LET’S TALK
Eric Garcia’s book on autism doesn’t provide all the answers, but it gives a much-needed different perspective, writes
Eric Garcia’s We’re Not Broken is the book neuro-typical readers didn’t know they needed while giving voice to the autistic community. It outlines what autistic people require to lead fulfilling lives and the harm created by policies and misconceptions. In changing the conversation, Garcia’s book hopes to dispel myths about autism and bring about effective policies, support and acceptance.
Garcia, an autistic man, is a Washington DC political journalist for The Independent and a columnist for MSNBC. The idea for writing this book came while covering US politicians. He noticed that the way they “talked about autism was wholly divorced from autistic people’s lives”.
The statistics back up Garcia’s observations. For example, 75% of all US research funding focuses on finding the “root causes” of autism, while only 6% is spent on improving services and support for autistic people. This focus on a “cure” has led to damaging theories, such as blaming vaccines. These misconceptions distract from meeting autistic people’s needs while causing societal harm.
The focus on a cure overlooks what it means to be autistic and the person’s sense of self. Autism activist Jim Sinclair explains this in the book, stating: “Autism is a way of being. It is not possible to separate the person from the autism.”
Garcia adds that those wishing to cure their child are “obscuring what makes their child who they are and preventing larger acceptance”.
Garcia’s book delves into the history of autism research, past treatments, and how these shaped those diagnosed. The background sheds light on why it appears autism is on the rise (it isn’t) and why so many women and girls have been left out of the conversation.
Garcia writes: “To this day, women and girls — not to mention trans and nonbinary people — are overwhelmingly underrepresented in studies about autism ... overlooking their stories often has horrific consequences.”
These myths and misconceptions are why so much support is unhelpful. It is also why there is such a long history of harmful and damaging autism treatments.
As Sarah Gardner, the director of the Neurodiversity Navigators programme, tells Garcia in the book: “A lot of other programmes are trying to turn autistic students into human beings rather than starting from the premise that they already are.”
Garcia’s book goes on to paint pictures of autistic lives. He shows people with different needs, dreams and situations. He tells stories of people who are parents, those with successful careers, others desperate for employment, and people who may never hold traditional jobs but still have interests and desires and deserve to have their humanity recognised. His interviews demonstrate why one-size-fitsall solutions cannot meet the autistic community’s incredibly complex and varied members.
However, Garcia is sympathetic to the challenges ahead. “We need to recognise that the way we think of autism has been riddled with so many myths and mistruths that the path toward
‘getting it right’ or focusing on acceptance is incredibly daunting. We should recognise people won’t get everything right but if they want to learn and do right by their autistic loved ones — or even themselves — and that they should be given grace.”
We’re Not Broken will not provide all the answers, as the subject is too vast and nuanced to be contained in a single text. But it is an incredible book that is changing the conversation.