Reading With Autism in Mind

Katelyn McTague
When we study literature we often look to find circumstances that are
recognizable and that we can relate to in our own lives. As readers we draw connections
between our lives and the lives of the characters about whom we read. We empathize
with imaginary characters and are often able to discover and understand more about
ourselves by reading about the situations of others. Throughout the course of my literary
life and my exposure to literature, aside from searching for myself, I was often searching
for something else, a hint of autism. Autism is not a prevalent topic in the annals of
literature, and I would often stretch the facts and interpretations in order to find a
characters behaviors autistic. Characters that were marginalized and socially awkward
where the ones that I would wonder about and whose behavior I would question. If a
character was not part of a group, stayed on the fringes of the community or was mentally
inferior I would watch him or her for further signs of autism and autistic tendencies in
their behavior. This attempt to give a modern diagnosis to seventeen, eighteen and
nineteenth--century characters was not very successful.
Autism is little understood in todays society, so it is no wonder that it would be
difficult to find in older literature. The understanding of any type of medical or mental
problem was very limited before the modern age of science and technology. These
people were not understood, so their lives and stories were not dwelt on. They were
shunted to the side or removed from the scene entirely. As I discuss below, the number
of cases of autism has risen dramatically in the past few years, and the number of autistic
narratives and fiction about the condition has increased similarly. However, despite this

increase in cases diagnosed and narratives written, awareness and understanding of the
disorder has not increased at the same rate. Autism is a complicated spectrum disorder
with an unknown cause and complex symptoms. No two autistic people are affected in
the same way, although many have similar characteristics. The brain and its workings
still remain in a large part a mystery. Prior to and even following the discovery of autism
in the 1940s, explanations for why a person had diminished mental capabilities were
vague and simplistic. People with lacking mental abilities were labeled as idiots or
imbeciles. They were secluded and removed from their families and institutionalized.
The disorder was not officially named or classified until the 1940s: Autism was first
identified as a specific disorder in 1943 by child psychiatrist Dr. Leo Kanner. Based on a
study of 11 children, Dr. Kanner published the first description of what he called autistic
disturbances of affective contact. At about the same time, German scientist Dr. Hans
Asperger, based on his study of 400 children, described another form of autism that
became known as Asperger syndrome (CDC). These two doctors both reached similar
conclusions at the same time, on different parts of the globe, without communicating or
knowing anything about what the other was doing. They even used the same term to
describe the behavioral abnormalities they had discovered in their patients. The autist is
only himself (cf. the Greek word autos) and is not a member of the greater organism,
Asperger explained in his 1943 thesis. Like Kanner, Asperger had heard the same
description from the childrens parents and teachers: its as if hes in his own world
(Collins 66). The doctors described the boys they studied as fundamentally and
permanently different (Collins 67). Out of their research and findings came the
classification and study of autism.

Autism is a very complex and difficult disorder to understand. It is a neurological

disorder that is diagnosed by observing a persons behavior. Autism arises during early
childhood, and affects an autistic persons perception of the world. Among the
symptoms of autism are, Seclusivness, loss of interest in surroundings, disturbances in
emotional responses to people, emotional blunting, reversion to primitive types of
behavior, negativism, mannerisms, repetitive movement and idiosyncratic speech and
thinking (Olsen 36). The varieties and negative aspects of autisms are so different and
diverse that a solidified definition becomes difficult to come up with. When I was
younger I would explain to people who asked about my brothers disorder that autism is
an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of things. I would explain that autism is a
spectrum disorder that includes many different levels of ability and disability. This was
the extent to which I understood the complexities of the disorder, and the best way that I
could describe something that I did not understand to others. Autism remains a
complicated disorder, but my grasp on how it affects people, and what it means to be
autistic has improved. The commonalities that exist in all cases of autism are problems
with language, social interaction, and odd, repetitive and uncontrollable body
movements. Today, autism is regarded as an early childhood disorder by definition, and
it is three times more common in boys than girls. For a diagnosis to be made, autistic
symptoms must appear before the age of three. The most common symptoms in young
children are no speech or abnormal speech, lack of eye contact, frequent temper tantrums,
oversensitivity to touch, the appearance of deafness, a preference for being alone, rocking
or other rhythmic stereotypic behavior, aloofness, and lack of social contact with parents
and siblings (Grandin 45).

