I'm Sorry but The "I'm Autistic" Biography Needs to Stop

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idonthaveanickname
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11 Mar 2017, 2:37 pm

Electricbassguy wrote:
Mine's so mild that only people that know autistic people very well can detect it.
But I call myself a "sperglord" anyway.

Same here. I keep trying to tell people that I'm autistic and they keep telling me that they don't see it. So I have to explain to them why I'm autistic, and even after doing that, they still don't get it. Oh well. As long as I know what I am, I guess that's all that matters. I like to call myself Hannah Banana and Pippi Longstocking because of my red hair. A lot of people call me Hannah Montana, which is ok, I guess. But please, whatever you do, don't call me Hannah Barbera. I HATE that name. Why, I don't know. Kids back in elementary school used to call me that.



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11 Mar 2017, 2:42 pm

It is rare that I find an autistic biography unless I actively look for them.

If that is the case with you, then look for other books instead and ignore the autistic biographies.

If people are shoving them in your face, then I'm sorry you have to go through that.


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11 Mar 2017, 3:38 pm

When I go to the bookstore, there is usually a whole section devoted to mental illness auto biographies.



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11 Mar 2017, 3:49 pm

CenturioAlpha wrote:
I tend to agree. The book that fits this category that's being promoted right now is called "Population One" or something like that. I see ads for it on Facebook all the time, and it makes me a bit sick every time I see one. The hype of "OMG kid with autism writes book about autism isn't that so inspiring!" thing gets old really quickly. Autism is far from rare. Unless you have a new spin on things being autistic isn't super exceptional either. Not worth writing a whole book about IMO.

Though, would the OP find it acceptable to write a sort of memoir of experiences one has as an autistic person? Maybe a "Stories From an Austitic Childhood" type book? Maybe that's better suited to blog, but as long as it's not a pity party or presented in an "in your face" kind of way I don't see the problem.

I find myself drifting away from the neurodiversity advocacy movement for this reason. The "I'M AUTISIC AND YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ME FOR IT! IN YOUR FACE!" is off-putting for sure.


Well most kids with or without autism don't generally write books that get published, so yeah I'd say that could be inspiring to some people for an autistic child to write a book and have it published.


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Katenka
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11 Mar 2017, 8:08 pm

The only book that I can think of off the top of my head, as an avid reader, that features autism, is 'The Curious Case Of The Dog In The Night', which I believe was speculative, and I lost my copy before I ever got to finish reading... but anyway...

So is this a newer "trend" then?

But I don't see a problem with people wanting to tell their story. The crap I had to survive pre- and post- diagnoses, the struggle with lawyers and judges and SSI, the bouts of homelessness, abuse, and fear... I could have used someone's story of how they survived it. Because there were so many days, so many times where I was sure there was no possible way that I would survive any of it, even for a second more.

Not everyone has a family with money.
Not everyone has a family that can be their support system.
Not everyone has a support system.

Everyone will take something different from reading/viewing/experiencing the same thing.
People like to find a place of blame.
Sometimes it's just not that black and white.

It's like the thousands of different interpretations to endings of series such as Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent; the same way people react differently to TV shows-- loving different parts and finding different parts more important than others, especially with shows with multi-threaded plot-arcs; which is like the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe all cloistered into one unit.

Opinions differ.
Importance of those influences differ.

Someone may look at a book and its contents and it may save their life.
Others may see nothing more than ink on paper.

Just like The House of Leaves' inscription, OP: This book is not for you.
But I'm sure you will find one that is for you.



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12 Mar 2017, 2:55 am

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Yep. Just because you're queer doesn't need a book written about everything that's ever happened to you. There are millions of queer people alive. Just seems gratuitous, people thinking they're "special" when they haven't done anything special except have a sexuality. Same for autistic biographies - autistics exist. Unless they have done something noteworthy in the field of contributing to the understanding and treatment of autism/autistics that might assist others, why write a whole book because you have a disorder?

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When I go to the bookstore, there is usually a whole section devoted to mental illness auto biographies.

