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Summary
Summary
A remarkable, elegantly written portrait of four autistic men and women, and what their struggles and triumphs reveal about this baffling condition, and about us all.
In 1982, when he was four years old, Kamran Nazeer was enrolled in a small school in New York City alongside a dozen other children diagnosed with autism. Calling themselves the Idiots, these kids received care that was at the cutting edge of developmental psychology. Twenty-three years later, the school no longer exists.
Send in the Idiots is the always candid, often surprising, and ultimately moving investigation into what happened to those children. Now a policy adviser in England, Kamran decides to visit four of his old classmates to find out the kind of lives that they are living now, how much they've been able to overcome--and what remains missing. A speechwriter unable to make eye contact; a messenger who gets upset if anyone touches his bicycle; a depressive suicide victim; and a computer engineer who communicates difficult emotions through the use of hand puppets: these four classmates reveal an astonishing, thought-provoking spectrum of behavior.
Bringing to life the texture of autistic lives and the pressures and limitations that the condition presents, Kamran also relates the ways in which those can be eased over time, and with the right treatment. Using his own experiences to examine such topics as the difficulties of language, conversation as performance, and the politics of civility, Send in the Idiots is also a rare and provocative exploration of the way that people--all people--learn to think and feel. Written with unmatched insight and striking personal testimony, Kamran Nazeer's account is a stunning, invaluable, and utterly unique contribution to the literature of what makes us human.
Author Notes
Kamran Nazeer was born of itinerant Pakistani parents and has lived in New York, Jeddah, Islamabad, and Glasgow. He studied law but decided not to become a lawyer. By the time he completed his Ph.D. thesis, he had decided not to become an academic. On leaving Cambridge, he was recruited into Her Majesty's Service and works as a policy adviser in Whitehall. He has published work in U.K. newspapers and magazines.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Nazeer, a successful British government policy adviser, was diagnosed early on with autism; he now seeks out the fate of four autistic classmates at his former New York City school. He first encountered the "idiots" (as one of them called the group) more than 20 years ago, in an unnamed private school that has subsequently closed. In addition to interviewing the former pupils, all but one (who committed suicide) enjoying varying degrees of success in the greater world, Nazeer also visits the school's former director and special-needs teacher to learn how teaching autistic students has evolved. Considered a neurobiological disorder, autism largely confines a child to his or her own mental world. Andre, for example, living in Boston with his sister, became a competent computer researcher and manages to mediate the challenges of ordinary conversation through the use of a puppet. Randall, a courier in Chicago, demonstrates how early "parallel" play led to a satisfying love relationship (developing empathy is difficult for the autistic). Craig became an accomplished speechwriter until his awkward social skills derailed him, while Elizabeth immersed herself in playing the piano before withdrawing completely. Nazeer delicately interweaves his own story of being "cured" for an enlightening journey through the unreachable mind. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Guardian Review
At the age of four, Kamran Nazeer was enrolled in a small school in New York alongside other children diagnosed with autism. Today he works as a policy adviser in Whitehall. This is his first book and a class reunion of sorts, exploring the adult experience of four of his former classmates. Their lives are still a good deal marked by autism but (with one exception) they have also moved on in significant and often unexpected ways, holding down jobs and relationships. Their stories suggest autism is neither without hope nor the sign of a igeniusi mind, iglowing, remarkable and untouched by othersi. In fact, Nazeer suggests, autists may be very good at what they do, not because they are unfathomable autodidacts but because they have taken considerable trouble to learn from others. Resisting the notion that autism must be defended as a distinctive way of being (because it suggests that autistic people don't really get better), this affecting account of five very different lives insists it is not foolish or naive to think that autists can actually change, although ultimately the question of a icurei remains rather cloudy. Caption: article-rty.1 At the age of four, Kamran Nazeer was enrolled in a small school in New York alongside other children diagnosed with autism. Today he works as a policy adviser in Whitehall. This is his first book and a class reunion of sorts, exploring the adult experience of four of his former classmates. - Aimee Shalan.