In recent years as the disorder has become increasingly prevalent, there has been
more publicity, but overall awareness and understanding is still not widespread. In early
2007 the Autism and Developmental Monitoring Network (ADDM) reported that the
average prevalence of autism in the United States was 6.7 per every 1,000 or one out of
every one hundred and fifty children (CDC). The Center for Disease Control states that
between the years 1994 and 2004, the number of children from age six to seventeen
classified as falling on the autistic spectrum and being served by special education
programs jumped from 22,664 to 193,637. There have been more news specials and
magazine issues dedicated to the disorder, and for people connected to autism these
attempts to increase public awareness is encouraging 1 .
My interest in autism is very personal, and my awareness has been practically life
long. When I was four years old my mother gave birth to my brothers, two fraternal twin
boys named Patrick and Timothy. My life was as normal as any four- year-old only
child who had just been blessed with two little brothers. Patrick and Timothy
developed rather normally. Timothy was very active, and Patrick was a little sluggish.
Timothy was the first to crawl, to walk, and to babble. But as the boys got older,
Timothys development began to slow, and then to stop. My brothers went to the same
school together at first, but then the teachers and administrators suggested to my parents
that Timothy be tested. Timothy did not respond to others as quickly as Patrick did, and
we thought that Timothy might have hearing problems. He was tested and was found to

In 2003 April was selected as Autism Awareness Month. CNN Presents broadcast a documentary on
November 27, 2006 called Autism Is A World. It was later nominated for an Academy Award. The
November 27, 2006 issue of Newsweek was entitled Growing Up With Autism. The New York Times
Magazine ran a story called Her Autistic Brothers by Karen Olsson in the February 18, 2007 edition.
Oprah Winfrey aired an episode called The Faces of Autism in April 2007. On August 13, 2007 the Nightly
News with Brian Williams featured a summer camp for children with autism in their segment What Works.

have incredibly acute hearing. The next series of tests resulted in his official diagnosis.
And so at the age of six, the word autism entered into my vocabulary and my life.
I am not surprised that it is a misunderstood disorder, because it is a hard thing for
me to understand. Even though I have been acquainted with autism since my brother was
diagnosed fourteen years ago, I do not really grasp what it is all about. My entire life and
my family have been affected by autism, but before starting to work on this project I had
a limited understanding of what autism really is. I knew enough to give a basic
description to people who asked me about the disorder, and enough to essentially make
sense of my brothers behavior. I understood the ways in which autism expressed itself
in my brother; that it was due to autism that he was unable to talk and made repetitive
motions that looked odd. However, I did not know how to define it to people, other than
listing my brothers characteristics. I decided to take my habit of looking for autism in
the literature I read a bit further, and actually start proactively searching for it.
The literature that exists specifically about autism is more modern, because this
disorder has become increasingly prevalent and better understood in more recent years. I
examined three different forms of literature about autism that have appeared since 1990.
I looked at fiction that deals with autism, works written by autistic writers themselves,
and narratives written from the perspective of people with autistic family members. The
tone and overall effectiveness at portraying autism differed depending on the relationship
that the author had to autism, but not in the way that I expected. I thought that the
autistic writers would be those ones who were the most eager to show autistic people in a
positive light. I thought they would be eager to exhibit their abilities and explain away
their difficulties. This was not the case and I was surprised by what I read from autistic

writers. They gave full credence to the troubles that arise due to autism, and explained
the many negative aspects of the disorder. They did not champion autistic people or try
to write away their differences. Autistic writers were eager to explain the disorder in full,
and to create a thorough understanding of what autism is, negative aspects and all. The
authors with autistic family members were the ones whose narratives attempted to shield
autistic people from censure and ridicule. While explaining the difficulties that arise with
autism, these narratives hardly contained any stories of outrageous behavior or serious
difficulties between family members and if they did, the author quickly excused the
autistic person and scoffed at these moments as not frequent and not obtrusive. The
novel writers with no connection to autistic people wrote in the exact opposite way of the
related authors. These novel writers did not have as thorough an understanding of the
disorder, and often did not know how to represent the issues that arise with autism as well
as those who have first hand experience with the disorder. The novels about autism
explain aspects of the condition incorrectly, and create characters that are outlandish and
over the top in order to emphasize the problems that autism presents. Whereas family
members hide the negative behaviors, novel writers exaggerate them in unattractive and
unfeeling ways. The novels and narratives that I looked at are: The Curious Incident of
the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon, Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports
From My Life With Autism by Temple Grandin, and Not Even Wrong by Paul Collins.
There is a fine line between autism and normal or even genius behavior. My
father often says that everyone has one or two autistic qualities, and it is only when a
person exhibits all of these characteristics that she or her is labeled autistic. I frequently
see people illustrating behaviors that are similar to things I would find Timothy doing,

