Because homeschool-curriculum.org received comments both Pro and Con on the book on our 8th Grade Reading list, , they asked me to read the book and write a review.
For a little background, I have a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, worked for years early in my career on a project studying families of children with disabilities and have four children of my own, two of whom were homeschooled.
I read the book and did not find support for the commenter who said that Dr. Grandin is “ableist and has done more harm to autistic people than good”. The foreword to the book was written by Temple Grandin and she emphasizes that whether children are called “dyslexic”, “Asperger’s” , “autistic” or any other label that they find activities they enjoy and in which they can excel.
The book itself was written by Sy Montgomery, who does quote from Temple, her mother and (attributed to) her father. One of the quotes from Temple was
“If I could snap my fingers and be nonautistic, I would not. Autism is part of what I am.”
– Temple Grandin
None of this struck me as derogatory toward people with autism. Quite the contrary, everything from the discussion of her major accomplishments in Animal Science at the beginning of the book, to the honest description of her honestly odd behavior during childhood gave insight and, I would say, hope and insight for children with autism and their parents. In fact, the book quotes a young man with autism who says her speaking about her own experiences helped him to accept his own differences.
Where did this controversy come from?
Since I couldn’t find anything objectionable in the book, I went to the Internet. I thought, perhaps, like some authors, the objection was to something she had done or said in her personal life. Much of what I found, I would consider a difference of opinion. Some people are vegetarians and hate the fact that she works for companies that slaughter animals. As a happy meat eater, I accept the fact that slaughtering cows is where my beef comes from.
Other people are greatly opposed to her writing where she compares people with autism to animals in that both think in pictures instead of words. They think that she should argue more that autism is not a disability but, rather, a difference in perception. In my opinion, Dr. Grandin is speaking about her personal perspective of autism, and it is as valid as anyone else’s opinion. Personally, I have arthritis and I can speak about how it affects me. No one can come to me and say, “No, that’s not your experience.” The articles that I read saying Temple extrapolates too much from her own experience were just as much opinions as her own.
The opinion of Dr. Grandin that most infuriates some people is that scientists should find a method to prevent the most severe forms of autism. Having worked with families of children with severe and profound disabilities, I can only tell you that some parents agree with her and some don’t.
My recommendation
After all of this, my advice was to put the book back on the 8th grade reading list. There is nothing controversial that I could find in the book itself. Its message is positive and the content and reading level are grade appropriate. Having taught, and raised, middle school children, I find it rather unlikely they will search the Internet for controversial statements by the subject of a book, and, if they do, I did not find anything so inappropriate that parents could not discuss the issues with their students.