A review by moomim
Asperger's and Girls: World-Renowned Experts Join Those with Asperger's Syndrome to Resolve Issues That Girls and Women Face Every Day! by Ruth Snyder, Tony Attwood, Teresa Bolick, Lisa Iland, Sheila Wagner, Catherine Faherty, Mary Wroble, Temple Grandin, Jennifer McIlwee Myers

informative reflective medium-paced

2.5

As others have said, this book contains essays of greatly varying quality. While I really enjoyed some of the essays (particularly those of autistic women themselves), others I found horrendous, harmful and even borderline insulting. I would not recommend it to parents, as I wouldn't want them to treat their children as suggested by some of the contributors to this book.

Especially from some of the neurotypical contributors, there were a lot of guides and suggestions on how to mask, and essentially change everything about yourself in favor of what is trendy and popular, to fit in with other girls. I kept wondering, is it really possible to lead a happy life this way? In a friend group that has nothing in common with you, and only accepts you because your entire personality and appearance is crafted to be accepted by them? Personally, I really don't think so. The contributions of autistic women in this book would also support this, and their messages appear to contradict those of the essays that support masking.

If anything, I found this book to be an interesting study on how differently NT and autistic people seem to feel and think about the matter.