but these people are not autistic, and would never even be considered slightly so. Many
authors are reclusive and shy away from human interaction. They create their own
worlds in their writing, but these people are hailed for their creative ability rather than
seen as having any sort of disability. In his article Defining Fantastic Autism: Kafka,
Borges, Robbe-Grillet, Lance Olsen describes the writing of these imaginative authors
by saying, the reader senses, not so much that he is living in a dream, as that he is living
in the hypnogogic statethat state of semi consciousness, of drowsiness and reverie
experienced just as one is falling into dreams, where one floats away from an awareness
of external reality and toward an awareness of internal reality (35). Olsen argues that
these authors display a type of autism in their imagery and the ways in which the
characters see their worlds. The act of writing and creating a fake world is similar to the
way that autistic people behave. Despite creating solitary autistic worlds when they
participate in writing, these authors and their creations are sought and hailed. Many
people read these stories to escape, and do not think it abnormal when they enter these
private worlds. They willingly take on a different perspective and are eager to see the
world in the way that the author has imagined it.
The most popular piece of modern fiction concerning autism has been The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. Many people have
heard of this novel, written in 2003, and many have obtained their idea of what autism is
from this work. It is very upsetting that this novel is the source of most peoples
knowledge of autism, because the boy in the book does not actually have autism. The
protagonist of the novel Christopher Boone, has Aspergers Syndrome, a disorder similar
to autism, (sometimes considered as a high functioning form of autism) but by no means

as disadvantageous. A person with Aspergers Syndrome has different abilities and not
as many disabilities as a person with autism: In fact, many Asperger individua ls never
get formally diagnosed, and they often hold jobs and live independently (Grandin 47).
People with Aspergers Syndrome are able to function in normal society, whereas people
with more severe autism are not able to participate in society or even on their own.
Christopher describes his behaviors and symptoms, but he never actually names his
disorder. He does not call himself autistic nor does he say that he has Aspergers
Syndrome.
Mark Haddons novel left me more enraged than informed. I read this book when
it was first published, and I couldnt help comparing my brother to Christopher as I read.
With every comparison I was left feeling defensive about my brother, my family and
other autistic families. Rather than helping me feel more empathetic for Christopher by
hearing the story told from his first person perspective, I found him incredibly annoying.
Haddon created a character with severe social and behavioral issues, but also great
mathematic genius. Christopher seemed to me to be a collection of stereotypical beliefs
that people have about autism. Christopher is anti-social, does not like to be touched, has
weird ways of organizing the world around him, and is mathematically gifted. Rather
than giving a true portrait of autism, Haddon gives readers exactly what they expect and
have already seen in movies like Rain Man. Haddon endows Christopher with as many
positive qualities as negative ones, and leaves ignorant readers imagining that all autistic
people have incredibly intellectual capabilities and are academic blessings.
Christopher is unable to censure himself and says things that are often rude and
inappropriate. In describing his school and classmates Christopher says, All the other

children at my school are stupid. Except Im not meant to call them stupid, even though
this is what they are. Im meant to say that they have learning difficulties or that they
have special needs (Haddon 43). Christopher puts down those other students in his class
who are not as intellectually capable as he is. Autistic people are stigmatized and
belittled by people who do not understand their disorder. Mark Haddon only adds to the
belittling by having his autistic character adopt these closed mindsets and ignorant
perspectives. Christophe rs description of his classmates as stupid separates him from
the people he is putting down, and gives the reader the ok to continue to think of more
impaired children in this manner. Many times throughout the book Christophers callous
remarks affected me. Christopher belittles his classmates by calling them stupid, but he
does not realize that their stupidity arises from their disabilities. It is not anything these
children chose for themselves or have the ability to change. Christophers disdain fo r his
fellow classmates is an illustration of his disability. He is not able to empathize or make
a connection or analogy between their situation and his. Putting the other kids down
could also be an example of Christophers normality. All people try to distance
themselves from others whom society deems weak or undesirable, especially when the
person is very close to being part of that group. Christopher does not want to see the
connection between himself and the other kids who have verbal and intellectual abilities
that are far below his own. Christopher is not dumb. It would be too easy to write him
off as a closed- minded person. Despite his limitations, he understands the concept of
death, has an understanding of concrete objects and scientific facts and he is able to
understand the way other people feel and think, even if he does not understand why. I

