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jenniechantal's review against another edition
5.0
I came to this book as a non-autistic person with a basic understanding of autism and certainly as a proponent of the disability justice slogan "nothing about us without us" (I have different disabilities). I wanted to learn more about autism and why it is seen with such fear and negativity and have more tools to talk about autism/advocate for neurodiversity with non-autistic (and frankly autism-phobic) people in my life.
I honestly can't do this book justice in a review. I must have 50 flags in this book! But I'd like to highlight several of the things I came away with and hopefully interest you in reading it.
First off, this is a book of academic scholarship and the writing style reflects this. If you are like me and don't read academic books/theory very often, prepare to put the time and work into this one! It took me a month to read, and I read about 12-15 books a month. But it was SO worth it.
Highlights:
1) The current dominant understanding of autism is based in the development of child psychiatry which itself was a product of the eugenics of the 1930's - 1940's. The lines between (so-called) "normal" and "abnormal" were aggressively defined during this time (and continue to be) and were (are) directly linked to the "well-being" of the (neoliberal) state/nation.
2) Autism advocacy groups are (by and large) "against" autism and therefore cannot advocate "for" autistic people. This makes them incredibly dangerous to autistics as they produce a culture/society that is, from the start and without question, "hostile to autistic difference", the result of which is violence (physical, emotional, mental, social) against autistic people.
"The dominant ways we have of engaging in autism advocacy (i.e., by fighting autism, battling it, hating it, waging a war against it, and working to eliminate it) require us to think of autism, not as itself a way of living, but as that which must be 'lived with.'... Autism, advocacy so often tells us, must be minimized and/or eliminated in the hopes of recuperating the present goodness/rightness of normative life."
3) Autistic difference, we are taught, is "bad biology" and "mis-wired brains." It is dangerous, destroys families, steals life, and it is "our" duty to protect families, communities and society at large from it (the enemy). Like other pathologized differences in humans (sexual orientation, gender identity, race, mental illness, disability, etc.) these beliefs result in (and even promote) dehumanization and thereby justify all kinds of things from police brutality, medical therapies and treatments, excessive state, school, and family surveillance, restrictions of rights and freedoms, abuse and violence from family and peers, to outright murder.
4) Person first language makes autism something a person "has," something they (and by extension their families) "live with," a "bad thing" that can (with the right medication, treatment, intervention etc.) be separated from the "good" individual. Autistic self-advocates express that autism is inseparable from the autistic person in the same way people don't "have" femaleness or maleness, they "are" male or female (or neither). Therefore, the war on autism is war on autistics. Being "against" autism is being against autistics.
There is so much more I could say about this book. I hope that you read it and that it gives you information and tools like it gave me to better understand the incredible violence and oppression the global war on autism is causing so that you can change how you advocate, change how you think, and work to change the beliefs of those around you. Because the actual lives of autistic people are at stake.
I honestly can't do this book justice in a review. I must have 50 flags in this book! But I'd like to highlight several of the things I came away with and hopefully interest you in reading it.
First off, this is a book of academic scholarship and the writing style reflects this. If you are like me and don't read academic books/theory very often, prepare to put the time and work into this one! It took me a month to read, and I read about 12-15 books a month. But it was SO worth it.
Highlights:
1) The current dominant understanding of autism is based in the development of child psychiatry which itself was a product of the eugenics of the 1930's - 1940's. The lines between (so-called) "normal" and "abnormal" were aggressively defined during this time (and continue to be) and were (are) directly linked to the "well-being" of the (neoliberal) state/nation.
2) Autism advocacy groups are (by and large) "against" autism and therefore cannot advocate "for" autistic people. This makes them incredibly dangerous to autistics as they produce a culture/society that is, from the start and without question, "hostile to autistic difference", the result of which is violence (physical, emotional, mental, social) against autistic people.
"The dominant ways we have of engaging in autism advocacy (i.e., by fighting autism, battling it, hating it, waging a war against it, and working to eliminate it) require us to think of autism, not as itself a way of living, but as that which must be 'lived with.'... Autism, advocacy so often tells us, must be minimized and/or eliminated in the hopes of recuperating the present goodness/rightness of normative life."
3) Autistic difference, we are taught, is "bad biology" and "mis-wired brains." It is dangerous, destroys families, steals life, and it is "our" duty to protect families, communities and society at large from it (the enemy). Like other pathologized differences in humans (sexual orientation, gender identity, race, mental illness, disability, etc.) these beliefs result in (and even promote) dehumanization and thereby justify all kinds of things from police brutality, medical therapies and treatments, excessive state, school, and family surveillance, restrictions of rights and freedoms, abuse and violence from family and peers, to outright murder.
4) Person first language makes autism something a person "has," something they (and by extension their families) "live with," a "bad thing" that can (with the right medication, treatment, intervention etc.) be separated from the "good" individual. Autistic self-advocates express that autism is inseparable from the autistic person in the same way people don't "have" femaleness or maleness, they "are" male or female (or neither). Therefore, the war on autism is war on autistics. Being "against" autism is being against autistics.
There is so much more I could say about this book. I hope that you read it and that it gives you information and tools like it gave me to better understand the incredible violence and oppression the global war on autism is causing so that you can change how you advocate, change how you think, and work to change the beliefs of those around you. Because the actual lives of autistic people are at stake.
flordemaga's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.5
A heavy book, both in its emotional and literary denseness. However it is a valuable text and builds up on how we have reached a framework in which disability, specifically autism, is not only pathologized but violence against it (and, therefore, against autistic people) is normalized.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Child abuse, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Racism
Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality
barefootbetsy's review against another edition
5.0
Very dense and difficult read, but is a great overview of how autism has been portrayed in our society as a horrible scourge upon humanity that needs to be fought and destroyed -- ignoring that autism isn't something that can be separated from those of us who are autistic.
This book masterfully outlines a direct line between that mainstream portrayal of autism as something to be battled and the abuse that autistic people (especially those with high support needs and those who are children) face from society at large as well as from their own families and carers.
I think that this is (sadly) a necessary read for anyone who works with autistic people in any capacity.
This book masterfully outlines a direct line between that mainstream portrayal of autism as something to be battled and the abuse that autistic people (especially those with high support needs and those who are children) face from society at large as well as from their own families and carers.
I think that this is (sadly) a necessary read for anyone who works with autistic people in any capacity.
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