Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman

9 reviews

tinyplanet's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

3.5

Well-researched and well-written summary of the history of autism to ~2010. It was not a fun read. It unfortunately felt like a long account of how autistic people (and people with other developmental disabilities and mental illnesses) have been abused, stigmatized, imprisoned in institutions and mental asylums, denied education, infantilized, sterilized, tortured, and murdered, with some breaks to show autistic people in a symp thetic to positive light. Silberman did cover the history of the nascent autism self-advocacy movement in the United States and interviewed many autistic people and their families.

The book is white- and Western-centric, primarily focused on Austria, the UK, and the US, where most formal research on autism has been done. Silberman does include the voices of some girls and sometimes autistic mothers, plus Temple Grandin. There are some mentions of Japanese families, but very little said about minorities in the US or lower socioeconomic classes.

Silberman attempts to let the facts stand for themselves. In doing so, he does not take a strong stand against some of the figures who committed abuses. Asperger is presented as Nazi-lite. Electrocution is clearly bad, but the insidious frameworks that ins ired such a "treatment" are not fully confronted. Inference is required to identify all of the issues that Silberman presents.

This book may have the most content warnings of any book I have reviewed, although none of it is gratuitous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Confinement, Physical abuse, Ableism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Genocide, Grief, Self harm, Suicide attempt, War, Medical content, Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Torture, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Miscarriage, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Addiction, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Murder, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

georgiasummer98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Medical content, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Ableism

lanid's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Child death, Child abuse, and Body horror

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

annapox's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child death, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Racism, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Animal death, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Islamophobia, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury

mandkips's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Ableism

Moderate: Homophobia, Genocide, and Bullying

Minor: Suicide, Antisemitism, and Self harm

readingelli's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

5.0

A really detailed history of autism research. I learned a lot, and it was hard to read at times but it did end on a hopeful note. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicide, Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

buttermellow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Child abuse

Moderate: Antisemitism, Homophobia, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide and Self harm

flordemaga's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Antisemitism, Bullying, Genocide, and Self harm

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

scarecrow's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

4.75

It's almost perfect and I recommend it to anyone interested in Autistic History or psychology in general. It may be able to dispel some misconceptions you have about autistic people and debunk some myths you've no doubt heard (no, vaccination doesn't make kids autistic!)

It's a very well-rounded book and due to that it's hard to find much to say about it - the work speaks for itself. If you're autistic and on the fence about reading it, I recommend giving it a go - it's not a book that sets out to slander or pathologise us.

Good as the book is, supplement your reading with perspectives from a wide range of actual autistic people (never take allistic "autism experts" word as gospel, always consult people with actual lived experience of being autistic). 

Content warnings I've listed apply to discussions of the historical and current abuse of autistic people, not bigotry on the author's part.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Torture

Minor: Antisemitism, Genocide, and Homophobia