think he sees the connection between himself and his classmates and is eager to prove to
himself that he is not impaired to the extent that the othe rs are.
Another major problem that I had with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night Time, was Haddons portrayal of Christophers family members. In all of my
experience with families who deal with autism, I have never met parents who are not
willing to do their all for their children. It is a difficult thing to deal with a child who is
autistic, but the parents who I have observed, work together and stay connected
throughout their difficulties for the best interests of their child 2 . Christopher says, I used
to think that Mother and Father might get divorced. That was because they had lots of
arguments and sometimes they hated each other. This was because of the stress of
looking after someone who has behavioral problems like I have (Haddon 46). Along
with Christophers mental disability, Haddon portrays a family in chaos. Christophers
parents have quarreled and his mother runs away with a neighbor, abandoning her son
and leaving her husband to take on the burdens of raising an autistic child on his own.
Aside from leaving Christopher, his mother forms and continues a relationship with a
man who belittles and mocks Christopher. This pushed the story beyond the realm of
believability for me. Parents and family members of autistic people are overly sensitive
and protective. Severely autistic children are not able to fend for themselves in the
world, and their relatives are extra guarded and cautious in their care. Having
Christophers mother maintain a relationship with a man who would belittle and not

Official statistic on the divorce rate of autistic parents differs according to the source. The National
Autistic Society states that the divorce rate for autistic parents does not differ from the rest of the
population. However, several news organizations and publications have quoted 80% as the divorce rate of
parents of autistic children. The National Autism Association has currently launched a program to survey
autistic families and discover which number is accurate, and to help these families avoid divorces which
will be incredibly detrimental to the autistic children.

10

understand her child seemes ridiculous. Autism is difficult to deal with, but not so
difficult that parents constantly quarrel, and mothers run out on their children. Haddon
misrepresents the struggles of living with autism, by having his characters run out on the
problem instead of dealing with it. Families may fall apart under the strain of autism, but
more often they rally together. Parents that I meet are very supportive and siblings are
always protective of their autistic brothers or sisters.
Mark Haddon takes an interested approach by trying to explain autism from inside
the mind of a fifteen year old boy with obvious social and perceptive limitations. It is
interesting to try to write and explain the disorder in a first person narrative, but many
times Haddon misses the mark so dramatically and is too concerned with providing
flashy obscure behaviors. Rather than reading this imaginary narrative of a fictitious boy,
written by a person with very little connection to autism, one should read narratives that
actually are written by autistic people. It was interesting to try to take into consideration
the way an autistic person looks at the world and views larger concepts, and to attempt to
see the world through the mindset of an autistic person. Haddon undertakes the task
which autistic people are presented with everyday, understanding how those around them
think, feel and react when their brains are hardwired to work very differently; however,
he does not complete his task effectively.
In contrast, the author Temple Grandin gave me true insight into the mind of
autism, and possibly into the way my brother perceives the world. Temple Grandin was
born in the late 1940s and was diagnosed later in life with autism. She was anti-social,
had delayed speech and threw tantrums. Despite difficulties with her perception and
understanding of the world, Grandin was able to make it through college, earn a Ph.D.

11

and revolutionized the slaughterhouse industry. She has written several books about her
life and what it is like to be autistic. She explains the way in which she sees the world
and the obstacles she has to overcome to live in the normal world. One of her personal
narratives is Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports From My Life With Autism. She
explains with great depth, eloquence and clarity the struggles she has had to face to live
in this world with autism. Reading her true first-hand account gave me much more
insight into the thinking processes of autistic people.
Her personal narrative, Thinking In Pictures, conveyed more information about an
autistic persons thought process than Mark Haddon could ever have hoped to provide.
Where Haddon failed to truly understand a type of thinking that is opposite to his own,
Grandin understands the ways in which she is different and how to communicate these
differences in a manner that normal people will be able to comprehend. Grandin
explains that her thought process is primarily visual. Words and verbal language are
foreign to her, and must be translated into a visual medium to fit her style of thinking.
Grandins book was like a guidebook for learning about autism and learning more about
my brother.
Grandin was the first child in her family, and she presented her mother with a
series of unfathomable problems. She would shy away from physical contact, threw
constant tantrums, and loved being left alone in her crib or carriage. Grandin showed
signs of classic autism by the time she was two. She had, no speech, poor eye contact,
the appearance of deafness, no interest in people and was constantly staring off into
space (43). Autism was almost entirely unheard of, so young Temple Grandin was
diagnosed as brain-damaged. Her mother was very concerned and worked hard to get

