Autism Uncensored: A Dangerous and Spirit-Crushing Book

March 21, 2018January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Photo © Charley Lhasa | Flickr/Creative Commons [image: Plush red Elmo doll lying on asphalt. A yellow chalk speech bubble has Elmo appear to be yelling “Help!”] Maxfield Sparrow unstrangemind.com [Content note: Extensive discussion of restraints. Discussions of gaslighting, denying Autistic autonomy and competence, child abuse, autism profiteering, and similar goblins. Discussion of the 1960s medical view of autism as it continues to occur today.] You may have seen the recent Washington Post article titled “Bystanders were horrified. But my son has autism and I was desperate,” an excerpt from Whitney Ellenby’s new book, Autism Uncensored: Pulling Back the Curtain. True to the exposé tone of the title, Ellenby describes in livid detail the day she wrestled her panicked son, Zack, by clamping his 50 pound frame tightly between her thighs and locking her feet together. The two spent over half an hour in combat as Ellenby dragged him inch…

AAC device screen with black block text reading "love you"

Autism

The Toxicity of “Autism Parent” Memoirs

March 3, 2018August 2, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

We need more people to stand up and tell the world that exploiting your autistic child for “honesty” and profit is unacceptable, and that autistic people and their families deserve better than the constant barrage of misery and pain memoirs the publishing industry assumes to be our lot.

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Disability

Why To Siri With Love Is a Wrecking Ball of a Book

December 11, 2017January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Maxfield Sparrow unstrangemind.com [Content note: possible triggers include: forcible sterilization of minorities including Autistic people, forcible gynecological experimentation on minorities, Judge Rotenberg Center, electric shock, stereotypes about Autistics lacking empathy or a sense of humor, stereotypes about Autistics or Black people lacking the ability to feel pain, snakes and feeding live rodents, harmful Supreme Court verdicts, dehumanizing of Autists, getting drunk, preferring drunkenness to talking with Autistic children, humanizing the author of a grossly dehumanizing book.] Come mothers and fathers / Throughout the land And don’t criticize / What you can’t understand Your sons and your daughters / Are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly aging. Please get out of the new one / If you can’t lend your hand For the times they are a-changin’. -Bob Dylan [image: Book cover: A blue background with informal font white text reading, “To Siri With Love,” with a photo of a…