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

I try to make a habit of picking up books written by people on the autism spectrum - it's part of my effort to read inclusively, but it also has a personal component, since my husband is on the spectrum. (You can see my list of books on this subject here.) Look Me In The Eye is a book about growing up in the 70s, when an autism diagnosis usually meant a kid entirely incapable of most communication - they didn't really understand the spectrum yet. John Elder Robison was not that child, so he didn't discover his diagnosis until his 40s. Autistic adults discovering the reason for their quirks is a very common story, though these days it's more often women who fall through the cracks than men.

It's always amusing to me spotting the similarities between autistic memoirs and my husband - one of them came very early in the book, when Robison is talking about a book shown to him by his father.

“We looked at books together, especially the Boy Scout Woodsman manual. I can still remember the pictures that showed how to make a trap, and the correct way to step over a fallen log.
I dreamed about trapping wolves and bears, but garter snakes and frogs were as close as I got. And I've never forgotten the woodsman's log-crossing techniques that I learned at five.”

érdekes volt robison memoárja, nagyon klasszul, olvasmányosan fogalmaz, de jó aspergereshez méltón néha kissé túlmagyarázta az éppen aktuális sztori nem annyira izgi részleteit is, úgyhogy azért voltak pillanatok, amikor némiképp unatkoztam. jó volt olvasni, hogy neki is egyfajta megkönnyebbülést hozott a diagnózis, és hogy ezáltal visszamenőleg is könnyebb elfogadnia az életét és a vele történteket. (azt pedig, rohadjak el, de nem bírom megérteni, kívülállók miért akarnák _meggyógyítani_, ha lehetne, azok után is, hogy világosan leírta, neki így kerek a világ. magukat nyitottnak és rokoni/baráti szinten érintettnek valló emberek olyan korlátolt gondolkodásúak bírnak lenni, hogy az nem igaz.)((ebből is látszik, hogy idővel iq-ból is meg lehet oldani az ilyen és hasonló dolgokat, bár ez nyilván függ a spektrumon elfoglalt helyzettől is, de éppen ez teszi/teheti nehezebbé a felnőttkori diagnózist.))

I love the rawness and beauty of this memoir. I appreciate how honest John was in his memoir in telling how he lived a life with undiagnosed autism. His family life was clearly a mess and I'm glad that he didn't raise his son how he was raised. I wish the best for him and his family in living a beautiful life.