BOOK REVIEW: Twirling Naked in the Streets and No One Noticed: Growing Up With Undiagnosed Autism by Jeannie Davide-Rivera

5/5 Stars

Blurb: 

Jeannie grew up with autism, but no one around her knew it. Twirling Naked in the Streets will take you on a journey into the mind of a child on the autism spectrum; a child who grows into an adolescent, an adult, and becomes a wife, mother, student, and writer with autism. 

This is a gripping memoir of a quirky, weird, but gifted child who grows up never quite finding her niche. It took 38 years to discover that all the issues, problems, and weirdness she experienced were because she had Asperger's Syndrome (AS), a form of high-functioning autism.

Review: 

I read this book in a day and a half. I don't think I've ever read a book so quickly in my life! While I suppose it could be partly due to having a new Kindle, it is also definitely the book itself. 

I have worked with people with Autism in my professional life, and so I wasn't completely unaware of the classic symptoms and traits. However, to see these come to life from a perspective of somebody with Autism, it was insightful. 

Jeannie grew up not knowing about Autism. It was a time when it wasn't widely known or diagnosed and she was seen, even by her own parents, as naughty, or spoilt, or a 'princess'. They didn't understand her stimming behaviours, the need to smell her food before she ate it, or why she was so choosy about which materials her clothes were made out of. 

Even when she was an adult, Jeannie was misdiagnosed with depression and anxiety, even Bipolar, before they came to the conclusion that she in fact, has Asperger's Syndrome. She was failed by society and her parents as a child, and then failed by her doctors as an adult. 

I can't imagine how difficult life must have been for Jeannie not understanding her own behaviours and finding the world confusing with no answers. I teared up toward the end of the book when she finally got her diagnosis, because finally she had some answers. 

I loved this book, because it's one thing to know about Autism but it's another to see it from the eyes of an Autistic person. Insight is useful to us all.