Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 A key to understanding women's lives with Asperger's February 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is all written by women with Asperger syndrome, divided into sections. If you start it and find the first section of discussion random and therefore not very gripping go and read the autobiographical pieces either topically from front to back or by author as I did. Then continue with the first chapter which you will find meaningful. Your eyes and heart will open up! Not that we can fully understand what another person experiences, but this remarkable book undoubtedly goes as far as any, particularly because there are many different writers.
I have a friend who is self-diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. She and I do not meet one on one very often, nor communicate very often. When we do I have a good time. Still puzzled as to why she doesn't communicate often and some other slightly puzzling behaviors, I decided to try to find out.
EVERY TEACHER should read this book as girls with Asperger's often are not readily identifiable without insight into how they feel and act. I think a person with Asperger's would also relate strongly to this book and feel comforted and less isolated. Parents should read this if their daughter is noticeably quirky.
This book is extremely helpful. It would also probably be helpful in understanding men with Asperger's, too. But women have different social expectations and roles, such as being a mother, so this book is of inestimable worth for a "neurotypical" (NT) person whether parent, classmate, doctor, or sibling, etc. to empathize with someone with Asperger.
It is not clinical. Clinical books have their uses no doubt, but you cannot experience many feelings with clinical descriptions and treatment protocols. This book engages your feelings. it will make you a better person as well as possibly an understanding friend or helping person.
Thank You For This Book July 22, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
My daughter and I were diagnosed with Asperger's a few months ago.
I have been digging painfully through the literature, trying to find a book that "fit" her (our) symptoms enough to help her (us) out.
I am a scared father with Asperger's trying to understand what having Asperger's means to a young woman. I know what it meant to me when I was younger and I don't want any of that junk to happen to her.
Jean Miller and her contributors know and (thank goodness) they share what they know.
You cannot imagine how relieved finding this book made me.
A variety of approaches to self-realization April 11, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Disclosure - I received my copy of this book as a gift from one of the contributors, who has been a personal friend of mine for years.
As a woman on the spectrum, I am used to our views being constantly ignored. The female experience of autism is qualitatively different from that of the male. If we don't talk, we are "shy". If we don't socialize with others, or need to watch what they are doing before we can attempt to join in, we're "not socially adept". If we don't join in the backstabbing and constant talk about makeup, sexuality, and clothing starting in junior high and high school, we're downright weird.
It is both easier and harder to be a woman autistic. People who think we are just shy frequently try to find ways to encourage us to "join in". And a lot of behavior that people find threatening from males on the spectrum, while not precisely acceptable in us, is less socially inappropriate. If one of us likes someone and doesn't know how to approach them, but constantly hangs around that person, someone might find a way to introduce us, if the person doesn't notice us by him or herself. In a male autistic, this same behavior could lead to stalking charges and restraining orders.
The fact that so many different women contributed to this book is a big factor in its success - at least one voice in there is likely to speak to someone.
And as for being self-diagnosed and "trivializing" autism... it is very hard to get diagnosed as an adult. Most of us, even those who have documentation of our severel language delay, are either "too successful" to be diagnosed (i.e., we have a relationship, employment, or advanced degrees and doctors dismiss our concerns about ourself), or are just diagnosed "Asperger's".
Personally, I spent much of my childhood echolalic and couldn't speak in sentences until I was almost 8. I still flap, rock, and enjoy watching spinning objects, and am extremely auditorily hyper-sensitive. I can still heard dog whistles. Bright colors disturb me, and I still can't drink out of cups that are colors other than clear, white, or blue without throwing up.
My childhood "diagnosis" was elective mutism (now called selective mutism) with autistic features, because I could read and answer yes/no or multiple choice questions. At the time, to be called autistic, you had to be mentally retarded. Learning disabilities (such as my inability to do even the simplest mathematical calculations) do not count. As an adult, I am labelled Asperger's, even though I STILL meet the DSM-IV-TR criteria for autism, since I have Semantic-Pragmatic Language Disorder, and the speech of people with Asperger's is supposed to be intact.
I work with children on the spectrum. I love most of them very much, and hope that they can become at least as high-functioning as I am. But I cannot understand their parents (other than a few who are actually on the spectrum or close to it [ADHD, etc]) to save my life. I have a very succesful history of being able to connect to autistic children, including ones who "don't like strangers" who were climbing all over me within moments of being introduced, and even occasional words or eye contact from children who otherwise live in their own worlds. People on the spectrum recognize each other, and these children seem to mostly realize that I am like them on some level. At least one of the other women whose writing can be found on this book shares this kind of relationship with these children, and works in the caring professions.
Open your mind, and at least read what some of us think. For people who are supposed incapable of thinking about ourselves or others, or of empathization, I find that most of us actually do better at these things than at least some neurotypicals (people who aren't on the spectrum).
An eye-opening, powerful work August 3, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
So often we stereotype autistics as being very limited in their ability to do basic functions of daily life. While this is true of some autistics, this book reveals that autism is not a single,universal condition, but a spectrum with a wide range of abilities as well as disabilities (the book's editor, who is autistic, is a college instructor). This book opens both the mind and the heart, enlightening readers about the variety of people who fall under the umbrella "autistic".
 this book made me angry June 29, 2006
5 out of 41 found this review helpful
I really disliked this book. It is unclear if these woman are even on the spectrum. It trivialized what having autism means. I felt it was a bunch of self diagnosed women writing an artsy fartsy ridiculous look on the world of autism. I have a child with autism, and this book just pissed me off.
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