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sciatrix

sciatrix@bookwyrm.social

Joined 10 months ago

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Sarah Kurchak: I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder (2020, Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd.) 5 stars

Review of 'I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

What an important book. What an important perspective. It's--okay, look, I'm thirty one years old and I needed to have this and I needed to read it, because it's the kind of autistic perspective that makes me feel completely seen and validated. And that is not common for me--not EVER--and it's weird and amazing to see a work that feels like a mirror.

The bit about special interests as a route to connection is of course incredibly true and important. I am always kind of amazed when Autism Parents (tm) are so negative about them and insist on seeing them as a harbinger of doom; mine have opened so many doors for me over the years and allowed me to make friends with lots of kinds of people. That's especially true when certain hobbies seem to attract and fill up with autistic people!

Anyway, what a good book. What a …

Michael McCreary: Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum (2019) 3 stars

Review of "Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum" on 'Goodreads'

1 star

This one pissed me off, as... uh, another autistic reader diagnosed as a kid. The constant emphasis on the "obvious" differences between autistic experiences and NT experiences and on diagnostic gatekeeping by medical professionals was alienating and frustrating, as was the constant "there's no such thing as a little bit autistic" reminding. Buddy, it's a spectrum. That's literally in the name now. There isn't a single unifying Autistic Experience, as McCreary clearly knows and explicitly says, and there are wide-ranging variations in access to diagnosis for people of different socioeconomic classes, races, gender, ages, and family expectations with respect to psych professionals.

McCreary's experience of autism is so clearly that of a young white man, and it's really frustrating to see that specific autistic experience sucking up all the air again. I'd wanted to find someone telling jokes that made me giggle, aimed at an audience of Us, and that …