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A review by graveyardpansy
Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price
5.0
4.5 stars!
overall this book is incredibly well-put-together. it seamlessly blends academic knowledge with personal experiences and interviews, and has a really strong voice that’s readable and informative while not being “too” academic.
I wish I’d had this to read five years ago, I think I would’ve gotten more out of it. however, I would especially recommend it to anyone that’s new to realizing they’re autistic and to anyone who has a masking autistic loved one, or anyone who wants to learn more about masking and/or autism as a whole!
I do have some minor critiques:
- I wish the author had engaged more with disability justice as a framework/movement. it’s pretty clear that DJ is not the /basis/ of Dr. Price’s understanding of disability or autism, but it definitely feels as if the book aligns with DJ in a LOT of ways, and I feel like it deserves more than a couple passing mentions!! I feel similarly about other more radical ideas, like abolition — it was mentioned, but I wish more time had been afforded to it, and I think this book could’ve been a good venue to get more people interested in DJ and abolition, and I wish they’d taken advantage of that!
- I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way the medical and social models of disability were presented, the explanation felt a bit overgeneralized to me and I didn’t feel like the medical model was described or critiqued entirely accurately.
- I also would’ve liked more high-support-needs voices to have been interviewed/included. I understand that the book focuses on autistic people who mask which is often those with lower support needs, but especially as Dr. Price emphasizes that unmasking can be a political goal that furthers acceptance of all autistic people, not just those who mask, I think it would’ve benefited the book overall to invite more people with high support needs into the discussion.
All that said, keeping in mind I’m a relatively critical reader especially when it comes to things I care a lot about, this book is really great as a whole!! I feel like I came out of it with a little more knowledge of myself, even though I’ve known I’m autistic for years and feel relatively knowledgeable about autism and autistic communities as a whole. I hope others get something valuable out of it, too.
overall this book is incredibly well-put-together. it seamlessly blends academic knowledge with personal experiences and interviews, and has a really strong voice that’s readable and informative while not being “too” academic.
I wish I’d had this to read five years ago, I think I would’ve gotten more out of it. however, I would especially recommend it to anyone that’s new to realizing they’re autistic and to anyone who has a masking autistic loved one, or anyone who wants to learn more about masking and/or autism as a whole!
I do have some minor critiques:
- I wish the author had engaged more with disability justice as a framework/movement. it’s pretty clear that DJ is not the /basis/ of Dr. Price’s understanding of disability or autism, but it definitely feels as if the book aligns with DJ in a LOT of ways, and I feel like it deserves more than a couple passing mentions!! I feel similarly about other more radical ideas, like abolition — it was mentioned, but I wish more time had been afforded to it, and I think this book could’ve been a good venue to get more people interested in DJ and abolition, and I wish they’d taken advantage of that!
- I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way the medical and social models of disability were presented, the explanation felt a bit overgeneralized to me and I didn’t feel like the medical model was described or critiqued entirely accurately.
- I also would’ve liked more high-support-needs voices to have been interviewed/included. I understand that the book focuses on autistic people who mask which is often those with lower support needs, but especially as Dr. Price emphasizes that unmasking can be a political goal that furthers acceptance of all autistic people, not just those who mask, I think it would’ve benefited the book overall to invite more people with high support needs into the discussion.
All that said, keeping in mind I’m a relatively critical reader especially when it comes to things I care a lot about, this book is really great as a whole!! I feel like I came out of it with a little more knowledge of myself, even though I’ve known I’m autistic for years and feel relatively knowledgeable about autism and autistic communities as a whole. I hope others get something valuable out of it, too.