Blazing My Trail: Living and Thriving with Autism [Paperback]

Rachel B. Cohen-Rottenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2011

Blazing My Trail is the sequel to The Uncharted Path: My Journey with Late-Diagnosed Autism, Ms. Cohen-Rottenberg's moving memoir about her childhood on the autism spectrum and her life after diagnosis as an adult. In this latest work, the author chronicles her process of creatively adapting to life with a disability, advocating for full inclusion, and reclaiming her independence, her power, and her engagement with the world.

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg received her bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of California at Berkeley. After many busy years as a technical writer and a homeschooling mother, she now lives a quiet life in rural Vermont, where she writes and publishes the blogs Journeys with Autism (journeyswithautism.com), Sojourning in the Visual World (sojournerartist.com), and Autism and Empathy (autismandempathy.com).

Product Details

• Paperback: 142 pages
• Publisher: Rachel B. Cohen-Rottenberg; 1ST edition (2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984138811
• ISBN-13: 978-0984138814
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,994,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Half Practical Advice, Half Engrossing Discussion - All Brilliance, September 29, 2011

By 

Gavin Bollard (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blazing My Trail: Living and Thriving with Autism (Paperback)

When we last left Rachel's story, she had fully accepted her place on the autism spectrum and was making plans to take control of parts of her life. The plans weren't big plans but every long journey begins with small steps.

At times, it feels like an entirely different person has written this book. This Rachel is capable, confident, assertive (without being nearly so argumentive) and full of promise.

Yes, it is a sequel and indeed in the first chapter or two, it feels like you need to have read the first book - but then it all changes and from then on, whenever it references past events, it provides a handy recap.

I feel that the titles of the books were very well chosen, with "The Uncharted Path" being about taking uncertain steps into unknown territory and Blazing My Trail being about running with full confidence along that path and leaving a trail for others to follow.

I get the feeling that Rachel's experience with medications had a lot to do with this positive turn of events and she spends a bit of time talking about their effect. Her medication experience is a good reminder that regardless of how many second opinions you get, not all drugs are suitable and all must be strictly monitored with specific measurable goals in place. Some types of drugs shouldn't be taken except in the most crucial of situations.

The book provides a lot of practical and ready-to-use advice and insight for adults on the spectrum (and parents of children on the spectrum). In particular, Rachel talks about ways to overcome the sound and spatial sensitivities which are obviously the issues which give her the most trouble. Rachel also covers everyday events such as standing up for your rights as an individual - something that many shy(?) aspies have a great deal of trouble with.

The second half of the book is more of a discussion of "bug bears". Rachel's feelings about the social constructs around the autism community and their perception by the wider community in general.

A lot has changed. The "old" Rachel would have written this aggressively like a lone revolutionary out on a crusade but this "new" Rachel is quietly persuasive, tolerant and altogether more worldly. She is not afraid to change her opinions or to challenge the deep seated beliefs of the wider autism community. The result is some pretty engrossing reading.

Rachel raises some absolutely brilliant concepts and covers various subjects including abelism. the puzzle piece metaphor, the theory of mind, the perception of "autism as a sickness" and label-grief.

This is a brilliant book by one of the most outspoken, insightful and individual writers in the autism community which will have you pondering the issues it raises long after you've put it down.

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Trail Blazer, November 5, 2011

By 

D. S. Walker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blazing My Trail: Living and Thriving with Autism (Paperback)

In Rachel's second book about living with autism, she shares more of her adventures in self-advocacy, talks about harmful medications, and shares some adaptations that have made her life happier. This alone would make this book worth reading. However, the part of the book I love the most is the way she works to deconstruct cultural attitudes about disability and offers suggestions to our society at large about needed changes. Chapter six addresses this in detail although Rachel intersperses it throughout the book.

I love Rachel's comment on page forty-eight, "I've come to understand that one of the primary reasons that disabled people are so ostracized and excluded in our society is that we remind everyone that life is a messy, fragile, difficult thing." She determines that in many ways she is fortunate to face difficulties now as she believes this is better than having lived a charmed life only to find yourself disabled due to aging. She talks about life's difficulties, but notes, "Difficulty is not the same as impossible!"

I found myself nodding my head in agreement many times as I read. Those of us who experience autism whether, as a parent or directly can tell you that naysayers are a part of life with autism. Another favorite comment is on page sixty, "There are people who will never understand that some things cannot be overcome by will power."

Chapter five beautifully addresses the issue of asking for and receiving needed accommodations and the painful realities of abuse that some with disabilities also face. She quotes someone she met over twenty years ago at a support group, "There is not such thing as better or worse when it comes to abuse. Once someone forces us to cross that line, we're all in this together." Amen!!! Thanks Rachel for sharing this along with the Judaism teachings that we are all born and die pure souls and that our essential nature is not changed by events in-between.

Rachel addresses another conflict within the autism community too as she asks the question, "Do we focus on making autistic people 'indistinguishable from peers,' or do we work to build a world in which all the people who fall outside the realm of 'normal' have equal access and equal rights?" She is not saying do not help autistic children to find ways to communicate more effectively and to navigate the world, but rather that our attitudes about normality need to change too.

The final chapter addresses Rachel's solitary path through life's journey in a peopled landscape where at times we find support that strengthens us.

Disclosure/Disclaimer: I reviewed this book from a PDF copy received from the author. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about the book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Living and Thriving with Autism, October 4, 2011

By 

Philip - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blazing My Trail: Living and Thriving with Autism (Paperback)

"Blazing my Trail: Living and Thriving with Autism" is an insightful, brilliantly written and provocative book. Rachel's first book describes in clear detail her arrival at her autism diagnosis at age 50. It allows for an understanding of that which is often not understandable about life in this world of people who are on the "spectrum". "Blazing my Trail" continues the journey which embraces personal power, clear identity and thriving in a world which little accepts deviations for a mythical norm.
The initial chapters describe concrete and useful techniques which allow Rachel to live productively in a world of sensory overload and over-stimulation. Rachel's personal experiences are crafted to allow for a life of full participation with others and their experiential fields. This compendium of pro-active techniques would serve as a model for many who live on the spectrum.
Benzo's a pharmaceutical favorite) for calming the system are debunked with knowledge, with research and with practical experience. Medications and the ills of their short half-lives in our bodies create a state of perpetual withdrawal...the cure becomes just another illness. Rachel clearly shares her experiences which give us all pause to reconsider these medications as mechanisms of adjustments to society's apparent expectations of emotion and behavior.
I was absolutely taken with Rachel's reclaiming of her identity without the dehumanizing connotations of various labels. She is astutely accurate as she urges a reconsideration of the "chasing of the cure" when dealing with autism and the need to embrace the life and to love it and others. Aptly well noted is the rejection of the emphasis on "needing to get well" and the need to be released from those onerous obligations often imposed from the outside world.
Much of the conversation of the book resonates far beyond the world of Asperger's and ASD. It is a plea and a rationale for safe places for people no matter what their life condition. I could not more highly recommend this book to both those within and outside of the autism community. It is brutally honest, filled with encouragement and life giving in its words. This is a must read!