12

her daughter all the help she needed, even though there were hardly any programs offered
that would be of any help to autistic children. Grandins mother found the best teachers
and schools that would work with her daughter. She refused to place her daughter in an
institution during a time when this was the only course of actions suggested by the
specialists. Grandin had to learn to control her behavior, while her mother and teachers
had to learn to read the signs. Noise and too much sensory stimulation wo uld send
Temple into hysterics. Over the years Temple came to realized she was different and
developed a series of coping mechanisms to help her function in society. She was able to
utilize these strategies so well that she completed high school, attended Franklin Pierce
College, graduated in 1970 with a degree in psychology, and continued on to receive her
doctorate in Animal Science.
Grandin, like most autistic individuals, found personal relationships difficult. In
order to help her understand human interaction she used visualization and personal
experience. While at college she was washing bay windows as one of her jobs. In order
to wash these particular windows she had to crawl through a sliding door and ease along
the window. One day she became trapped between the panes of glass and had to ease the
doors carefully to prevent the glass from shattering. While she was trapped it was
impossible to communicate through the glass. Grandin explained, begin autistic is like
being trapped like this. The windows symbolized my feelings of disconnection from
other people and helped me cope with the isolation (36). She used the imagery to help
make sense of the senseless.
Grandin describes the autistic spectrum and explains the various differences that
differentiate the categories. As doctors and researchers begin to understand more about

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what happens in the brains of autistic people, they are able to come up with better, more
precise diagnostic categories. When Kanner described autism in 1943 there was only one
category. Now with the use of modern technology (MRI and PET scans), researchers are
able to fine tune the categories, and distinguish children according to their abilities,
which in turn lets the children be treated more appropriately. If children with low
function autism are given therapies which are more appropriate for people with
Aspergers, the problem may be exacerbated: The new diagnostic categories are autism,
pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), Aspergers syndrome, and disintegrative
disorder, and there is much controversy among professionals about them. Some consider
these categories to be true separate entities, and others believe that they lie on an autistic
continuum and there is no definite distinction between them (46). Whe n my brother
first started exhibiting signs of recessive development my parents had him tested. He
made eye contact, held the testers hand and was agreeable over all. He was diagnosed as
PDD, a label that is applied to children with mild symptoms which are not quite serious
enough to call for one of the other labels (Grandin 47). But in 1993 there were no
programs for children with PDD. In order for Timothy to receive the special treatment
that would help him, my parents had to consent to change his official diagnosis to
autistic. Some people may believe there is no definite distinction between the
categories, but my parents greatly disliked having to place Timothy in a category that
denoted lesser ability in order for him to receive necessary services. I wonder now if he
had been placed in a higher functioning group if more would have been expected of him
and if he would have more abilities today.

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Despite having diagnostic categories that are more clearly defined, scientists still
wonder what causes autism. They have come to believe that its appearance is due to a
combination of genetic and environmental factors. Several studies concluded that,
roughly half of what a person becomes is determined by genetics and the other half is
determined by environment and upbringing (Grandin 51). What these genetic and
environmental factors are is still not understood. The Autism Society of America says
that researchers are investigating the possibility of a link between heredity, genetics and
medical problems. Grandin explains what is known about the science behind autism, the
different categories and the distinctions between the various disorders that autism
encompasses. She explains the neurological abnormalities that have been found in
people with autism. One thing that is known is that very often, those with autism and
disintegrative disorder have immature development of their cerebellums and their limbic
systems. There is delay in brain maturation that is visible in autistic childrens brain
waves (Grandin 50). Studies by many researchers are showing that there may be a
cluster of genes that can put a person at risk for many disorders, including autism,
depression, anxiety, dyslexia, attentions deficit disorder, as well as other problems (50).
However, there also seems to be a connection between autism and genius. Grandin
explains that she spoke with several families, and discovered that the parents and
relatives of autistic children are often intellectually gifted (174). Autism was most
commonly found in families where parents or grandparents were engineers. Writer Paul
Collins describes a survey of the parents of autistic children taken in Britain where they
discovered that, science majors had autism in their families at six times the rate of
literature students (Collins 90). Research is still underway to try to determine any

15

crucial connection between the genetic inheritance of intelligence and autism. My family
history does not support this theory; my mother was an education major who prefers the
creative field to the scientific, and despite my grandfather being a railway conductor he is
not the type of engineer about which these studies talk.
While reading Grandins autobiography, I was amazed that she was autistic. She
was very capable of pinpointing different problems and explaining how her perspectives
differed from others. Still, while being able to identify these differences and understand
the alteration her autism causes to her perception, she remains unable to break free of the
constraints. She knows she sees the world differently, and exactly how, why and where
the differences occur, but she cannot free herself from them, or alter her perceptions by
sheer force of will to what she knows is considered normal. She explains that, autistic
children will remain in their own little worlds if left to their own devices (Grandin 96).
Temple Grandin writes, I can remember the frustration of not begin able to talk
at age three. I could understand what people said to me, but I not get my words out (44).
My brother is able to understand us when we speak to him. He will follow commands
and do what we ask him to do, as long as the request is not too difficult. Despite being
able to comprehend what we say to him, he cannot respond. When Timothy was younger
he experienced the same frustration that Temple Grandin describes. He went through a
phase where he would scribble over the mouth on faces in books and pictures. I had to
hide all my story books, Disney video tapes and anything with a face on it if I didnt want
the mouths blackened out. I still have our old Junior Monopoly board game with a demouthed Rich Uncle Pennybags. I had not thought to hide the box and Timothy colored
over it for lack of other materials.