Ick. Why? Unless something else extraordinary happened? Billions of people live with, or have recovered from, some kind of mental illness. Big deal.


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Keigan
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12 Mar 2017, 8:13 am

I have no problems and no posted biography to slow me down.



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12 Mar 2017, 9:01 am

Lots of books on autism are good. Everyone's autism is different. You can't see that unless you read a lot of different authors. Someone with autism can read a lot different books until they find one that has the perspective they are looking for. And, that same person may find that she will outgrow that book, and want to read another book that matches their new place in life.

Writing is a very good skill to have. Writing a biography is a good way to hone writing skills.



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12 Mar 2017, 10:05 am

It depends on the author. I find Temple Grandin fascinating because she talks about autism from a medical/neurological perspective and she shares a special interest, animals, with me. Other authors, such as John Elder Robinson and Tim Page, turn me off. I also don't care for much of the autism/Asperger fiction. Virtually all of them are portrayed as very remote techno-geeks or as potential killers. The self-help books seem formulaic and aren't really helpful. Reading those "how-to" books is really a waste of time.



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12 Mar 2017, 10:07 am

The Unleasher wrote:
Luckily, there seems to be less and less people who feel sorry for themselves.


Isn't the "They're just feeling sorry for themselves " jibe just a way of trying to legitimise being unsympathetic towards other people's difficulties/problems?



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12 Mar 2017, 10:43 am

Quote:
It depends on the author. I find Temple Grandin fascinating because she talks about autism from a medical/neurological perspective and she shares a special interest, animals, with me.

But doesn't she in fact work with slaughter houses advising on how to better kill animals? That may translate into a special interest in killing animals, rather than with animals themselves and their welfare.


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naturalplastic
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12 Mar 2017, 10:56 am

OHHHH....the vast over supply of autistic autobiographies!! !! !

It just causes me so much suffering.

So lets all violate the First Amendment and stamp out freespeech about autistics about their lifestories!

I go to bookstores and libraries as often as the next person but I dont encounter these huge gluts of autistic autobiographies. So I dont know what the OP is talking about. And even if I did encounter them I dont see why its a problem. Autism is kinda new thing now. So its in vogue as a topic, and it will level off eventually.



Last edited by naturalplastic on 12 Mar 2017, 11:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

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12 Mar 2017, 11:05 am

C2V wrote:
Quote:
It depends on the author. I find Temple Grandin fascinating because she talks about autism from a medical/neurological perspective and she shares a special interest, animals, with me.

But doesn't she in fact work with slaughter houses advising on how to better kill animals? That may translate into a special interest in killing animals, rather than with animals themselves and their welfare.


Earth to C2V!! !

The word"better" means "more humane" in the sentence you wrote. So you're making a distinction with out a difference.

Its not Temple Grandin's fault that most of us in the western world eat meat.



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12 Mar 2017, 1:14 pm

I'm not a fan of the autobiographies.
Reading about someone's life is boring.


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12 Mar 2017, 2:47 pm

ZachGoodwin wrote:
Your life is not like Helen Keller's, unless you have endured some actual blindness or deafness, but anyway, it isn't. All it is from the way I see it, is a chemical imbalance with slightly slow moter functions, and social anxiety.

Nothing less, and nothing more.


Regardless of how "special snowflake" or not "special snowflake" most autism bio's are autism is way, way, way more than social anxiety, and being a bit klutzy. The media might have convinced people that autistics are people who are just socially anxious kind of weird people who should just stop whining and try harder to be normal but that does not make it true. Just because a disability is not physical such as blindness does not make it not a disability. If a person is "just" a klutzy socially anxious person then they are not autistic

DSM Diagnostic Criteria for autism
Quote:
Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts,


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Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities,


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Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.


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Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment


The above traits often cause social anxiety but social anxiety is not a core trait of Autism.


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12 Mar 2017, 3:13 pm

BettaPonic wrote:
I do agree that some people here take the autism thing a little far.

Agreed. (+1)


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