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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
When your child is diagnosed with autism, they hand you a booklet from AutismSpeaks called "The First 100 Days" (or something). I remember skimming it and feeling completely lost. The next 100 days weren't foreboding, it was the next 80 years of my child's life that I needed to understand.
This is the book that all parents should be given upon diagnosis. Before they get caught in the trap of parent advocacy that plays on fear and victimhood, before research leads them to try "cures" or shun vaccines or put their child into ABA therapy. Before they start listening to neurotypical people about what is best for their child, they should listen to autistic and neurodivergent people with lived experience.
This book is long form journalism and yes, it is boring. I mean that as a compliment because this topic should be boring! Garcia speaks the truth, plainly, and supports it with enough facts to make your eyes bleed. He throws in some anecdotes, but he doesn't sensationalize anything. There is no drama, no narrative to hook you. It is simply the lives and history of everyday autistic folk.
Nothing exceptional, nothing tragic, just people living their lives.
I read a few of the negative reviews for this book and it seems many readers were expecting stories, not heaps of facts and figures about housing and health care. There are plenty of memoirs and story collections from autistic creators, but what this book attempts to do is unify the spectrum of autistic voices into one single voice. No matter how different each autistic person is, no matter how different their support needs are, they all are saying the same thing: We are human. We have rights. We are deserving of dignity and respect. Please listen to us.
Shedding abelism is a journey. I remember the day I was confronted with my own abelism, when I stumbled upon a Facebook group for autistic people who welcomed parents of autistic children. It was a gutpunch to realize everything I thought I knew about autism and disability was not only wrong, but hurtful to an entire community. I had the urge to drop out of the groups and enter parent groups, where my beliefs and biases would not be questioned, but I decided that the discomfort was a good thing. If I can't suffer a little discomfort for the good of my child, am I even a parent? It took weeks of immersion with actual autistics, but I started to understand.
This book offers the experience I had, but in a handful of chapters. You just have to be willing to go on the journey however uncomfortable it might be.
That is where this book can fail, in my opinion. Garcia takes you on his own journey. If you have already started the journey of shedding abelism, especially in regards to neurodiversity, then this book will be hopeful to coalesce those ideas. However, if you are steeped in abelism or parent advocacy... well... just read through the 1 star reviews of people who didn't make it past the first chapter.
I wish I could buy 100 copies of this book and hand it out to every teacher and parent I know, but I also know this book will be too devisive for some. As much as I agree with Garcia's barbs about Trump, I know that would shut out a lot of the people I encounter on a daily basis, making this book sort of useless in reaching a significant portion of the country (again, read the top rated 1 star review of this book).
While this is not THE book that will finally turn the tide and help neurotypicals see they need to use their voices to elevate autistic voices, it is an excellent place to start for those who are willing to take the journey.
This is the book that all parents should be given upon diagnosis. Before they get caught in the trap of parent advocacy that plays on fear and victimhood, before research leads them to try "cures" or shun vaccines or put their child into ABA therapy. Before they start listening to neurotypical people about what is best for their child, they should listen to autistic and neurodivergent people with lived experience.
This book is long form journalism and yes, it is boring. I mean that as a compliment because this topic should be boring! Garcia speaks the truth, plainly, and supports it with enough facts to make your eyes bleed. He throws in some anecdotes, but he doesn't sensationalize anything. There is no drama, no narrative to hook you. It is simply the lives and history of everyday autistic folk.
Nothing exceptional, nothing tragic, just people living their lives.
I read a few of the negative reviews for this book and it seems many readers were expecting stories, not heaps of facts and figures about housing and health care. There are plenty of memoirs and story collections from autistic creators, but what this book attempts to do is unify the spectrum of autistic voices into one single voice. No matter how different each autistic person is, no matter how different their support needs are, they all are saying the same thing: We are human. We have rights. We are deserving of dignity and respect. Please listen to us.
Shedding abelism is a journey. I remember the day I was confronted with my own abelism, when I stumbled upon a Facebook group for autistic people who welcomed parents of autistic children. It was a gutpunch to realize everything I thought I knew about autism and disability was not only wrong, but hurtful to an entire community. I had the urge to drop out of the groups and enter parent groups, where my beliefs and biases would not be questioned, but I decided that the discomfort was a good thing. If I can't suffer a little discomfort for the good of my child, am I even a parent? It took weeks of immersion with actual autistics, but I started to understand.
This book offers the experience I had, but in a handful of chapters. You just have to be willing to go on the journey however uncomfortable it might be.
That is where this book can fail, in my opinion. Garcia takes you on his own journey. If you have already started the journey of shedding abelism, especially in regards to neurodiversity, then this book will be hopeful to coalesce those ideas. However, if you are steeped in abelism or parent advocacy... well... just read through the 1 star reviews of people who didn't make it past the first chapter.
I wish I could buy 100 copies of this book and hand it out to every teacher and parent I know, but I also know this book will be too devisive for some. As much as I agree with Garcia's barbs about Trump, I know that would shut out a lot of the people I encounter on a daily basis, making this book sort of useless in reaching a significant portion of the country (again, read the top rated 1 star review of this book).
While this is not THE book that will finally turn the tide and help neurotypicals see they need to use their voices to elevate autistic voices, it is an excellent place to start for those who are willing to take the journey.
informative
medium-paced
Beautiful and important book that talks about some of the many issues faced by the autistic community while being written by an autistic person and amplifying many other people’s voices on the spectrum. It is about dignity, respect, justice and allows autistic people to talk for themselves rather then being talked about by neurotypical people as it so often happens (definitely no specific Slovak journalist in mind). If you want a comprehensive and very readable introduction to the autism conversation, I definitely recommend.
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
I appreciate the perspective of the author as they provide historicall accurate insights from both sides of the political spectrum. Their journalistic vantage point lends a succinct insightfulness to the book.
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced