If you ever thought there were more things in the world that separated us than united us, then you need to pick up "Look Me In The Eye" by New York Times Bestselling author John Elder Robison.
The name may sound familiar. He is the brother of another NYT bestselling author Augusten Burroughs whose book "Running With Scissors" was made into a major motion picture.
While Burroughs' memoir focused on their family as a whole, Robison opened up the door to his personal struggles with Asperger's (a mind form of autism) and how it affected is growth from childhood to adulthood.
In the chapter "A Little Misfit," Robison eplains that, though his inability to comprehend the feelings of others or even how empathy was misunderstood, it was something that he was awareof.
"People with Asperger's or autism often lack the feelings of empathy that naturally guide most people in their interactions with others," he writes. "The worst of it was, my teachters and most other people saw my behavior as bad when I was actually trying to be kind. My good intentions made the reject...painful. I had overlooked one key thing: Successful conversations require a give and take between both people. Being Aspergian, I missed that. Totally."
Let's be honest for a moment: how many of us have had our feelings or reactions to situations misunderstood, no matter how hard we try to articulate them.
I know this happens to me more often than I would like, and it has nothing to do with anythingbut the differences in which we interact with one another.
The author realized that among those he feared would judge him the worse, he had common ground with them---thus providing an avenue for him to be himself without being judged.
"Look Me In The Eye" is not a story of dealing with autism. It is a manual for learning to accept yourself and hope others can do the same.Get more detail about Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's.
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