The book being reviewed is ‘WE WALK
Life With Severe Autism’
By Amy S.F. Lutz
A Mother Takes Readers on a Journey With Her Autistic Son
Reviewed by Judith Newman author of ‘To Siri With Love’
Quote:
“I see only hands,” Amy S. F. Lutz writes. “One wrapped over Jonah’s fist, another under his jaw to keep him from biting, another untangling my hair from his fingers, one intercepting before he could yank another necklace off my neck. … I never had enough hands.”
The author is trying to safely defuse her severely autistic son, in the midst of one of the rages that once consumed him. Jonah, now 21, is not “quirky.” Nor is he an “indigo” child possessed of extraordinary and mysterious abilities. He is an affectionate young man who loves his parents, his four younger siblings, pretzels with cheese sauce and the kind of roller coaster rides that make the rest of us hurl.
Lutz is asking us to consider a question fundamental to a decent society: Can we take the most vulnerable among us and give them a place at the table?
There is always someone around who is happy to argue the inarguable, and nowhere is this more true than in various factions of the disability movement.
But then there are those like Jonah whom the neurodiversity movement would rather not acknowledge as one of their own; and Lutz, risking their wrath, courageously takes them on.
‘To Siri With Love’ caused a controversy due to the discussion in the book about her thinking of having her son undergo a vasectomy. Basically this review is an anti ND movement editorial with the familiar ND movement are horrible ableists throwing severe autistics and their parents under the bus. If the New York Times wants to publish an anti ND editorial put it in the OP ed section or call it a guest column but it is misleading to call it a book review. There is a place for biased book reviews. If I am reading a book review in the ‘Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism’ I expect pro ND movement editorializing in the review. In the New York Times review I expect to be informed of the subject matter of the book and how well it is written.
From the review one would think the book is an anti ND screed. It might be that and if it is it should be stated that that is what it is. For all we know the book as the title says is mostly about raising a severely autistic child with a few paragraphs or one chapter about how the ND movement is bad. Or maybe the material on the ND movement is more nuanced.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
16 Oct 2020, 6:02 am
