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Book - The Secret Life of a Black Aspie

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ASPartOfMe
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28 Aug 2017, 12:52 am

Memoir tackles growing up black with undiagnosed autism

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Winner of the 2016 Permafrost Nonfiction Book Prize, “Secret Life” is the beautiful, lyrical first memoir of poet and professor Anand Prahlad, who grew up (as the title suggests) both black and with an undiagnosed place on the autism spectrum in Civil Rights-era rural Virginia. The book follows him from birth through a newly-integrated high school and long academic career into adulthood.

More importantly, it chronicles his unique perspective on the world, starting with the former plantation community of his youngest years, filled with ghosts both literal and figurative. Through rich, evocative prose, Prahlad describes a life surrounded by spirits of the future and past, bringing to mind the metaphors other black authors such as Toni Morrison have used to discuss the collective trauma lingering in the African American community.


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green0star
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11 Sep 2017, 10:22 am

Well that's quiet fascinating. Its very rare that anyone even acknowledges autism in close association with anyone of color. I guess we will have to acknowledge ourselves like anything else.



kraftiekortie
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13 Sep 2017, 10:04 am

I've actually known quite a few (I suspect) Aspies in my life.

Yes, it is definitely under-diagnosed within the non-European population.



ASPartOfMe
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13 Sep 2017, 1:51 pm

There were black people at my HFA/Aspie support group. The white nerd stereotype has cause mis and undiagnosis

AUTISM’S RACE PROBLEM - For years, the medical community has studied and treated autism as a “white person’s” disease, and, today, research and therapy remain geared toward affluent, white people and families — leaving people of color in the lurch.


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“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


princegeorge99999
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07 Nov 2022, 11:00 pm

I think this is dealt with better in the younger generations. People are getting more of the help they need. The rest of us born in the 80s and back didn't have it like that. I'm glad things are changing :)



autisticelders
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13 Nov 2022, 6:45 am

I had not heard of this book but now I want to read it. Thanks for this post!


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