The Thinklings

"The first and most important thing to say about John Dominic Crossan's work is that it is bad history."

- D.A. Carson

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Posted by Alan @ 1:31 pm CDT
Filed under: Parenting, Family, Literature

This new book popped upon my screen after I added a book to my wishlist (a historical theology book, go figure): Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's. Looks like a pretty fascinating book for anyone. Here's part of the Publisher's Weekly review:

Robison describes how from nursery school on he could not communicate effectively with others, something his brain is not wired to do, since kids with Asperger's don't recognize common social cues and body language or facial expressions. Failing in junior high, Robison was encouraged by some audiovisual teachers to fix their broken equipment, and he discovered a more comfortable world of machines and circuits, of muted colors, soft light, and mechanical perfection. This led to jobs (and many hilarious events) in worlds where strange behavior is seen as normal: developing intricate rocket-shooting guitars for the rock band Kiss and computerized toys for the Milton Bradley company. Finally, at age 40, while Robison was running a successful business repairing high-end cars, a therapist correctly diagnosed him as having Asperger's. In the end, Robison succeeds in his goal of helping those who are struggling to grow up or live with Asperger's to see how it is not a disease but a way of being that needs no cure except understanding and encouragement from others.

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Comments on "For the A.S. Crowd":

1. Jared - 10/03/2007 2:08 pm CDT

Hm. There's also a memoir that just came out by Augusten Burroughs's little brother who has Aspergher's. Sounded really interesting.
About his life growing up.

I'm obviously not as familiar with AS studies/culture as those personally familiar with AS are, but adult perspectives from those with AS seems like a unique angle to me. Most of the stuff I've seen is about children with AS, not by adults with AS. May be a helpful and interesting perspective for our friends with cool AS kids.

2. Alan - 10/03/2007 2:29 pm CDT

I think this is that book, Jared. I don't know if Burroughs is a pen name or if he changed his name at some point.

3. Jared - 10/03/2007 4:22 pm CDT

Well, the memoirist isn't a Burroughs. His older brother changed his name to "Augusten Burroughs," and is now a pretty famous writer. So yeah, maybe same dude. The title you linked didn't ring a bell, so I thought it was something different.

4. Bird - 10/03/2007 8:16 pm CDT

In the end, Robison succeeds in his goal of helping those who are struggling to grow up or live with Asperger's to see how it is not a disease but a way of being that needs no cure except understanding and encouragement from others.

With AS and autism in general the word "cure" can be galvanizing. I do think that both AS and autism can be remediated (some might call that a cure), and I think they're both something that should be remediated if possible.

That sounds like an interesting book. I might have to look into borrowing it from the good old library.

5. Nigel Ray - 10/08/2007 11:10 am CDT

The idea that Asperger's "is not a disease" is wrongheaded. I broke my leg back in 1975, complications set in, and I have been crippled ever since. Physical and mental defects are defects: you have to fix them, or live with them. My acceptance of my physical imperfection is certainly one of the factors that allowed me to eventually accept my moral imperfection, and turn to Christ. Pretending that a weakness is not a weakness dishonors truth.

6. Alan - 10/08/2007 12:12 pm CDT

Nigel, I'm not the expert on this subject around here by any means. And I don't want to gloss over the difficulties of Asperger's, especially from my sideline position. But what I find fascinating about Asperger's is that it's not at all like a broken leg. Yes, it comes with limitations. But we all have limitations. One way of looking at Asperger's is to say that those who have it are limited. But that doesn't quite capture it, because those limitations seem to come with profound capacities that many of the rest of us lack. The guy who wrote this book is limited in some areas, but has astounding capacities to achieve in others. It's arguably more like being tuned differently than being limited.

7. blest - 10/10/2007 9:31 am CDT

It is the Running With Scissors guy's brother...

My mom just ordered this book and will be passing it on to me after she has read it.

Personally, I've always loved the way my friend Katherine describes my Andrew. It's not that he's handicapped - it's that so much of his brain is given over to music that there's not much room left for some other things like impulse control. ;-p

8. Donna - 11/09/2007 6:49 am CST

Augusten Burroughs is the younger brother who changed his name from Christopher Richter Robison. John's book is about leaving home at an early age while family is completely falling apart and living in a different and amazing world with Asperger's. He tells it with unexpected humor and sadness - much like his brother in "Running With Scissors". As a mother of two on the spectrum (both under five)- I was very interested in reading them both. If John's book were made into a movie, it would be quite a bit like "Forrest Gump".

Autism and Asperger's can be very difficult to live with, but it's great not being in the norm because you almost feel like you're destined for playing a big role sometime in your life.

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