A Review of: Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism, by Ron Suskind

[Author Affiliation]Aaron D. Besterman. 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.Robert L. Hendren. 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California. 2 Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.ISBN: 978-1-423-180364. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2014. 368 pages.Address correspondence to: Aaron D. Besterman, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, 401 Parnassus Ave. San Francisco, CA 94143, E-mail: aaron.besterman@ucsf.edu"'Imet Jonathan Freeman, he's my friend!' Owen can barely contain himself. He's become an exclamation point," expounds Ron Suskind.Ron Suskind is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, and the occasional Merlin to his autistic son Owen's Arthur, in Life, Animated. To Owen, Jonathan Freeman is no mere voice actor, but a megacelebrity worthy of the highest reverence as the voice of Jafar from Disney's Aladdin. He plays an integral role in bringing Disney animated characters to life and thus plays a vital role in Owen's personal development. Owen has an intense affinity for Disney animated characters and seems to relate to them and use their experiences and adventures to fuel his own intellectual and emotional growth.On one occasion, during their first encounter, Owen explains to Mr. Freeman that Aladdin is about, "... finally accepting who you really are. And being okay with that." This emotional "deep dive" may have only been possible through the lens of one of Owen's beloved Disney characters. On a grander scale, we are privileged to witness Owen's slow, yet dramatic shift in identity as he grows from a young child to a more mature young man.Initially, he identifies primarily with Disney "sidekicks," such as Sebastian the crab from The Little Mermaid and Zazu the hornbill from The Lion King. Like these characters, he feels as if he is destined to play a supporting role in life, helping those more capable succeed in life's journeys. But like his buddy Aladdin, Owen also learns to appreciate his own abilities and accomplishments, and by the time he reaches college he no longer self-identifies as a mere "sidekick," but sees himself more as a "hero;" more Aladdin than Zazu, if you will.But what fueled this evolution? Would it have occurred inevitably? Or would Owen's development have been completely different had Disney been banished from the Suskind household? This question is a critical one for many families with a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and as the Suskinds learned, there is no clear consensus among developmental and medical professionals. On the one hand, there is significant concern that children with ASD can become overfixated on specific things, such as Disney characters, airplanes, maps, or what have you. In theory, this could limit their growth and development by restricting their learning environment. Additionally, the repetitive and obsessive fixation on a specific object or topic can become overwhelming and exhausting for family members. However, there is the counterargument somewhat along the lines of "if you can't beat them, join them." That is, if a child with ASD has a natural affinity for a specific object or topic and seems to relate to the external world primarily through that lens, then why not use that interest to relate to and teach them? From watching Owen develop with the aid of Disney animation, Ron Suskind argues that one should fully embrace a child with ASD's natural affinities.The development of this argument seems to run on a parallel track to the narrative itself throughout the book. In some ways, Life, Animated can be viewed as the Suskind family thesis culminating in a new behavioral therapy, affinity therapy. …