Sophia Mendonça

Sophia Silva de Mendonça (born February 6, 1997) is a Brazilian author and journalist. Considered one of the main voices on autism in women in Brazil,^[1][2] Sophia wrote the young adult chick lit novel Danielle, Asperger (2016),^[3] the journalistic book Neurodivergentes^[4] (2019) and hosts the channel Mundo Autista (Autistic World, 2015–present) on YouTube. In 2025, she returned to chick lit with The Influencer and The Critic, a romantic comedy.^[5]

She is also active as an author of biographies, having written the book "Ikeda, um Século de Humanismo (Ikeda, a Century of Humanism, 2020), which chronicles the trajectory of Japanese Soka Gakkai Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda.^[6] In 2024, Mendonça created the series of reports Courtney Love e o Autismo (Courtney Love and Autism, 2024), which tells the life of singer and actress Courtney Love from the autism's point of view.^[7]

Her critically acclaimed book Metamorfoses (Metamorphoses, 2023), the result of her research at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, addresses the experience of being autistic and trans and how this affects communication and sociability between individuals and groups.^{[8][9][10][11]} In 2023, she appeared on Max and Discovery reality series Transgender Twins.^[12]

Mendonça was diagnosed with asperger syndrome at the age of 11, which led her to having an interest in the process of socialization and how people communicate with each other.^[13] She has been a film critic since 2009.^[14]

During her years in university studying for a degree in communication, she wrote a blog named Tudo Bem Ser Different (It's Okay To Be Different) and was the host on the University Center of Belo Horizonte weekly radio program Mundo Asperger.^[13] In 2022, Mendonça went on to receive a master's degree in communication, territorialities and vulnerabilities from the Federal University of Minas Gerais.^[15][16] In the next year, she began her doctorate in literature at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel).^[17]

In her first year at college, Mendonça wrote her first book over the course of six months titled Outro Olhar – Reflexões de Um Autista (Another Look – Reflections of an Autistic).^[13] Outro Olhar recounts facts from the author's past and shows how mundane situations become complex due to her condition.^[13] Mendonça debuted in fiction with the young adult novel Danielle, Asperger (2016). It tells the story of an autistic teenager and her encounter with her favorite actress, a character based on actress Lindsay Lohan.^[18]

In 2019, she released the book-report Neurodivergentes. The work argues that autism is not a disease, but rather a "variation of brain connectivity". The book is structured in three chapters: "Intelligence and Neurodiversity", "Autism in the Feminine" and "Means of Communication".^[4] Since 2015, alongside her mother, journalist Selma Sueli Silva, she has maintained the YouTube channel Mundo Autista^[1] (Autistic World), which later expanded into other media formats, such as articles and podcast episodes.^[19] It later became a newsgroup of the same name in partnership with the UAI news portal.^[20][21]

She completed the master's degree at Federal University of Minas Gerais in March 2022, with her thesis being titled "A interseccionalidade entre autismo e transgeneridade: diálogos afetivos no Twitter" ("The intersectionality between autism and transgenderity: affective dialogues on Twitter").^[15][16] The thesis gave rise to the book Metamorfoses, which was defined as "an important compilation on autism, gender diversity and affections".^[22]

She continued to conduct journalism work in similar topic areas, founding alongside her mother first the YouTube channel Mundo Autista and then other social media, before creating the newsgroup of the same name in partnership with the news portal UAI.^[20][23] In 2022, she directed and hosted the podcast episode Amores (a)Típicos, which featured actresses Isabela Garcia and Ju Colombo portraying autistic characters addressing their romantic relationships.^[24] In 2023, Mendonça had a recurring role in the documentary series Transgender Twins, distributed by HBO.^[12]

Mendonça debuted as a content creator in 2009, publishing film reviews on the website Cineplayers!.^[14] According to Nísio Teixeira, a professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), the reviews were characterized by language and resources such as direct irony and wordplay. The researcher recently noted that Sophia Mendonça's texts invited new perspectives in a history of film criticism in Belo Horizonte marked by male figures.^[25]

In 2025, she and Selma Sueli Silva launched a newsletter on Substack, titled Filmes Para Sempre, a guide to films and series, marking her return to the territory of cultural criticism.^[14][25] Her chick-lit novel The Influencer and the Critic is loosely inspired by her journey to becoming a literary critic.^[5]

