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A review by the_magpie_reader
Asperger's and Girls by Ruth Snyder, Tony Attwood, Teresa Bolick, Lisa Iland, Sheila Wagner, Catherine Faherty, Mary Wroble, Temple Grandin, Jennifer McIlwee Myers
3.0
"Asperger's and Girls" by Tony Attwood left me with mixed feelings: on the one hand, the last three chapters offer excellent insight into the inner world and experiences of 3 autistic women who have done so much to advocate for the autistic community and to promote better mutual understanding between neurotypical and neurodivergent people. On the other hand, everything that comes *before* the last three chapters is written by neurotypical authors, writing for neurotypical parents and teachers of autistic children, and contains some pretty terrible advice. More than once I was tempted to abandon the book, but I'm happy I persevered and finally got to the good part!
What's funny is, the advice by the #ActuallyAutistic women who have authored the last three chapters of the book actively contradicts the advice given by the neurotypical so-called "autism experts" in the previous chapters. One of the (neurotypical) contributors to this book boasts about being involved in ABA... Yeah, it's that bad!
Anyway, the last 3 chapters are awesome!
My favourite quote is:
One thing I deeply wish that I'd learned much sooner is that "normal" isn't necessarily "best" or even all that good. I don't mean any insult to neurotypicals, or to normal people, whoever they may be. It's just that normalcy doesn't equal happiness, while struggling for a false image of normalcy usually equals unhappiness.
The best thing you can do for a girl with AS is to accept that she has AS and work from there.
What's funny is, the advice by the #ActuallyAutistic women who have authored the last three chapters of the book actively contradicts the advice given by the neurotypical so-called "autism experts" in the previous chapters. One of the (neurotypical) contributors to this book boasts about being involved in ABA... Yeah, it's that bad!
Anyway, the last 3 chapters are awesome!
My favourite quote is:
One thing I deeply wish that I'd learned much sooner is that "normal" isn't necessarily "best" or even all that good. I don't mean any insult to neurotypicals, or to normal people, whoever they may be. It's just that normalcy doesn't equal happiness, while struggling for a false image of normalcy usually equals unhappiness.
The best thing you can do for a girl with AS is to accept that she has AS and work from there.