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Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'
Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World by Laura James
1 review
jenny_librarian's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I’m sure it did Laura James a lot of good to write this book. Good for her.
It was a strong contrast to my last autistic read (Unmasking Autism) in terms of classism, sexism and even a bit of ableism. James has this notion of autism where she says it’s a disability that she doesn’t work in spite of, but the underlying vibe of most of her book feels like she treats it like an illness she’s trying to fight. And I get that she’s on a journey, but so much of the book felt like she was battling her autism instead of embracing it.
I think it didn’t help that we are on wildly different paths. She’s gen X, adopted, married, a mother of 4. I’m a millenial who grew up with her single mother, single with cats for children. We couldn’t be more different and some parts of her story bored me to death for that reason. I didn’t care about her children or empty-nest syndrome or whatever. I didn’t care about how her husband didn’t understand her and even raised some orange-reddish flag at times.
I also question her choice of professionals, nearly all of which are neurotypical. She says at one point that autistic voices should be heard more, but she only mentions in passing most autistic people she knows or talk to.
And yet, I found stuff to relate to. Little sentences here and there that solidify this diagnosis in my head, when I managed to untangle what were autistic traits in comparison to her being adopted, an ex-addict or just herself. Some of it was easier than other.
Laura James’ life is one of many autistic experiences. There are as many more as there are autistic people, and it would be a disservice to the community to consider this one above others. It’s a white, middle class, British woman’s perspective that bring a little more to the compendium of autistic writing, but not enough in my opinion to be worth what other, more recent work have.
It was a strong contrast to my last autistic read (Unmasking Autism) in terms of classism, sexism and even a bit of ableism. James has this notion of autism where she says it’s a disability that she doesn’t work in spite of, but the underlying vibe of most of her book feels like she treats it like an illness she’s trying to fight. And I get that she’s on a journey, but so much of the book felt like she was battling her autism instead of embracing it.
I think it didn’t help that we are on wildly different paths. She’s gen X, adopted, married, a mother of 4. I’m a millenial who grew up with her single mother, single with cats for children. We couldn’t be more different and some parts of her story bored me to death for that reason. I didn’t care about her children or empty-nest syndrome or whatever. I didn’t care about how her husband didn’t understand her and even raised some orange-reddish flag at times.
I also question her choice of professionals, nearly all of which are neurotypical. She says at one point that autistic voices should be heard more, but she only mentions in passing most autistic people she knows or talk to.
And yet, I found stuff to relate to. Little sentences here and there that solidify this diagnosis in my head, when I managed to untangle what were autistic traits in comparison to her being adopted, an ex-addict or just herself. Some of it was easier than other.
Laura James’ life is one of many autistic experiences. There are as many more as there are autistic people, and it would be a disservice to the community to consider this one above others. It’s a white, middle class, British woman’s perspective that bring a little more to the compendium of autistic writing, but not enough in my opinion to be worth what other, more recent work have.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Sexism, Classism, and Transphobia
More...