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The ABCs of Autism Acceptance
Sparrow Rose Jones is probably best known for their blog, Unstrange Remapping My World, and their previous book, No You Don’ Essays from an Unstrange Mind, both of which deftly narrate their examination of themself, their identity as an Autistic person, and the changing state of access and civil rights for Autistic people. Their essays have covered everything from famous civil rights and criminal cases in the media to sexuality and relationships, life skills, coping mechanisms, and personal introspection. In The ABCs of Autism Acceptance, Sparrow takes us through a guided tour of the topics most central to changing the way that autism is perceived, to remove systemic barriers to access that have traditionally been barriers to Autistic participation in some sectors of society. They also take us through the basics of Autistic culture, discussing many of its major features and recent developments with a sense of history and making the current state of the conversation around this form of neurodivergence clear to those who are new to it, whether they are Autistic themselves or a friend/family member looking for resources to help themselves support the Autistic people in their lives more fully. While it is impossible to capture the full scope and diversity of Autistic communities—and there are many of them out there—this book does serve as an important conversation starter, a primer, and a humble guide to the world. In these 26 short essays, you will find most of the topics most often blogged about by Actually Autistic authors, including footnotes, resources, and references to other writers whose works continue the conversations that start here.
154 pages, Paperback
Published September 16, 2016
12 people are currently reading
251 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 28, 2017
The ABCs of Autism Acceptance is like virtually no other book on autism that’s out on the market. Unlike other books about autism that are billed as imparting expert knowledge, ABCs actually does contain expert knowledge and insider wisdom from an Autistic person. They do a brilliant job of addressing a wide range of topics: bullying, relationships, empathy, healthcare access, and even the intersections of being Autistic with race and gender. The chapters are in essay form, and the author’s plain-speaking and informative writing style make this both an easy read and a great recommendation for anyone who wants to understand autism and Autistic people.
February 27, 2018
Loved it
Very healing read that helped me on my quest to not be a drill sergeant to my own mind and stop cutting away the parts of myself that don’t fit into society. Highly recommended.
Very healing read that helped me on my quest to not be a drill sergeant to my own mind and stop cutting away the parts of myself that don’t fit into society. Highly recommended.
June 6, 2022
“Autism acceptance is seeing us as whole, complete human beings worthy of respect. Autism acceptance is recognizing that we are different and helping us learn to work within our individual patterns of strengths and weaknesses to become the best people we can be, not trying to transform us into someone we are not.”
-A is for Acceptance, p. 13
“[Presume competence] doesn’t mean to assume that a person faces no barriers, and it is never an excuse for withholding supports and accommodations.”
- B is for Bullying, p. 20
“Without acceptance, awareness does immeasurable harm to autistic people.”
- D is for depression (and anxiety), p. 34
“Think about the language you use. Make a conscious effort to refer to a person’s autism in ways that do not devalue them or set them up to feel that something about them is wrong or inappropriate. The words you use are an important part of autism acceptance. Words have power to hurt or heal; choose your words wisely.”
- I is for Identity-First Language, p. 63
"Thoreau taught it, Martin Luther King Jr. taught it, and you can teach it: when demands for compliance become unreasonable, it is a fundamental human right to say no.”
- N is for No Means No, p. 84
The therapies that promote conformity to allistic/neurotypical norms “are not really meant to help us. They are meant to make others feel more comfortable around us, to allow others to try to forget that we are Autistic. Teaching us that we need to stop looking ‘too autistic’ if we want to be treated with dignity and have a happy and productive life teaches us that who we are is wrong and ugly and unacceptable.”
- Q is for Quiet Hands Getting Loud, p. 99
"… work to make the world’s heart bigger …”
- T is for Toe-Walking, Trauma, and Truth-Telling, p. 117
-A is for Acceptance, p. 13
“[Presume competence] doesn’t mean to assume that a person faces no barriers, and it is never an excuse for withholding supports and accommodations.”
- B is for Bullying, p. 20
“Without acceptance, awareness does immeasurable harm to autistic people.”
- D is for depression (and anxiety), p. 34
“Think about the language you use. Make a conscious effort to refer to a person’s autism in ways that do not devalue them or set them up to feel that something about them is wrong or inappropriate. The words you use are an important part of autism acceptance. Words have power to hurt or heal; choose your words wisely.”
- I is for Identity-First Language, p. 63
"Thoreau taught it, Martin Luther King Jr. taught it, and you can teach it: when demands for compliance become unreasonable, it is a fundamental human right to say no.”
- N is for No Means No, p. 84
The therapies that promote conformity to allistic/neurotypical norms “are not really meant to help us. They are meant to make others feel more comfortable around us, to allow others to try to forget that we are Autistic. Teaching us that we need to stop looking ‘too autistic’ if we want to be treated with dignity and have a happy and productive life teaches us that who we are is wrong and ugly and unacceptable.”
- Q is for Quiet Hands Getting Loud, p. 99
"… work to make the world’s heart bigger …”
- T is for Toe-Walking, Trauma, and Truth-Telling, p. 117
March 26, 2023
A book that brought me to both happy and sad tears.
There's a lot of difficult topics in the book such as murder, bullying, ABA and generally ableism.
The chapter that I loved the most was the one about empathy - it raises a point that the claim autists lack theory of mind (the understanding that other people have different knowledge, emotions, like etc. as oneself) is often based on flaws from a study from 1985.
(If you're interested in that topic I recommend you to put both "double empathy problem" and "Peterson 2013 Dot-Midge test" in your prefared search engine.)
The author is wrong about one thing: Autists are not as often queer as humans in general but more often (search: R. George et al. 2018).
The book includes both a lot of knowledge and a lot of emotions and personal story of the author.
And yes, sometimes the author presents mainly his own opinion but that's okay.
I really want to recommend this book, it raises so many important points and honestly, when talking about books about autism the ones written by autistic authors (such as Maxfield Jones - name on goodreads is wrong sadly) should be in the centre of discussion. Speaking from my left activist point of view I enjoy that Jones also speaks from an intersectional, anti-discriminatory activist, caring perspective.
If you want to read a book about autism consider this one stronlgy!
There's a lot of difficult topics in the book such as murder, bullying, ABA and generally ableism.
The chapter that I loved the most was the one about empathy - it raises a point that the claim autists lack theory of mind (the understanding that other people have different knowledge, emotions, like etc. as oneself) is often based on flaws from a study from 1985.
(If you're interested in that topic I recommend you to put both "double empathy problem" and "Peterson 2013 Dot-Midge test" in your prefared search engine.)
The author is wrong about one thing: Autists are not as often queer as humans in general but more often (search: R. George et al. 2018).
The book includes both a lot of knowledge and a lot of emotions and personal story of the author.
And yes, sometimes the author presents mainly his own opinion but that's okay.
I really want to recommend this book, it raises so many important points and honestly, when talking about books about autism the ones written by autistic authors (such as Maxfield Jones - name on goodreads is wrong sadly) should be in the centre of discussion. Speaking from my left activist point of view I enjoy that Jones also speaks from an intersectional, anti-discriminatory activist, caring perspective.
If you want to read a book about autism consider this one stronlgy!
January 18, 2019
An excellent resource and reference that covers many of the main issues that we, as Autistic people, face in our lives. Highly recommended.
April 10, 2022
As enlightening as The Real Experts with additional Reference links throughout 26 short essays on numerous topics affecting Autistic adults.
October 4, 2020
The best book about autism that I've read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews