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Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman
7 reviews
dwarrowdams's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Child death
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Antisemitism, and Physical abuse
Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, and Transphobia
tinyplanet's review against another edition
3.5
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.
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
henrytinker's review against another edition
2.0
This book is predominantly a collection of biographical information about specific psychologists who contributed to the development of Autism as a diagnosis. It isn't very well written in my opinion, because the style is rather dry and without a clear narrative through line. It is also unclear why so much of it is devoted to certain people and topics adjacent to autism (e.g. speculating about famous historical men who could have been autistic, PKU, Ham Radio). Although there are some interesting parts, it could have done with rigorous editing. At best I would describe it as 'uneven'.
As an autistic person who is somewhat familiar with the history of the diagnosis already, it is worth pointing out that a lot of the information about Hans Asperger, whom Silberman seems determined to redeem, is incorrect. This book was published in 2015, and in 2018 new evidence came to light of Hans Asperger's collusion with Dr. Jekelius and other Nazis. Asperger is directly responsible for the deaths of numerous children, and as such those sections in the book were incredibly uncomfortable and frustrating to read.
There really isn't much that humanises autistic people in this book, with the exception of the last chapter. There are lots of detailed descriptions of children suffering and being tortured, and a lot of focus placed on the narratives of the parents of autistic children. There is also very little mention of Autism Speaks and the harm that they have done and continue to do, which is an interesting omission for a book that seems so determined to present itself as thoroughly researched. I definitely expected better from this book, given all of the glowing reviews.
Please read books by people who are actually autistic! e.g. Unmasking Autism by Dr. Devon Price, Authoring Autism by Melanie Yergeau, The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin, A Mismatch of Salience by Dr Damien E M Milton, Neuroqueer Heresies by Dr. Nick Walker.
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Self harm, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Child abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, and Medical content
cassie7e's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Child abuse, and Ableism
Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse
Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Suicide
annapox's review against another edition
4.75
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
katiewhocanread's review against another edition
Graphic: Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Torture, Ableism, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Self harm, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia
Minor: Suicide, Death, and Grief
readingelli's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicide, Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, and Physical abuse