Alex James's Blog: AlexJamesNovels Blog - Posts Tagged "autism"

I last read this book nearly 10 years ago, around the time of diagnosis, and back then I thought this was an extremely positive book. I recommend it even more now. Why? There is a difference, when you have Asperger Syndrome, between knowing the path and walking the path, and having walked part of the path I understood the author’s message so much more this time.

One of the problems with AS is not only having a lack of awareness about other minds, but also your own, and Appreciating Asperger Syndrome gave me some insights into situations and people with AS that helped me see differences between those with AS and non-autistic people in how we can collect information, understand it, and make use of it. For example, as mentioned in the book, sometimes people with AS give an ‘off’ feeling or only want single-sentence answers, but this just how it looks on the outside. On the inside, it’s the best way we can understand new things, and understanding is crucial.

The book also provided some insights into how we come across to the general public as people who are going out of their way to be rude or problematic when actually we have a developmental disability that is not recognised as one on the surface. It made me think of a few relevant past misunderstandings when I have been confused with people’s responses. The author, Brenda Boyd, called it a ‘relationship disability’ more than a mental one, which I also agree to be more appropriate.

Reading this book now, when Asperger Syndrome has been lumped in with autism as a single condition, has made me see differences that are now being ignored in diagnosis such as severity and public perception of the condition, which I also agree with the author, is important. There are advantages and disadvantages both sides.

I only had a vague idea who Chris Packham was until I saw the documentary on television, about his having Asperger’s. I thought it was a bold positive statement that instilled confidence in others with the condition, like me. I was lucky enough to receive his memoir as a gift, and I read it with interest.

The first impressions are that we get an insight into Chris Packham's childhood and early adolescence: sights, smells, sensations, and behaviour towards people. His inventiveness and knowledge of the natural world, and at such a young age, is incredible. This unbelievable intelligence and drive continues throughout in the form of themed related memories when he was at different ages. I was more interested in his personality than the natural world, understandably, and many of his definitions went above my head but his behaviour and how he compared with others did not. Many of his difficulties resonated with me and provided me with an enhanced perspective on my own condition, where other people are concerned.

The message I got was that his life was a huge miserable struggle, yet it was also filled with wondrous highs – many that he created. His path to understanding himself took a long time, and most of his memories of note occurred at specific times in his life: when he was at school and when he went to see a psychiatrist.

The descriptions were complex, and weren’t always easy to absorb because of the number of terms, but this is a memoir of somebody interested in the natural world and I respected his style and understood enough to keep wanting to read an extra chapter. I had to look at the paragraphs rather than hear them, which was different.

‘The more they had, the more they wanted, even when the stuff was no good for them. That’s why they were always thirsty and never satisfied.’

What’s Moojag supposed to be about?

The book description says Moojag is a cli-fi futuristic adventure about finding your true self, for readers over ten years, neurotypicals and neurodivergents alike. Moojag is a book that promises a different kind of world, where neurologically different people have harmony with the environment and they’ve found self-acceptance or … happiness. Moojag gives us an insight into the neurodivergent mind:

‘I might be silent or look like I’m doing nothing at all, but I’m actually very busy. We are all busy every moment of our life.’

‘But my words don’t make it out.’

‘I want to laugh, smile back even, but my face is, as usual, refusing to listen to my brain.’

Many reviewers have already commented on similarities to other children’s books such as Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Perhaps the Wizard of Oz could be added here also. So this is the sort of story you could expect to read, with a modern perspective on difference and acceptance.

The story

The characters have environmental suits, which I found cool, and they’re friends with one another, but there is something missing and this drives the main character to go to Gajoomdom with her friends in search of answers. I did find the world peculiar and I liked this, and feel many children will like this also. Now, Gajoomdom is what the characters see as the past in their world but what many neurodivergents in our world see as the present, where ‘auts’ are only seen as being good for one thing: sat on a computer for hours on end with little emotional stimulation, in order to fix genius problems.

The message

In this way Moojag, in my mind, was partly a message about the dangers of stereotypes, fitting people with labels in a box because it’s convenient for those in charge. But there is much more to Moojag, about the horrifying dangers of curing those who are different by experimenting on them, which tears apart families, leads to low self-esteem and can give the victims no clue as to how they fit in, so they stick out, subject to name calling and bullying.

How is Moojag different?

There is much humour, which I liked. I found the references to neurodivergent people, even just hearing the names and labels, to be endearing when used between them: Pof Pof, Kitty, Sparkles, Sparkly, Moojag, Gajooms. Sweets in Gajoomdom are used as temptations and greed, but perhaps less moralistically than in Roald Dahl’s works.

‘Then, there are the Super-Auts who created Gajooms and keep to themselves … And, of course, there are the Pofs who keep the place tip-top.’

Criticism

I usually prefer books for an adult audience, which is why Moojag wasn’t my usual type of read, and I wasn’t the best person to review a children’s book. I enjoyed the characters’ speech and diverse characteristics. There were lots of characters and I couldn’t always get inside their heads, and in this way I felt the speech, the worldbuilding, and the messages in the story were more important than a single character’s point of view.

Overall

It was with fondness that I started reading Moojag, and the feeling remained. It’s a story about hope for our future, to show we don’t have to be shoved into a box believing we have little potential and that if we make use of our abilities and work together, especially from a young age, then we have much room to grow and change our world. Moojag was a lovely, inspiring book that may work wonders for imaginations young and old!

Explaining Humans draws parallels between the author’s conditions/diagnoses, such as autism and ADHD, and the author’s interest in science, in order to devise coping strategies for the real world, including better thinking patterns where relationships are concerned at the micro and macro level. Sometimes it was like reading a sociology or philosophy book, though I found the content to be interesting, relevant, and individualistic, which I liked.

I’d often think ‘Oh, that’s interesting’, ‘just like me or someone I know’, or something similar. One of the best parts, I felt, was the author’s sense of humour hanging onto the end of sentences. Explaining Humans had been what I was looking for where autism was concerned, and I took great pleasure reading the author’s past experiences and then growth beyond these.

I struggled to understand many of the science-based strategies and how they could be made relevant. In this way, the book was less helpful than I had hoped. It was something that I had fun reading in the present, with curiosity, but it’s not something that will stick with me beyond that.

If you’re looking for an autism/ADHD book, or a ‘lighter’ read for science enthusiasts, you can’t go wrong giving Explaining Humans a try. It may inspire you in different ways.