Unmasking Autism is an interesting contemporary rethinking of neurodiversity and disability. Price is an professor of social psychology at Loyola in Chicago. He is himself trans and autistic. The basic thesis of this book is an extension of the social model of disability, in essence that the perceived severity of autism is based on how much annoyance it causes to caregivers, and the constant psychological effort required by autistic people to exist in allistic (non-autistic) spaces and pretend to be normal, is in fact what is disabling. The way to handle autism is not to crack down with behavioral therapy and internal discipline, but to admit to it, to accommodate stimulation and personal stamina, and find a better way to live.

Mental illnesses are socially and historically determined. My own PhD is on that subject, though with ADHD rather than autism. Unlike an organic or infectious disease, mental illnesses manifesto in changes in behavior and belief, meditated through the understanding of researchers. And autism has a particularly strange and ugly history, with key work by Hans Asperger, who was involved in a eugenic Nazi project to separate his beloved 'hyper-male' mathematical savants from the "feebleminded". Autism diagnosis have spiked in recent years, up to 1 in 44 children. White boys from middle class and above families are more likely to receive a diagnosis, but gender and racial diversity is increasing.

While we know that autism is linked in families, and has to have a neurological component, the specific mechanisms are still fairly opaque. Price suggests that beyond the "Rain Man" stereotypes of hyper-rational, unemotional, male nerds, autism is part of broad spectrum of emotional and sensory regulatory disorders which may manifest as ADHD, borderline personality disorder, and seems to have a link to being trans. It's weird and complex and beyond the reach of social psychology.

But what is within the reach is how we react to autism, a lot of which is a legacy of abuse. Autism Speaks and Applied Behavioral Analysis are methods for caretakers, which involve hammering an autistic person into a normalized box. The social environment of school punishes deviance from the norm, leading to self-censorship and masking. And finally, many workplaces are needlessly loud and chaotic. Very small and reasonable accommodations, in terms of accepting stimming behavior, encouraging exploration of niche obsessions, and allowing time and space to calm down and prevent meltdowns, can all let autistic people lead fulfilling lives.

Price is against high and low functioning as a categorizing, preferring to discuss support needs. And this book is great for people with minimal support needs. It has much less to help those with critical support needs, autistic people with profound communication impairments or sensitivity to sensations. Still, a fascinating and very readable piece of applied disabilities scholarship.