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Autism in Heels: The Untold Story of a Female Life on the Spectrum, by Jennifer Cook O'Toole Foreword by Navah Paskowitz-Asner, Skyhorse Publishing, 2018, 248 pp, $24.99 (hardcover)
Throughout the field of Rehabilitation Counseling, as well as Education, we often hear terms like "Gender Bias" and "Micro-Aggressions" but rarely do we have the time to consider how those terms come in to play in every day interactions with our clients and students. In reading "Autism in Heels: he Untold Story of a Female Life on the Spectrum" by Jennifer Cook O'Toole, we gain a firsthand look in sometimes painful detail as she fluidly walks us through what it is like to live life on the spectrum without the benefit of diagnosis until well into her thirties. As a graduate student in Rehabilitation Counseling specializing in both Cognitive and Psychiatric Disabilities, I found this text to be a fascinating glimpse not only into the personal aspects of attempting to "fit in" to the "norm" of what family and society expects of someone, but of the difficulties of attempting to comprehend those concepts as well. Having extensive experience in Dissociative Disorders and recovery, there were more than a few identifiable examples that were directly compared to Post Traumatic Stress, compartmentalization and even the misunderstandings that occur between family/society and the client themselves. In fact, Ms. O'Toole afforded this Graduate Student the chance to interconnect both of my specializations with the realization that, once again, we are all far more alike than different.
he text is divided into 10 chapters, with each chapter having anywhere from 3 to 10 subchapters. In chapter one, titled "Backwards in Heels: My Story in Reverse" we are introduced to the general idea of what Autism, as well as the spectrum, are, and what they are not. In fact, like the saying goes, "once you've met one person on the spectrum you have one example of someone on the spectrum." Life on the spectrum is also further explained as a neurological rather than pathological experience. he use of the term "normal" is challenged, as is the diagnostic protocol as being outdated and gender biased. One of the many mic-drop quotes within this chapter include, "You're not broken, you're a different type of normal"...