Anybody who has read the DSM entry on Autism Spectrum Disorder will know it lists deficits in areas of communication and interaction. But what it is really like to view life from behind the autistic lens? This was the question psychologist and psychotherapist Marie-Laure Del Vecchio asked when she, and co-writer and photographer Joe James, starting collecting stories from people on the autistic spectrum. The result is The Autistic Experience: Silenced Voices Finally Heard.
| Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, often shocking, these stories from people across the globe explore all aspects of autistic life – from the earliest childhood memories to the challenges facing the autistic parent or grandparent. From school days to office life, from teenagers to those in their seventies, across all genders, from people who are homeless to NASA scientists to Olympic medallists, A graduate of UNIL, Marie-Laure set up her own practice in Lausanne two and a half years ago. In her professional life, she seeks to value human diversity, particularly by working with neurodivergent people. |
| She chose to move away from a pathologising view of autism and to focus instead on the distinctive features of this neurotype, and approaches autism as a way of functioning, a way of reading the world and feeling the world that is not only unique but also relevant. Now a debut writer – her book is being published next week by John Murray – she will be in the bookshop on Tuesday, 25th July, from 18.30 to talk about her work and her book. Marie-Laure is a long-time customer of the shop and is an engaging and speaker (so not to be missed!). If you would like to come please either reply to this email or sign up here. There has already been an extraordinary response this book and we will be limiting places to 30 people: |
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