Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism, by Ron Suskind, is a "my family's story with autism" type book. While there is a small mountain of these, this one is remarkable for the particular path the autistic person took. Most of these stories have been about "Aspergers" type autistics. That's me, and that's most of the people I know.
Owen Suskind, on the other hand, fell into the most dreaded variant of autism: regressive autism. That's the one where the child seems to develop normally until a certain point, and then loses developmental progress. They stop talking or lose tons of vocabulary, their motor skills deteriorate, they stop conveying emotion through body language... It's a parent's worst nightmare. Many of these children backslide all the way to being nonverbal, and that's exactly what happened with Owen.
Most of the stories of this type of autism offer hope in terms of alternative communication devices, finding new ways of listening and seeing from a very different perspective, and above all, an ongoing struggle to thrive in a world not made for humans so different from the norm. In some ways, this particular story is similar to those.
However, unlike most of those stories, and thanks to his parents' willingness to incorporate their child's special interest, a literal village's worth of people and support staff, and far more resources and privileges than most families with autistic people have access to... Owen was able to master words, learn to see things from others' perspectives, become independent, and even start dating. You are brought through the process of all of these developments.
It's a particularly engaging, well-written story, likely because the author's journalism experience is extensive. Suskind really brings you into the headspace of each family member, including Owen, as much as possible. You experience the struggle of the parents, the mixed feelings of Walt (Owen's brother), and grow to understand Owen just as his parents do, over time.
This is probably the best written "my family's experience with autism" account I've ever read, and I've read a hill of them at this point. When reading these accounts, you always have to keep in mind that the adage about meeting autistic people also applies to their families. Every family's story will be different. I just wish every family had the kind of resources and privileges the Suskinds had for this journey.
Read This Book If
You want to better understand how autism can affect a family (and have a guaranteed happy ending), or want an example of how to channel a special interest (in this case, Disney movies) into helping an autistic person engage with the real world. The Suskinds are a privileged family in a lot of ways, but their struggle is no less real or valuable for that fact. What they managed, together, shows what could be done for every autistic person, and the good that might result. (There is also a documentary, for people who prefer video to books)
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