Almost Adult, with Autism

Bishop, Andrew

Okyle, C. (2015). Almost Adult, with Autism.  School Library Journal 61(11).  46-49.

The author outlines and examines development of library  programming for older autistic children and autistic young adults who have aged or upskilled out of programs for young autistic children but still need specialized support.  The programs focus on social skills and community integration in preparation for these children aging out of their school and government support programs. The author also discusses the benefits the library environment can have for autistic individuals, and the costs associated with running such support programs.

Evaluation

My first reaction: Yep, I still hate it when allistics talk about autism.  The author says that autistic people may not come to the library because it is an unfamiliar space or due to past negative interactions, but fails to examine why those factors might make an autistic person avoid the library more than they would for an allistic person.  Anxiety about being in a new place is certainly a factor, but a considerable part of autistic anxiety stems from sensory processing difficulties and wishing to avoid an overload meltdown or shut down (granted the studies showing this are new, but ask any reasonably self-aware autistic person, they’ll tell you exactly that).  One of the major tenets of disability advocacy is "nothing about us without us".  While many of the programs described seem to be helpful, they come entirely from an allistic view on autism and autistic needs.  Not one of the program designers interviewed said they consulted the autistic community or autistic autism advocates in the process of determining their program needs or designing the programs.  Read aloud and conversation in a restaurant? Sensory nightmare.  Attendance by itself does not imply program effectiveness, particularly given the high levels of non-voluntary compliance enforced on autistic children and teenagers.  Nor does the author seem to ask her interviewees how they came to choose and design their program foci, if autistic people of any age were consulted at all.  One mentions “embedding” herself in the local autistic community, but the only result of this action mentioned is an increase in program attendance.  So was that “embedding” a true, interactive relationship?  Or was it fancy sandwich board signage?  The article seems to present an important overview of what’s currently going on in a trending topic, but the lack of critical analysis of the programs on the authors’ part makes this come off as a puff piece.