This book 'suceeds' with me
Even though I don't have Asperger Syndrome, the text within this book described many challenges I and friends had faced. University administrators and some faculty attempted to talk down to and ignore us only because we were people with disabilities.
Like one of Harpur's suggestions, we formed an impromptu student organization--which DID bring ADA renovations to campus.
I also appreciate the information on sexuality and stress management. Conceding his readers are adults, Harpur does not condescend under the misguided and outdated notion of protecting college students with disabilities. He assumes they will be enrolled alongside students without disabilities.
Plus, he then concedes that despite our making it to college we might still enter with unresolved issues from high school--and dealing with the past proactively is essential to the possibility of a better future.
I've been leery of many 'college student with disability' books. Those other texts remained fixated on having students enroll only at certain campuses across the country regardless of actual options. This implies that disability accomodations are a 'favor' available only from certain schools as opposed to being federal civil rights law.
However, this author took a much different approach. He wants people with disabilities totally aware of our own responsibilities and proactively exercising it on college campuses throughout the country. He wants us in and then completing college because we already knew what to do.
I would feel very good giving this book to ANY college-bound person with a disability.
Great guide!
This book addresses the social needs of Asperger young adults at a very basic, practical level. At the same time it acknowledges the academic brilliance of these young adults, and how they can use their strengths in intelligence to help accommodate for their social shortcomings.
A very handy book
I found this book to be an extremely practical book regarding the survival of Asperger's Sydnrome sufferers in college. Given that the majority of young AS people would end up at college, this book is essential reading.
It outlines a lot of the challenges faced by AS students in college, particularly social challenges. Many of these things are second nature to non AS students, but to the AS students a lot of these things take time and effort to understand and put into practice.
The book is written in a very simple and concise manner, and clearly goes through every logical step of any argument or situation (which is vital for AS sufferers).
That being said, this isn't any sort of 'all answer' of 'cure' book to AS, simply because nothing like that exists. It's simply a handbook that contains practical advice and tips for the AS student.
However, one of the overriding themes of the book was the emphasis on therapy and counselling for the AS student. It seemed as if the end of every paragraph had the recommendation 'see your therapist' or something similar. I grew tired of hearing that point.
Personally, I am a self-diagnosed AS student, a conclusion I reached after, quite by accident, hearing Dr Tony Attwood speak on television one day. I am only just now, almost at the end of my tertiary education, looking into AS in great detail. I only wish that I had had this book when I had first started at university. It would have saved me from a lot of embarrassing moments and awkward situations. However, I draw confidence from the fact that a lot of the methods and tips given in this book I actually developed on my own, before I had any idea about AS.
I personally feel that AS is more common that currently thought (about 1 in 250 people), and that as research into AS continues, we will begin to understand more and more about the syndrome. I hope to one day see programs in schools (particularly at the primary level) to recognise AS in students at a young age and help them deal with the condition.
This book is required reading for anyone who has, or knows somebody who has, Asperger's Syndrome.
Helpful
I have not finished the book yet, but so far, the information is useful for the population of students that I work with. I am interested in starting an Asperger's Support Group and am focusing on the information in the chapter related to that.
Well written. Some of the language is different because it was written in another country.
Too Little Info
I never trust a book that spends the entire first chapter telling you what you will learn from the book. And it only got worse, it seems like the authors spent most of their "ink" telling us what we were going to learn. There was some useful info, but it could have been offered in a 3 pages pamphlet.
(7 reviews)