In his doctoral thesis, researcher Igor Ries characterizes Mendonça's work as a sharing of the self with the collective, representing a process of personal transformation and a relief of suffering. Ries argues that the author occupies a protagonist role in social spaces historically underrepresented by both autistic and transgender individuals. According to his analysis, by positioning herself as an active subject in the narratives surrounding autism, Mendonça demonstrates a practice of 'care for oneself and for others'.^[10]

Elemara Duarte, from the Brazilian newspaper Hoje em Dia, writing about Outro Olhar, noted that the author positions herself as a reporter who obtains information about herself, defining the work as sincere and engaging.^[13] In the words of psychiatrist Walter Camargos Jr, an autism specialist, Sophia skillfully and sensitively portrays the difficulties of the syndrome, discussing "sensations, emotions, thoughts, desires, realities, and the demands of the external world."^[26]

In his review of Danielle, Asperger, journalist Paulo Fortunato noted that the work offers a glimpse into the daily life of an autistic teenager, but can also be interpreted as a narrative about dreams, identity and the search for a place in the world.^[3] For Fernanda Milagres, writing for the Coluna Literária portal (linked to the Belo Horizonte City Hall), the author handles this Young Adult romance with great skill and accessible vocabulary. The reviewer believes that makes for an enjoyable and smooth read, even as the protagonist faces difficult situations such as family and social conflict, personal crises, depression, and anxiety.^[27]

Psychiatrist and researcher Walter Camargos Jr also analyzed the novel Danielle, Asperger, describing it as a work centered on a "world of women." According to Camargos' critique, the narrative is driven by the interaction between three central female figures: an adolescent in the process of building her life, her mother (who acts as a guide), and a famous actress on a path of self-destruction. Camargos highlights the parallel drawn between the adolescent protagonist and the actress, noting that both share explosive temperaments. The analysis points out that the dramatic arc develops through the relationship between the young woman—initially viewed as "seemingly less capable"—and the artist. This dynamic results in a role reversal where the adolescent assumes a maternal and therapeutic function for the actress, culminating in an outcome that, according to the critic, defies obvious predictions and requires a full reading to understand the fate of the three characters.^[18]

According to researchers Luana Adriano and Valéria Aydos, Mendonça authored the first book on neurodiversity published in Brazil, Neurodivergentes (2019).^[28] The professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Juarez Guimarães Dias, wrote that Mendonça's book, Metamorfoses (2022), provides the thought "of other ways of doing academic research", emphasizing the affective dimension as central and cross-cutting to the work, alongside reflections on intersectionality.^[11]

In 2016, she received the Grande Colar from the Mérito Legislativo government of Belo Horizonte.^[29] In 2019, Mendonça received the Boas Práticas (Good Practices) award from Erasmus+, the European Union program for the fields of Education, Training, Youth and Sport for the period 2014 to 2020, with the aim of supporting the implementation of the Agenda European policy for social justice, inclusion, growth and employment.^[30]

In 2023, the Mundo Autista channel, hosted by Sophia Mendonça and Selma Sueli Silva, won the Digital Microinfluencers Award, in the people with disabilities category, during the fifth edition of the award, by popular and technical votes.^[31]

Mendonça cites writers Sophie Kinsella and Meg Cabot as inspirations.^[18] She is also influenced by Buddhist philosophy.^[13]

Her works revolve around autism and neurodiversity, affective and loving accessibility, gender issues, virtual ethnography, communication through digital media and life narratives.^[15] She incorporates intersectional frameworks into her work, addressing variables such as social class, age, gender identity, and sexual orientation.^[32]

She only found out she was autistic at the age of 13, two years after she was diagnosed.^[33] In 2021 in an interview with the university newspaper for the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Mendonça said that this diagnosis was liberating, but that the biggest "ghost" that accompanied her in life was not autism, but gender dysphoria, which is why she began to feel happier after her gender transition in 2020, since she sees gender expression as a way to communicate primarily with herself.^[20] She had gender reassignment surgery in June 2022. Since 2015, she has been a member of Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist organization^[34][35]