Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Book #64: Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's


Title: Look Me in The Eye: My Life With Asperger's
Author: John Elder Robison

A memoir written by Augusten Burroughs's older brother (you know, from Running with Scissors fame?) about living with Asperger's and learning to see his condition as a strength.

I think a lot of people feel like an autism diagnosis requires children and parents to completely reevaluate what they're going to get out of life. I know that when Bryce was (mis)diagnosed at three, I worried about if he'd be able to go to "regular" school, if he'd ever hold a job, and if he'd get married. Robison, whose childhood would have provided ample fodder for a memoir even without Asperger's, didn't get diagnosed until he was 40, had already been married, had risen through the ranks of executive power, and eventually decided to start his own successful business. He's honest about both his struggles and his successes, and talks about how diagnosis has helped him understand himself, and not how it has limited him.

Made me want to read: Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs and Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin

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