An assortment of enlightening interviews with people with autism and their families.
Members of the autism community have their say in this collection of interviews.
Autism is a spectrum, and those affected by it represent a whole range of experiences. Each person’s autism is different, which is why it is important to listen to as many perspectives as possible. In this work, Aguirre compiles interviews with over 30 advocates from the autism community, including people with the condition and their families. They discuss the ways autism manifests in their lives as well as questions of faith, community, work, school, and what they wish others knew about the condition. Some talk about the way their autism intersects with other issues in their lives, like Ben from Virginia, who has encountered both ableism and racism, often at the same time. Ginny Conroy, also from Virginia, talks about how her brother, Russell, manages with both autism and Down syndrome. She discusses how the autism was in some ways harder for the family to deal with when he was a child. Russell’s situation inspired Conroy—who suspects several of her family members fall somewhere on the spectrum—to embark on a career in special education and behavioral analysis. Several other parents and siblings of people with autism share their own insights, which readers outside the autism community may be surprised to learn. “I would…like others to know that parents of autistic children can be under significant scrutiny from others, including autistic adults,” says Amanda, a third Virginian, whose twins, Noah and Nick, have the disorder. “Some of them are displeased with the parents of autistic children.…I am terrified that my children could feel the same way one day.” Such messages contribute to the author’s portrait of the contemporary autism landscape, one in which increased activism and visibility go hand in hand with differing opinions and occasional misunderstandings.
The book is elegantly formatted, with full-color photographs of each person profiled. Aguirre is a minimal presence as an interviewer, but her short, open-ended questions invite intriguing responses from her interviewees. She frequently speaks with multiple members of the same family, which helps to show how individuals’ autism can shape the lives and relationships of those around them. The variety of experiences within the autism community is on display here even as members of that group admit to feeling sidelined or silenced. “People don’t care that I’m autistic, and they don’t care that I’m an autistic parent,” says Sal from Texas. “People don’t even care that I have my degree and am a practitioner who specializes in autism. They still don’t want to hear what I have to say.” The book is released as a special edition of Autism Parenting Magazine, and the primary audience seems to be those who are already inside or adjacent to the autism community. But readers with little experience of autism or a curiosity to learn more will be well served by this volume, which succeeds in putting a number of faces to the condition.
An assortment of enlightening interviews with people with autism and their families.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66709-360-4
Page Count: 453
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
The former iCarly star reflects on her difficult childhood.
In her debut memoir, titled after her 2020 one-woman show, singer and actor McCurdy (b. 1992) reveals the raw details of what she describes as years of emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding, emotionally unstable stage mom, Debra. Born in Los Angeles, the author, along with three older brothers, grew up in a home controlled by her mother. When McCurdy was 3, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she initially survived, the disease’s recurrence would ultimately take her life when the author was 21. McCurdy candidly reconstructs those in-between years, showing how “my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me.” Insistent on molding her only daughter into “Mommy’s little actress,” Debra shuffled her to auditions beginning at age 6. As she matured and starting booking acting gigs, McCurdy remained “desperate to impress Mom,” while Debra became increasingly obsessive about her daughter’s physical appearance. She tinted her daughter’s eyelashes, whitened her teeth, enforced a tightly monitored regimen of “calorie restriction,” and performed regular genital exams on her as a teenager. Eventually, the author grew understandably resentful and tried to distance herself from her mother. As a young celebrity, however, McCurdy became vulnerable to eating disorders, alcohol addiction, self-loathing, and unstable relationships. Throughout the book, she honestly portrays Debra’s cruel perfectionist personality and abusive behavior patterns, showing a woman who could get enraged by everything from crooked eyeliner to spilled milk. At the same time, McCurdy exhibits compassion for her deeply flawed mother. Late in the book, she shares a crushing secret her father revealed to her as an adult. While McCurdy didn’t emerge from her childhood unscathed, she’s managed to spin her harrowing experience into a sold-out stage act and achieve a form of catharsis that puts her mind, body, and acting career at peace.
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982185-82-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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