At the request of my therapist I'm reading Attwood's "The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome" (2008) and now I need a detox.
Can anyone recommend any texts or media that considers the Autism Spectrum from the perspective of disability justice or similar?
Preferably in English, but Polish also works
@tihyltew Oh my god! It is such an outdated book!
#ActuallyAutistic (no need to have a diagnosis to use it) any suggestions? (I don’t have the spoons tonight)
@tihyltew hmmm...
I'm not #ActuallyAutistic but am adjacent; I also had somewhat mixed feelings about this series, but the "Last Pick" graphic novels feature an autistic main character and a disability justice implicit framing. They're probably not what you're looking for exactly (certainly they're fiction meant to entertain, not educational), but I didn't see any other replies yet so I thought they might be worth mentioning. In the same vein of fiction, "To a Darker Shore" by Leanne Schwartz felt kinda nice even though I had some nits to pick with the details of the world building, I thought that the portrayal of both of the autistic main characters was good.
Sorry that I don't have any non-fiction recs nor better fictional ones. The few other fiction books with autistic characters I've read are ones where I'm not sure I feel good enough about their portrayal to recommend them to others (Last Pick is honestly borderline...). For example, I just read a sorry story in LeGuin's "Searoad" focusing on a probably-autistic character, but even though it fit nicely into the full book as a whole, on its own it felt kinda "meh." Elizabeth Moon has a novel with an autistic main character that I enjoyed, but that one I know is not #OwnVoices and I'm not sure his much of might resonate or feel patronizing/harmful to an #ActuallyAutistic person.
I too would love to read something with a disability justice lens from an autistic standpoint.
@tihyltew I don't have any good recommendations unfortunately, but I would be asking the therapist about why they want you reading a historical text.
Medical texts from 20 years ago are very interesting, but if I was to hand a 20 year old anatomy book to my students, other than as a historical curiosity, that would be negligent of me. If a 2026 doctor was to treat high blood pressure or heart disease from a book from 2008, they would be a murderer.
@tihyltew
Roughly not what you are looking for, but might inspire people to argue:
- Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity; By Steve Silberman
- Disability Visibility: First-person stories from the 21st century; by Alice Wong
- Unmasking Autism; by Devon Price
- We're Not Broken; by Eric Garcia
- The Neurodiversity Edge; by Maureen Dunne
- The Reason I Jump; by Naoki Higashida
- An Outsider's Guide to Humans; by Camila Pang
@tihyltew this is a great book written by an autistic author
I Am Autistic is a tool for both diagnosed and undiagnosed autistics to explain or make sense of their experiences. It also offers non-autistic people the chance to learn more about autism from someone who is autistic.
@tihyltew if you prefer a graphic novel then check out this classic
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30816851-the-world-beyond-my-shadow
@tihyltew Not a book, but this amazing blog focused on late diagnosed/realized, for us by us, it is a must.
One example of article below.
——
How to Tell People You're Autistic (When You Don't Want to Perform or Educate)
15 min read
Disclosing your autism diagnosis shouldn't require a presentation. Here's how to tell people without becoming their personal autism educator.
https://www.heyasd.com/blogs/autism/how-to-tell-people-youre-autistic
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