Like many parents of an Autistic child, I often read books related to that topic. They are often gifts or recommended. I find with most of these personal experience type books, I don’t always agree with everything, but usually get something out of them.

There is one main topic in this book that makes my blood boil. Ellen Notbohm had the nerve to write regarding a child with autism, “I have autism. I am not primarily `autistic’.”

You have chicken pox. You have a cold. You have a hang nail. You have a diagnosis of autism. You are autistic!!! My son is Autistic. His neurological make up is different and Autistic is the appropriate word to describe that difference.

But that’s not really what flamed the fire. She goes on to say, “The word `autistic’ is accurate. But so are other words that we no longer use to describe people: spinster (unmarried woman), hobo (migrant worker), cripple (person with a physical handicap), and so on.” Just what would the author say about diabetics or haemophiliacs?

This comparison is offensive. Autism and Autistic are technical terms, medical terms with distinct meaning and diagnostic criteria. Not slang or social language. She supports her reasoning with idea of labels being overused, often unkind, and lead to pre-judgement. Welcome to the Real World lady. As a society we are far too oversensitive to labels. You want the people around you to see past labels, you get to know them on a personal and intimate basis. That is the only way. Fear of labels is not productive.

To be fair, the book is not a total loss. As I mentioned in the beginning of this, there’s always something to be learned from all of these books, despite the often biased and uniformed opinions of some of these authors writing about their personal experiences. If you’re really interested, I’d recommend borrowing from the public library rather than waste your money.
Rating: 2 / 5

ObviouslyNotAutistic, as she should be called, is simply taking curebie words, shoving them into childrens’ mouths, and asking you, the public, to cough up money for it. If the “knowledge and understanding that is increasing even as you read this” statement on her page was true, then books like this would be being cancelled by publishers, and banned as hate literature by countries with true social consciousness.

If you think I am exaggerating, bear these two points in mind. One, I am an autistic adult who is a poster child for what abusing an autistic child or teenager can do years down the track. You can see me describing the horrible conditions I had to grow up in anytime on YouTube, just search for an autistic adult speaking for himself (something curebies like this want to silence). Two, these curebie cowards cannot get the time of day in places like Australia, which happens to be where the foremost expert in autism in the world is based.

Ten years from now, the children ObviouslyNotAutistic is drowning out will rise up and speak for themselves. And what they have to say to her will not be pretty.
Rating: 1 / 5

Autism sucks. Children with autism are capable of misbehavior. I cannot wait for autism writers and advocates to get out of the politically correct, pseudoscience world so we can actually get some progress towards making effective therapy available for our children.
Rating: 2 / 5