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Reviews tagging 'Self harm'
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman
13 reviews
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
The detail of the terrible child abuse was also too much for me. It is 100% important to educate people about these horrors. I would have appreciated less haunting detail or perhaps a warning so I could choose a time to read it when I could have my feelings. (I read it before work and ended up crying the whole morning.) I’m glad I read this book but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Abandonment
Moderate: Chronic illness, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Deportation
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Self harm
The book is white- and Western-centric, primarily focused on Austria, the UK, and the US, where most formal research on autism has been done. Silberman does include the voices of some girls and sometimes autistic mothers, plus Temple Grandin. There are some mentions of Japanese families, but very little said about minorities in the US or lower socioeconomic classes.
Silberman attempts to let the facts stand for themselves. In doing so, he does not take a strong stand against some of the figures who committed abuses. Asperger is presented as Nazi-lite. Electrocution is clearly bad, but the insidious frameworks that ins ired such a "treatment" are not fully confronted. Inference is required to identify all of the issues that Silberman presents.
This book may have the most content warnings of any book I have reviewed, although none of it is gratuitous.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment
Moderate: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Classism
Minor: Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War
This book is predominantly a collection of biographical information about specific psychologists who contributed to the development of Autism as a diagnosis. It isn't very well written in my opinion, because the style is rather dry and without a clear narrative through line. It is also unclear why so much of it is devoted to certain people and topics adjacent to autism (e.g. speculating about famous historical men who could have been autistic, PKU, Ham Radio). Although there are some interesting parts, it could have done with rigorous editing. At best I would describe it as 'uneven'.
As an autistic person who is somewhat familiar with the history of the diagnosis already, it is worth pointing out that a lot of the information about Hans Asperger, whom Silberman seems determined to redeem, is incorrect. This book was published in 2015, and in 2018 new evidence came to light of Hans Asperger's collusion with Dr. Jekelius and other Nazis. Asperger is directly responsible for the deaths of numerous children, and as such those sections in the book were incredibly uncomfortable and frustrating to read.
There really isn't much that humanises autistic people in this book, with the exception of the last chapter. There are lots of detailed descriptions of children suffering and being tortured, and a lot of focus placed on the narratives of the parents of autistic children. There is also very little mention of Autism Speaks and the harm that they have done and continue to do, which is an interesting omission for a book that seems so determined to present itself as thoroughly researched. I definitely expected better from this book, given all of the glowing reviews.
Please read books by people who are actually autistic! e.g. Unmasking Autism by Dr. Devon Price, Authoring Autism by Melanie Yergeau, The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin, A Mismatch of Salience by Dr Damien E M Milton, Neuroqueer Heresies by Dr. Nick Walker.
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma
Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Forced institutionalization
Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Transphobia
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, Homophobia
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Antisemitism