>If you bring up Asperger’s Syndrome, someone will probably ask if you’ve read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Read it; it’s good. However, it’s fiction. I’m focusing more on nonfiction today.

Chuck and I were traveling to pick up Amigo at camp when we heard Lianne Holliday Willey on NPR talking about her book Pretending to be Normal. We knew we had to have it. The subtitle is “Living with Asperger’s Syndrome,” and that’s exactly what the book is. Lianne was a resilient child, but a unique and quirky one. She didn’t realize exactly why she was different until her daughter was diagnosed with Asperger’s and she realized she was on the spectrum herself. Pretending to be Normal is insightful and articulate, a peek inside the experiences and feelings of an adult with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Look me in the Eye by John Elder Robison is another memoir that lets people get a glimpse of how someone who appears different can also be highly intelligent and successful professionally. John Elder, as he was nicknamed in his youth, describes living the high life with the band KISS (he was a creative engineer with the band) and living in near poverty in between tours. He marries, divorces, but stays on good terms with his ex-wife and children. His memoir shows how a strikingly creative and intelligent person can run afoul of a rigid school system, develop unique relationships despite social awkwardness, and eventually recognize and seek treatment to come to grips with his autism. Look me in the Eye is fascinating, and not only for the backstage tales of rock and roll special effects.

Unstrange Minds is a tougher read, but well worth the time. Part clinical explanation and part personal story, this book explains the skyrocketing numbers of autism diagnoses better than anyone else I’ve read.

Send in the Idiots, another memoir by an adult with high functioning autism, initially turned me off because of its title. I was glad I read it, though. As Kamran Nazeer sought out his former classmates and described their successes and failures, he also faced his own uniqueness. Some parts were hard to read not because of any weakness in the book, but because being mom to a teen with Asperger’s, the situations made me worry. The title doesn’t actually refer to the students by the term “idiot,” but quotes an echolalic phrase spoken by a classmate.

Each book is worth the time and effort. I bought all four over a span of several years because I wanted to take my time reading each one thoroughly without the constraints of library due dates. Owning books like this also allows me to go back and read portions at my leisure, rereading as needed.

Readers, I focused on autism. Can you recommend other books from the perspective of people with disabilities or people with disabled family members? Blindness, hearing impairment, otehrs…list them in the comments, please! I eagerly await your suggestions.

>A dear friend and fellow blogger is in crisis and needs assistance. You may know Margalit from MidCentury Modern Moms. She has twins the same age as my Amigo, both fascinating yet challenging children.

Her son is in the hospital, seriously ill. As she deals with this, she has other major financial crises that far exceed her savings.
Her car, left in Maine, is being declared abandoned unless she can raise the $1,000 to go get it.
The landlord has threatened to evict the family because of a broken window – a cost of $700 to repair, money they do not have.

Please consider donating to the family through Paypal using the button below or in the sidebar. Margalit is a proud and strong woman; she would not ask for help if she weren’t desperate. Small amounts add up; don’t hesitate to make a small donation.

Margalit has been very supportive for me during IEP conflicts and other issues. She is an intelligent and decent person; I’m offering help because I know her and trust her.

>Amigo is ready to have and use a cell phone. When La Petite and I got our first family plan, we had simple Panasonic phones with slightly raised buttons. Amigo learned to use mine, knowing which numbers in the phone book needed an up arrow and which needed down. Whenever we traveled, I put him in charge of answering and making calls while I drove.

Then phone technology got fancier, and the buttons became smoother, feeling like one with the phone. Cute, aren’t they? Not so much for Amigo, who is blind. He needs to be able to feel the buttons and find the right numbers to dial. He doesn’t need texting, games, or a camera in his phone. He would, however, enjoy a decent ring tone.

We looked into the Jitterbug. It has a nice handset, operator assistance, and other features that would be useful to him. No cool ring tones, though, a disadvantage for a teenager.

We took him to the AT&T store to check on adding him to our family plan. None of the phones were ideal, with an easy keypad for a tactile user. The clerks knew nothing about speech activation options, and they kept trying to point us toward phones with what they thought were “large” screens, even as we said, “He reads Braille. He can’t see this.”

This seemed to make our decision: the Jitterbug. Then we asked Amigo’s mobility teacher for his opinion, and things got much more complex. He sent us comments and suggestions from blind travelers. Consider the following:

• “Owasys 22C, a screenless phone with audible caller ID” (and more) which might work with our current provider
• A fairly ordinary Nokia with Mobile Speak screen reader from AT&T. Mobile Speak was $89 if ordered with the phone, a discount compared to buying the program on its own. The Nokia N75 is not difficult to use and it can be used with voice dial if you prefer.
• Another visually impaired traveler suggested that a standard cell phone “…can now be set up so that the person wanting to call can push one button and say for example “call Joe Grow” or Call “444-4444” and a digital voice will respond “Did you say Joe Grow” or “did you say 444-4444. When you answer yes, the digital voice responds “calling Joe Grow” or “calling 444-4444″ and the number is dialed. No need to voice train the thing at all.”

Now what? We’ve been sitting on this information since August, hoping something would jump out at us in suggesting “This! This is the phone for your blind teenager!” No such luck; we’re still dithering.

Ideas, people? Links for us? Amigo is very articulate, a good communicator. I know he’ll use the phone and use it well, and he won’t text while driving!