I just wanted to comment on Sarah’s critique of “Look Me in the Eye”. I also disliked the book and didn’t even finish it. It felt like a boys’ book. Like when rock guitarists or drummers go on and on and on for a solo. The book gave me that same feeling.

Your blog is like a gold mine to me. No a treasure chest or the tickle trunk. Canadians will know what I mean by the tickle trunk – from an old children’s show called Mr. Dress-up.

Enough blabbing. Thanks to both of you.

I’m glad you were able to use my suggestion–and, of course, you brought up so much more than I’d considered!

Good luck!

I agree with you about Holliday-Willey. One reason I suggested it is that it seems to be one of the most frequently-mentioned memoirs, certainly in regards to the Asperger’s label in particular. Unfortunately, most of the most popular books tend to be of that mold. Another popular one, though I really, really dislike this one for reasons which aren’t entirely rational, is John Elder Robison’s “Look Me in the Eye.” Again, it’s quite medical model.

Also: thank you thank you thank you for the book suggestions. I’ve been debating about Holliday-Willey’s book… because it struck me, like you say about autie-biography trends, as a book that often matches up major life events to bullet points in diagnostic manuals. I might be acting too harsh, though; what I might do is see if there are one or two chapters that I can assign by themselves.

I’d forgotten about Paradiz’s book, and will definitely add that one. And for some reason, I wasn’t aware that Tim Page wrote a book! I remember his essay by the same name appearing in the New Yorker some years back. I’ll have to check out the book.

Some memoirs you don’t have on your list that I like include Valerie Paradiz (Elijah’s Cup), Tim Page (Parallel Play), and to a lesser extent, Liane Holliday-Wiley (Pretending to Be Normal). I think Tim Page’s work is especially interesting and rare in the realm of autie-biography. It’s typical for autistic memoirists to constantly explain their lives in terms of the DSM criteria and common scientific ideas/stereotypes about autism. Page just tells his story, and when doing so runs the risk of people accusing him of not being really autistic (as many Amazon reviewers do). It’s really quite interesting and raises some interesting questions about authority and credibility that you’ve been talking about in the comments. Page was also very nice when I met him at an event several months ago.

Also, I’m thinking of having them read Burke’s Terministic Screens; and I’d also like to have them read/view something that details why functioning labels = epic fail.

Finally: I’m creating a longer memoir list and will ask students to choose one. So far I’ve got Isaacson’s The Horse Boy, Savarese’s Reasonable People, Prince-Hughes’ Songs of the Gorilla Nation, Williams’ Nobody Nowhere, Wilson’s Weather Reports from the Autism Front, Grandin’s Emergence. Other suggestions?

I will say, though, that there are other ways to teach towards one’s interests in my department. Our first-year writing courses are themed courses, and I’ve always taught it with disability as a topic. (It’s much different teaching a writing course themed in disability than it is teaching a straight-up disability studies course, though — with the former, you get students who are required to take your course and who may or may not have any interest in the course theme; with the latter, you get students who are doing a DS minor or who have a defined interest in DS. This isn’t to say that one group is better than the other — just that they involve very different approaches).

What you say about credibility (ethos) is really important, I think — and it’s very much key to the diverse discourse on autism. Because I’m a rhetoric person, I always seem to involve rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) into discussion when I’m teaching, no matter the course. What I always marvel over is how many (not all) of my students interpret credibility when it comes to autobiography and cognitive/mental disabilities — as if these “sorts” of disabilities lessen an individual’s credibility. It also brings up issues of how we understand what credibility *means*, what rhetoric *means*.

I think you’ve convinced me to put credibility as a course topic heading for a class period or two!

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2010/being-autistic/

Thank you for posting. Your class sounds fascinating. I wish I lived close enough to take it!