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Throughout the course of my life, and my exposure to literature, I found myself

trying to find characters in literature whose experiences were recognizable. I would
search for characters within stories whose disconnect with others or disabilities I could
label autistic. I was trying to find characters similar to my brother, and people around
these characters who were similar to me. I was eager and interesting in marginal
characters that had been cast aside for their mental problems. I was also interested in the
treatment they received. I noted the way social comprehension in the different time
periods of these stories affected the lives and treatment of these people. Literature is not
brimming with autism, and often I grasped to make a connection that might not have been
there.
One character that my father felt connected to is Boo Radley in To Kill A
Mockingbird by Harper Lee. My dad was compelled by the relationship between Boo
Radley and his father, and the idea that Boo exhibits some autistic characteristics. I
believe what first caught my dads attention was the scene where Boo Radley stabs his
father with a pair of scissors while cutting clippings out of the newspaper. Timothy loves
to cut things up, and to see Boo, a man in his thirties, partaking in such a simplistic
pastime made my dad assume Boo was autistic. He had always read the character of Boo
Radley as slow, or mildly mentally disabled. However, after Timothy was diagnosed my
father saw Boo Radleys behaviors and oddities as increasingly similar to Timothys. I
read the book in the eight grades, and did not think of Boo as autistic, but looking back at
it now, there are various phrases that make me think that my dads connection is not
entirely off the mark. Boo is a grown man, but very childlike, and his family is devoted
to keeping him safe. Scout describes the family that was alien to Maycombs ways and

17

says that they kept to themselves (Lee 9). When Boo stabs his father, Mr. Radley
would not allow Boo to be put into an asylum and, insisted that Boo not be charged with
anything: he was not a criminal (Lee 11). When I first read these pages I saw Mr.
Radleys actions as those of a loving father who did not want his son to go to jail, even
though his son had tried to hurt him. Looking at the passage with autism on the mind, I
could see Mr. Radley wanting to protect his son, and not being concerned about being
stabbed, because Mr. Radley knew that his son did not know what he was doing. One of
the reasons that my father likes to interpret Boo Radley as an autistic person is because he
hovers over the whole novel like a friend and a type of guardian angel for Jem and Scout.
He gives them toys in the hole of a tree and saves their lives at the end. He is the silent
hero in the story and is very kind and compassionate despite his limitations. I believe
Boo Radley gives my dad a sense of hope that Timothy can be just as important in our
lives as Boo was in the lives of Jem and Scout and in the novel itself.
Because my brother is unable to use language, I always wonder how he thinks
about theoretical concepts, if he does at all. I often question how his perception affects
and constructs his understanding. Because he is non-verbal he has a hard time
understanding commands that are not fact or object based. We can tell Timmy to get a
cup or brush his teeth and he will follow these commands. But if we say that next
Tuesday we are going to visit someones house, or that I am leaving to go to the store, it
is too much info rmation that does not pertain to life at this moment. Grandin explains
that, the easiest words for an autistic child to learn are nouns, because they directly
relate to pictures (29). She explains her own learning process and says that, As a child,
I left out words such as is, the, and it, because they had no meaning by themselves.

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Similarly, words like of and an made no sense. Eventually I learned how to use them
properly, because my parents always spoke correct English and I mimicked their speech
patterns (31). Timothy understands various things that we say when we speak to him,
even when we include the words Grandin had so much trouble with. I think that he
remembers what various sound and word combinations mean. But when we put too
many unfamiliar aspects into our sentences he is lost. Timothy will try to mimic our
speech if we tell him to say Hi, Bye, Yes, No, and so on. But these are easy
words with actions that follow them. As words represent things that are further and
further in the future, I think Timothys understanding falters. This makes me question
how he perceives the passage of time and if he has any notion of the future.
My favorite work that I came upon during all of my reading was Not Even Wrong
by Paul Collins. In his memoir Collins discusses both his sons autism, and the ancient
history of autism, starting back in the seventeenth century. He tracks autism through
various appearances during the past three hundred years and connects the disorder to
common problems and everyday understandable sights. Collins presents autism, which
can be unfathomable at times, in such a way that makes it relatable.

