what you have, is just incredible. When I saw you on the lineup, I literally had to double take- like “book guy??? BOOK GUY!!”. I confess I did cry a bit when you got voted out. I know this probably doesn’t mean much, but you’ve truly saved one girl’s life. Thank you,’ she added.
‘Loved it and read it in one day. Funny, compassionate and very insightful. Super helpful for those who wish to balance their love of travel with their autism needs. Totally recommended,’ user mrschibbert shared on the book’s Amazon page.
Meanwhile Joanna added it was ‘honest, thought -provoking and genuine’.
The 33-year-old bank risk manager from Liverpool was banished last week (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)
After his banishment from The Traitors, Dan spoke to Metro about his approach to the game.
‘Autistic people aren’t devoid of empathy, but I just went into the game knowing it was a game and knowing that I just didn’t want to be too emotional myself,’ he said.
When emotions ran high in overwhelming roundtables and other discussions, he was also able to take breaks, praising the ‘really, really lovely team’ behind the show, which gave him ‘the space that I needed to process things quietly by myself for a while’.
Also feeling ‘accepted by the cast’ Dan told them about his autism early in the game, which made him feel he was ‘able to be myself fully’.
The Traitors continues tonight at 9pm on BBC One.
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