The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across The Spectrum (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Saggio molto interessante sulle origini biologiche dell'autismo. Il testo, scritto da una (famosa: è stata oggetto di un film, tiene conferenze, è una stimata consulente) autistica ad alto funzionamento, si focalizza appunto sulle caratteristiche morfologiche del cervello delle persone autistiche e le differenze rispetto a quello delle persone normali, e sulle conseguenze di tali differenze. Non da ultimo, su come cercare di sfruttare i vantaggi che questa condizione offre, a fianco ovviamente di tanti svantaggi anche. Si parla sempre di persone "ad alto funzionamento", perché ovviamente ci sono casi in cui la malattia è talmente invalidante da rendere molto difficile qualsiasi tipo di interazione e realizzazione sociale. A crisp, easy read, blending experimental findings with personal experience. Despite the title, it is in no way a comprehensive picture of autism, the author focusing primarily on her own strengths and weaknesses. She does acknowledge that she can't generalise her own experience to all people with autism, but at times it seems like her logic relies on her personal definition of the disorder. This could even be a reflection of her self-admitted autistic tendencies to focus on the trees and forget about the forest. She makes some great points about this sort of focus, arguing that this different kind of thinking lends itself to creativity and bottom-up problem solving. Other take home points for me: it helps to conceptualise autism as a sensory disorder; the brains of people with autism often have a lot of white matter abnormalities, connecting regions of the brain at different strengths, which is reflected in altered sensory and cognitive abilities; while neuroplasticity is trendy at the moment and many therapists are arguing for building up weaknesses through practice, this may not be as applicable to an autistic brain, and finding ways to express strengths can be more successful.
What do You think about The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across The Spectrum (2013)?
I wasn't sure what it was all about. I am sooo glad that I read it. What insight!
—nicki
How this is not on my list of read books I don't know. Very inspirational.
—sekangel88
Did not finish, not in the mood for something so technical
—Oliver
