Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Unmasking Autism: The Power of Embracing Our Hidden Neurodiversity by Devon Price

21 reviews

spacekee's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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ryyyaaan's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book is wonderful. To any autistic person or anyone with friends, family members, or loved ones who are autistic, you should read this. I feel so seen. I feel like I understand myself and my disability better. I feel more okay with myself.

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fujo_cat's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

This is going to be my new personal recommendation for people looking for nonfiction books on autism!

I remember seeing this book around when it came out and I added it to my TBR immediately. It wasn’t until I watched an autistic tiktok compilation with so many people praising and recommending it that I actually picked it up. I’m glad I did!

I had to write my review on it as soon as I finished listening to it. It’s been so long since I finished a book this fast; granted, I was listening to it on 2x, but it was still very enjoyable and informative. I can now understand the praise it got from the community and I agree — it’s definitely worth a read/listen.

I had some expectations, I’m not going to lie; I did pick this up because of all the praise, so I was expecting something good. I’ll be honest, though, I wasn’t expecting something this good! I have this problem with nonfiction, that I usually can’t get into it after some pages — I tend to get bored of it. It did not happen with this one! There was no filler and although some information overlapped, it never felt unnecessary.

Wait, I’m done already? — this is what I thought at the end of it; seriously, it was way too quick.

I usually don’t read or listen to nonfiction and I’m pretty picky with my choices. I’m glad it did not disappoint.

I think what made this book so good is the way it takes a subject like autism and expands on it — taking into consideration a percentage of autistic people who are either undiagnosed, high-masking, or a mix of autistic and black/queer/trans/etc.. As an autistic AAA battery (agender, aromantic and asexual), I’m glad my existence was approached in a respectful and interesting way!

Besides, it is also written in a professional but easy-to-understand way, which I can certainly appreciate.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°★.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°★.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°★.。.:*・

Basically, this is a great book: easy to understand writing, an inclusive approach and a fantastic topic to explore.

I’ll totally recommend this one to you if you are interesting in knowing more about autism and how it might manifest in those who mask.

This book changed my view of myself as an autistic person, honestly. If you care even a bit for this topic or you have people in your life who are autistic or even neurodivergent, please give it a chance!

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to more books from Price!

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alisazhup's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I Feel so incredibly seen and understand! So many memories from childhood and adolescence have come flooding in and they make sense now. It’s like putting everything into a new perspective where I’m realizing “it wasn’t my fault, I was never the problem!” 😭

I’ve cried so much from finally feeling understood and knowing what was “wrong” my whole life-

The amount of times I gasped and said “wait I’m not the only one who felt like this/experienced this/does this”

So helpful in my journey, and incredibly validating since starting to look into diagnosis.

It’s been ups and downs of “I can’t possibly have autism” to “maybe I am autistic? hmm I’m relating a little too well to some of these things” to “let’s take a test” “well after many tests I think I’m definitely autistic” to “nah I’m probably faking it…nope def autistic“

It’s been a long and difficult process of accepting this new part of myself (even though I’ve been autistic all along it’s a lot to take in). It’s saddening to realize how much of what I was bullied for growing up was because of my autistic traits but I have hope I can learn to unmask and learn to love the parts of myself that I’ve been taught to hate or needed to “fix” for so long

Incredible resource I recommend to anyone who is Autistic or thinks they may be autistic

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charlinem's review against another edition

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hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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moondreaming's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective

4.5

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returningb00kworm's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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inordertofly's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

This book outlines ways that autism presents for the masked adult, and the very dark realities that come from heavily masking and/or non-acceptance of autistic needs. Following this are the pros and cons of embracing the autistic self, the impact of learned ableism, and what an unaplogetic disabled life could look like. A very helpful journey regardless of whether you are part of the Autistic community or want to expand your understanding of others whose neurotype differs from societal 'normal'

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armontheroad's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity is an absolute must-read for all Autistic people and all non-Autistic (allistic) people with an Autistic loved one in their life! Devon Price does an absolutely phenomenal job at writing this book in an easy-to-digest/understandable way. Not only does he use this book to talk about how we, as Autistic people, can learn to unmask in an ableist society, he also uses this book to shed light on tons of other marginalized communities that are affected by the ableist white-supremacist society we live in.

Autism is not the only neurodivergency touched upon in this book; we discuss ADHD, schizophrenia, BPD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, just to name a few. Price also weaves in stories from Actually Autistic individuals to showcase his points. I deeply appreciate him interviewing such a diverse range of Auties! We get to see into the lives of Auties who are physically disabled, Black, brown, trans, queer, etc. As an Autistic Latino queer trans man, I was very grateful for these discussions. It is very often white people forget POC in conversations about diversity/marginalized identities and even though Price bringing us into the narrative is the bare minimum white people can do, it was still greatly appreciated!

I cannot express in a cohesive manner just how much this piece meant to me. During my reading, I cried dozens upon dozens of times. Feeling seen as an Autistic individual is something I am still getting used to after spending over twenty years unaware the reason I didn’t fit into our ableist society was that I was disabled the entire time. Reading about the universe experiences Autistic individuals face was very cathartic. Not only that but there is great advice provided within the text! Devon Price adds tons of exercises and resources throughout the book to truly help Autistic individuals learn to live happy fulfilling lives as our true selves. With that said, I applaud Price for acknowledging the fact lots of Autistic people with intersectional marginalizations (Black and brown Auties, Auties in poverty, etc) do not always have the privilege or resources to be able to unmask themselves.

Unmasking Autism is worth the read! It is by far one of the best pieces I have read about Autism. Price’s work truly will change so many lives of masked Autistic (and Neurodivergent) individuals! I will say, this book dives deep into so many discussions. Due to this fact, there are lots of potentially triggering subject matter throughout the text. Below I will list the ones I clocked onto whilst going through my first read. I am sure when the book is released and I start my reread through the physical copy, I will think of more to add on, so please tread carefully through your read! To end things off, this was a five-star read and I *will* be picking up his other work!!

TWs/CWs: Ableism, medical content, eating disorders, medical/physical/mental/emotional abuse, racism, police brutality, self-harm, alcohol/alcoholism, depression, anxiety, suicide attempt (minor), suicidal ideation (minor), Nazis, antisemitism, eugenics, forced institutionalization, anti-gay conversion therapy, JK Rowling/Harry Potter/TERFs/transphobia, etc.

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