Roy Grinker, Unstrange Minds: Remaping the World of Autism

Roy Grinker’s book, Unstrange Minds, will change the way you think about autism. This is a well written, easy to read treatise that challenges the whole notion that there is an autism epidemic. ‘‘This book argues that the newer, higher, more accurate statistics on autism are a sign that we are finally seeing and appreciating a kind of human difference that we once turned away from and that many other cultures still hide away in home or institutions or denigrate as bizarre. The results of the new rates is that we are fortunately seeing more research, more philanthropy, and more understanding of how families struggle to cope’’ (p. 5). The book really begins with the Introduction as Mr. Grinker explains the role of an anthropologist and social scientist. He previews the chapters of his book to give the lay reader some historical context for the mental health profession. In 1975 in Lima, Peru children and adults with autism were kept in cages. By 2005 Peru’s largest corporations were hiring autistic adults to facilitate their integration into local communities. Some of the stories are grim and may not be suitable for parents who recently received a diagnosis of autism. I would also advise some discretion in recommending this book to parents based on the emotional resilience of the family. However, this book is clearly a must-read for everyone in the medical profession, as well as educators. One of the flaws of Unstrange Minds surfaces in the first chapter when Grinker makes a somewhat strange remark that autism is a liberating experience. ‘‘I remember that during my childhood one of my cousins described having a child with a severe disability as ‘a prison sentence.’ It doesn’t seem that way to me because I cherish the idea of being with Isabel forever. Joyce and I are free of the stressful ambition of having Isabel go to a high-status high school or college, free of the anxiety about a child leaving us to live somewhere else or marry’’ (p. 24). This is a somewhat bizarre view of autism that may put Mr. Grinker in an epidemiology category of one. Autism is not a romantic journey. Autism is brutal on the whole family. That 80% of families with special needs children experience the trauma of divorce and its cultural implications is never really addressed by Grinker. ‘‘I’m comfortable enough now to write a book about her and about autism, something I never expected to do.’’ Autism is very personal to Mr. Grinker. Isabel is lucky. Other than the one lapse into romanticism about autism, the personal approach in describing his life with his daughter’s autism adds a warm-hearted tone to the book. Grinker’s life with his daughter, Isabel, is interwoven throughout the book, helping animate what some people might think is a dry topic. Isabel’s story is a particularly poignant contrast to the core chapter, Autism by the Numbers. Behind every number is a real person and family that is impacted by autism. Mr. Grinker never lets you forget that. A balanced perspective of the profound impact that autism has on a family is presented in later chapters. ‘‘Autism shatters many lives, and it changes everyone. But many turn the hardship of raising a child with a disability into something positive, even if it means their futures are different from what they expected, or from what their families and cultures wanted’’ (p. 198). These stories are memorable. The middle chapters of Unstrange Minds are a detailed chronology of the development of the mental health profession. Mr. Grinker takes you back in time where asylums and mental institutions were the norm and considered D. Hilibrand (&) Yale Child Study Center Associates, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA e-mail: Ticklesly@aol.com