In this strikingly honest collection, developed from a pioneering new research project, autistic teachers and other autistic school professionals share their stories of the challenges and successes of their careers. Contributors challenge assumptions and stereotypes whilst highlighting the unique strengths autistic staff can bring to schools when their own needs are accommodated.
The book explores exclusion and identity, understanding and acceptance, intersectionality and facilitating inclusion. It also celebrates the positives that come with being an autistic teacher, such as relating to neurodivergent pupils and conveying passion and enthusiasm for a subject through intense interests, or demonstrating particular skills in school leadership. It examines how workplace set up can sometimes exclude autistic individuals and lead to skilled teachers and those in other education roles, including visiting professionals, leaving the profession, and sets out the accommodations that can prevent this from happening.
Blending scientific research with her own experiences as an autistic individual, she advocates for personalized approaches to autism and emphasizes the importance of recognizing and supporting the diverse talents found across the autistic spectrum.
A must read if you’re interested in fostering the amazing abilities that lie beneath the diagnosis—if we know how to care for them correctly. Especially important for parents of a newly diagnosed child, it will not only to give you a bigger picture but also to learn how to nurture them and their abilities waiting to come out.
Her writing style is a bit on the personal expressive level in how she expresses herself... I get a good chuckle out of it.
Dr. Grandin is probably one of the best authors on autism because she herself is an autistic thinker & learner. No psychologist could quite understand what they're writing about or researching unless they live it themselves. Dr. Grandin is no psychologist but she IS a scientist and lives what she writes about.