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A review by lizzybethrae
Women and Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Understanding Life Experiences from Early Childhood to Old Age by Sarah Hendrickx
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up. I have many thoughts on this book.
This is best for autistic women who were diagnosed late in life. I imagine this an extremely meaningful book for many of those individuals, who will read this, see their struggles written out in somebody's words, and feel very heard and validated. This book was a struggle for me to read at times because - as is to be expected, and what ultimately should be appreciated - the words are very honest. There are scary things in here to think about for the future of an autistic girl. The "good news" and advice was few and far between, and in fact, for that reason I would recommend any parents or loved ones reading this to get a better sense - read the last chapter ("Final Words") first. This is the most uplifting and hopeful part of the book. All anybody wants is to be respected and loved for who they are and the main takeaway or "advice" I gleaned from this as a parent is what I already knew: your child is perfect as they are. The world will make them feel strange and it's your job as their parent to start them out feeling whole and loved.
Other thoughts!
This book is essentially a thesis project, in book format, without the scientific peer review. The structure was a bit strange for me as someone who has WRITTEN thesis projects (based off of qualitative interviews no less!) and in that respect, this book is lacking in scientific analysis. It is the amalgamation of interviews for approximately 30 women or parents of girls with autism who responded to the autistic author's questionnaire. Mix it up with a solid lit review into the (unfortunately scant) scientific understanding of autism in girls, as well as the author's personal experience. That is this book. The author does acknowledge there are downsides to the way this was set up, and it's a downside common to many of the books on autism I've read. The sample size is small in the grand scheme of things - every person with autism is unique, because everyone is. No two autistic people will agree on absolutely everything. So, a survey response from 30 women is likely going to be skewed towards women who had potentially more extreme experiences, who felt strongly and deeply enough to provide all of the wonderfully thought out answers in this text. There was even brief mention somewhere in the book along the lines of the interesting difference between girls who were diagnosed young and their autism just "is what it is" and women who are diagnosed late who throw themselves into their identity and "act more autistic than ever." For my specific circumstance, I wanted more on the former and the book centered on the latter.
This book didn't deliver on what I was personally hoping for, but I don't think it is a bad book and believe others will benefit from reading it. I think anyone to whom autism matters benefits from reading widely on the subject (which should include this) and speaking with autistic adults. You won't understand all there is to know about autism from reading one or two books. The author has several long talks on Youtube that I saw prior to reading this and I do recommend those!
This is best for autistic women who were diagnosed late in life. I imagine this an extremely meaningful book for many of those individuals, who will read this, see their struggles written out in somebody's words, and feel very heard and validated. This book was a struggle for me to read at times because - as is to be expected, and what ultimately should be appreciated - the words are very honest. There are scary things in here to think about for the future of an autistic girl. The "good news" and advice was few and far between, and in fact, for that reason I would recommend any parents or loved ones reading this to get a better sense - read the last chapter ("Final Words") first. This is the most uplifting and hopeful part of the book. All anybody wants is to be respected and loved for who they are and the main takeaway or "advice" I gleaned from this as a parent is what I already knew: your child is perfect as they are. The world will make them feel strange and it's your job as their parent to start them out feeling whole and loved.
Other thoughts!
This book is essentially a thesis project, in book format, without the scientific peer review. The structure was a bit strange for me as someone who has WRITTEN thesis projects (based off of qualitative interviews no less!) and in that respect, this book is lacking in scientific analysis. It is the amalgamation of interviews for approximately 30 women or parents of girls with autism who responded to the autistic author's questionnaire. Mix it up with a solid lit review into the (unfortunately scant) scientific understanding of autism in girls, as well as the author's personal experience. That is this book. The author does acknowledge there are downsides to the way this was set up, and it's a downside common to many of the books on autism I've read. The sample size is small in the grand scheme of things - every person with autism is unique, because everyone is. No two autistic people will agree on absolutely everything. So, a survey response from 30 women is likely going to be skewed towards women who had potentially more extreme experiences, who felt strongly and deeply enough to provide all of the wonderfully thought out answers in this text. There was even brief mention somewhere in the book along the lines of the interesting difference between girls who were diagnosed young and their autism just "is what it is" and women who are diagnosed late who throw themselves into their identity and "act more autistic than ever." For my specific circumstance, I wanted more on the former and the book centered on the latter.
This book didn't deliver on what I was personally hoping for, but I don't think it is a bad book and believe others will benefit from reading it. I think anyone to whom autism matters benefits from reading widely on the subject (which should include this) and speaking with autistic adults. You won't understand all there is to know about autism from reading one or two books. The author has several long talks on Youtube that I saw prior to reading this and I do recommend those!