He gives the reader

a sense that autism is a greater part of our everyday world than it seems to be at first,
even when you live with it in your own house.
Collins begins his discussion with the story of Peter the Wild Boy. Peter lived in
the 1700s and was found when he was roughly twelve, living in the wild in present day
Germany. He was naked, ran on all fours, could not speak, and wasnt mindful of others
by any account. In November of 1725 Peter was introduced to the former, elector of
Hanovera pale little nobleman whom none of his subjects could make any sense of

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either (Collins 15). The elector of Hanover had received another official position ten
years before, and had become King George I of England. The following year Peter was
taken to London and brought to see the court at St. James Palace. Despite multiple
efforts to socialize and civilize Peter, he remained much as he had been when he was
found in the forests of Germany. Collins explains that with, enough prompting, Peter
could be made to repeat letters, his name and some monosyllabic words. Curiously, he
did not use this language the way one might expectthat is, to express his needs or
wants. Words had to be pried out of him, and he ignored further attempts to continue into
actual conversation. He was a genuinely friendly and imitative boy with remarkably
good hearing; he simply did not want to talk (Collins 29). Collins describes in more
depth the types of behaviors that Peter exhibited as well as the effect he had on society.
Society was mystified with the question, What was he? (35) and were baffled by this
enigma of wild humanity (28). Reading the descriptions of Peters abilities, habits and
peculiar quirks, I felt as if my brother had traveled through time. From Collins
portrayal, Peter seemed to be a true twin to my brother Timothy, from his dislike of
wearing clothing, to being fascinated by shiny or soft satins.
I read one of Collins descriptions of Peter to my parents: He was not exactly
mute: he could make sounds, but nothing resembling human speech. He seemed deaf and
yet was not quite that either; for while neither the calling of his name nor the blast of a
firearm produced so much as a flinch in the boy, the cracking of a walnut several rooms
away could bring him running in eager anticipation. Indeed, as shy as he was, he seemed
fairly happy with himself and friendly enough whenever he did take notice of the people
around him (Collins 12). They both said that it was a precise description of my brother

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provided that you replace cracking of a walnut with crinkling of a Reeses Peanut
Butter Cup wrapper. When I told them this was a description of a boy who was found in
Germany, lived in England with the king in the 1700s, and was the inspiration for
Gullivers Travels they were shocked.
Collins explains that when his son Morgan was two, he began to feel himself
unexplainably drawn to Peter. Long before going to the doctor, before the batteries of
tests on Morgan, before the diagnosis, before we ever imagined anythingI had been
chasing a silent boy through the even greater silence of centuries, when my own boy was
in front of me all along. How? How could I not have seen it? Something drew me to
Peter, something so obvious now: An early case of autism (Collins 58). Reading about
Peter, and thinking about him as an early case of autism rather than a boy raised by
wolves somehow gave me comfort and made me feel more connected to the world.
Autism has a history of being misunderstood. Collins describes the various ways
in which autistic people have been misunderstood and mistreated. Collins talks about
Bruno Bettelheim, a Viennese doctor who emerged after World War II and worked at
the University of Chicago. He worked with young children that were deemed
intractable and shaped much of the interpretation about what autism was and how to
treat it in the 1960s and 1970s. Bettelheim claimed that autism was a protective shell,
created by a toxic combination of uncaring parents and a primal shock in early
childhood (Collins 71). He believed it was imperative to take the children away from
the home environment that had caused their disorder. Despite claiming to be a doctor and
saying that he attended the same institutions as both Asperger and Kanner, Bettelheim
was not a doctor. He had been a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps and, could

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not help but wonder in his book whether the resignation he had seen in his fellow
prisoners was not unlike what he saw in the children he treated (Collins 72). He
essentially created an explanation for autism based on what he saw and experienced in
the concentration camps, rather than anything he observed solely with the children. It
was his book, The Empty Fortress written in 1967 that led to the belief in refrigerator
mothers as the source of a childs autism. Bettelheims falsified qualifications were not
discovered and his work received widespread popularity and acceptance. He was
published in The New York Times Magazine and became one of the most read
psychologists of the time (Collins 72). Collins goes on to track the effects that
Bettelheims wo rk had and says that not long after Bethleheims book was published The
Who created their rock opera Tommy, around a boy whose childhood trauma turns him
into a profoundly autistic savanta deaf and dumb pinball wizard (Collins 72).
Bettelheims misconceptions took a long time to undo, and was a major set back to the
understanding and treatment of autism.
This memoir was the most interesting and accessible work that I read. Collins
shows that autism has been around in less recognizable and less prevalent ways, but it has
infiltrated history. Prior to reading Collins work I never realized how far back autism
went. He provided descriptive information about Kanner, Asperger and Down (for whom
Down Syndrome is named). He cataloged the different types of understanding, living
arrangements and therapies that existed in different places for people who did not fit the
mold of normal behavior and whom not many people understood. It was interesting to
learn about the progression of societys relationship with autism.

