We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation

· HarperCollins
4.3
6 reviews
Ebook
320
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

“This book is a message from autistic people to their parents, friends, teachers, coworkers and doctors showing what life is like on the spectrum. It’s also my love letter to autistic people. For too long, we have been forced to navigate a world where all the road signs are written in another language.”

With a reporter’s eye and an insider’s perspective, Eric Garcia shows what it’s like to be autistic across America.

Garcia began writing about autism because he was frustrated by the media’s coverage of it; the myths that the disorder is caused by vaccines, the narrow portrayals of autistic people as white men working in Silicon Valley. His own life as an autistic person didn’t look anything like that. He is Latino, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, and works as a journalist covering politics in Washington D.C. Garcia realized he needed to put into writing what so many autistic people have been saying for years; autism is a part of their identity, they don’t need to be fixed. 

In We’re Not Broken, Garcia uses his own life as a springboard to discuss the social and policy gaps that exist in supporting those on the spectrum. From education to healthcare, he explores how autistic people wrestle with systems that were not built with them in mind. At the same time, he shares the experiences of all types of autistic people, from those with higher support needs, to autistic people of color, to those in the LGBTQ community. In doing so, Garcia gives his community a platform to articulate their own needs, rather than having others speak for them, which has been the standard for far too long. 

Ratings and reviews

4.3
6 reviews
Robert Tremblay
July 20, 2023
Its a myth autistic men feel a great deal of empathy, i can tell you having been physically and psychologically and spiritually been abused by a family member with aspergers. There is never any trace of remorse, just fear of being caught. A woman should never marry a man with aspergers. There is no empathy at all, just an insecure and irritable ego.
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ADAM BLACK
July 15, 2023
When it comes to dispelling myths, I’m beginning with myself,” writes Garcia, a journalist who is on the autism spectrum, in his thoughtful debut. Aiming to show what it’s like “to be autistic across ...
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Logan Smith
July 1, 2023
Lovely
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About the author

ERIC GARCIA is a journalist based in Washington, DC. He is the senior Washington correspondent at The Independent and an MSNBC columnist. Previously, he was an assistant editor at the Washington Post’s Outlook section and an associate editor at The Hill, as well as a correspondent for National Journal, MarketWatch, and Roll Call. He has also written for the Daily Beast, the New Republic, and Salon.com. Garcia is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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