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In Not Even Wrong, Collins describes a trip around a neighborhood supermarket

and notices the influx of foreign products. He writes, The aisles are full of Russian and
Vietnamese food; they are the new face of this neighborhood, even though yo u dont see
their kids in the special-ed classesyet. In a new country without health coverage, their
children wont be diagnosed until its terribly late, until long after theyve started
elementary school. Second- language difficulties might hide such things for years more.
We are very lucky (198). It is even harder for immigrant communities to deal with
mental disabilities as they try to acclimate to their new country. The children who are
part of these groups are dealt another blow, as they are not given the treatment that is
desperately needed at an early age.
I am frequently reminded of how fortunate it is for Timothy and the rest of my
family that we live in the United States. Even though autism is not understood and we
feel the strain of socie ty, in other cultures it is much worse. One of my aunts is from
Syria. She lives in the U.S. now with her husband and their children, but her father
comes to visit from Damascus periodically. Her father does not speak English but he
tries his best to communicate with us when he is here and we see him at family parties.
Since he does not speak the same language as a majority of the group he spends a good
deal of time observing what goes on around him, quite like Timothy. He noticed that
Timothy was not normal and saw the way that we interacted with him and how we
behaved around Timothy. After a few visits he came up to my mother and father with his
daughter to translate. He wanted to tell them that he admired them for the way they
treated Timothy with kindness and understanding. He was impressed with how gentle
and aware Timothy was, and my parents were very moved with what he felt the need to

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tell us. My aunt explained to my mom and myself that in Syria the families with autistic
or mentally disabled children are hidden away and kept out of sight. They are shunned
by society, because if the society knew that the family had such a child they would all be
shunned by association. The girls in the family would be unable to get married for the
fear tha t they would spread this abnormality, making their husbands and their husbands
familys pariahs from society. Rather than being considered an unfortunate event that
befell the family, it is seen as a punishment they are receiving due to their indiscretio ns.
Reading various types of autistic literature has helped me understand my brother
much better than I ever did. The different novels and memoirs have helped me get a peek
into his mind and comprehend what life must be like for him. I considered things that I
never did before. I used to think that Timothy didnt speak as much as he did when he
was younger because he was lazy. I thought that he knew we would give up asking him
to say things, so this is why he didnt try to talk. He knew we would give in. Judy
Karasik describes an evening with her family saying, David had endured our
conversation at dinner, which probably mad very little sense to him, but he had sat
through it politely, and like Dad he was looking for a little peace and quiet (Karasik 54).
Timothy has had to sit through and experience so much during our lives from the
sidelines. He cannot participate in conversation, complicated activities, or public events.
However, he sits and listens contently, getting what enjoyment he can out of life. He is
happiest just being with our family, and I never realized what a blessing this is for all of
us.

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Works Cited
Autism Society of America: What Is Autism: Facts and Stats. 2007. Autism Society of
America. 23 July 2007 <http://www.aut ismsociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_whatisautism.htm>
Autism Spectrum Disorder Overview. February 2007. Center for Disease Control and
Prevention. 25 July 2007 <http://www.cdc.gov/ncbdd/autism/overview.htm#is>
Collins, Paul. Not Even Wrong: A Fathers Journey into the Lost History of Autism.
New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004.
Grandin, Temple. Thinking In Pictures: And Other Reports From My Life With Autism.
New York: Vintage, 1996.
Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. United States:
Doubleday, 2003.
Karasik, Paul and Judy. The Ride Together: A Brother and Sisters Memoir of Autism in
the Family. New York: Washington Square Press, 2003.
Lebovitz, Richard. Alice and Autism: A Psychological Approach to the Dormouse in
The Mad Tea Party. Jabberwocky 8.1 (1978): 8-12.
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1982.
Leimbach, Marti. Daniel Isn't Talking: A Novel. New York: Doubleday, 2006.
Olsen, Lance. Diagnosing Fantastic Autism: Kafka, Borges, Robbe-Grillet. Modern
Language Studies 16.3 (Summer 1986): 35-43.
Works Consulted
Maurice, Catherine. Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Families Triumph Over Autism.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.
Nazeer, Kamran. Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism. New York:
Bloomsbury USA, 2006.

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