Customer Reviews

Somebody Somewhere

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Donna Williams book 'Somebody Somewhere' is one of those books that opens your mind - and makes you want to stand up and applaud human courage. My personal interests include psychology, child development, communication, extra sensory perception psychic ability, and Metaphysics. Donna Williams sharing of her 'world' inadvertently embraced all these subjects, and made me highly aware - not of 'differences' but of 'similarities'. Our human need to be understood, to be treated with dignity, and to be accepted in our individuality.

Donna Williams is truly an Expert on the world of Autism, way beyond the usual sets of clinical observations, and range of treatments designed to 'normalise'. We 'normals' do have to rethink the term 'dis-abled'!

Donna Williams was diagnosed with autism as an adult, after many misdiagnosises. In her past, she faced child abuse, homelessness and prostitution. Now, that she began to realize her problems had a definite basis, she began to do something about them. Although her behavior was considered "antisocial" and eccentric, her insight into the human condition is remarkable. She has worked as a teacher of special needs children, and received awards for her "do-goodness." In this book, she casts aside the "characters" and poses that have made up her world, and begins to relate to people as herself, not as how she imagined they would want her to. Eventually, she began to publish memoir, which was picked up and published internationally. Her triumphs both in the professional and personal spheres will have you cheering, as she fights to master autism. "I will not let it control me" she writes, and she hasn't.

There are many books written about autism. While we can learn from researchers and professionals, we gain a whole new perspective when we listen to someone who has autism describe what it's like. Donna Williams is a bright, articulate young woman who freely shares insight into what it's like to live in the world of autism.

I am teaching autistic children and Donna Williams has given me so much information and insite. My students are so much better because of her honisty. Thanks Ms. Williams. I understand you did an interview with Connie Chung on 20/20 in 1994. I can not find it and if there is anyway you can help me I would be very greatful. Thanks again. God bless you.

It's 1994 in a world where most people don't yet have email or internet and the undiagnosed adults on the Autistic Spectrum born in the 1960s and earlier still don't know each other exist, often believing they are the only one's like themselves in the entire world.

After a life of abuse, domestic prostitution, homelessness and poverty Donna Williams has wandered her way back to Australia and finally found the answer to 'what kind of mad am I'. The words of her childhood like deaf, psychotic, disturbed now get swept aside with a formal diagnosis as Autistic as she stumbles upon and enters into therapy with an eccentric an innovative psychologist, Theo Marek and they try to understand each other with astoundingly different language, concepts, realities and 'normality', viewing each other as one might an alien.

Having finally discovered the population she has been kept from all her life, Donna develops a small town dream and determines with her IQ of under 70 to become a teacher and change and advance the world of Developmental Disabilities and how those with them are treated in Special Education and beyond.

But the manuscript of her first book remains in a tea chest in England, a copy of it left with a stranger who unknown to her has forwarded it on. And soon a fax arrives through the post from a literary agent with a copy of that book in his hands. The book she wrote only for herself, filled with darkness and shame and surreal idiosyncracy of her previously undiagnosed Autistic world is set to become an international bestseller and propel the woman terrified of being 'known' out of the shadows and straight into the limelight as one of the most famous people ever diagnosed with Autism in the world.

An incredible, uplifting book.

Have you read her first book? You'll be happy to read this one too, and share her experience. Learn more about autism, conquering it, and dealing with it.

This book covers a period just prior to internet prevalence and the digitally connected world. This book is one that any adult on the autism/Asperger's (a/A) scale will readily identify with as it addresses issues people on the spectrum contended with prior to being able to find one another and understand living with "undefined differences."

Donna Williams' early life reads like a Dickensian classic. She survived poverty, prostitution, homelessness and the abuse that so often accompanies these societal obstacles in a person's life. She has traveled extensively from a geographical perspective as well as a diagnostic one. It was only when she had long reached adulthood that she was formerly diagnosed with autism.

Many people with autism born during the Baby Boom were misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and other unrelated conditions. Bad placements and inappropriate placements were very much the order of the day for many years. It is only in recent times, thanks to pioneer experts such as Donna Williams, Jerry Newman and Tony Attwood that these misperceptions about autism can hopefully be laid to rest.

Donna Williams, as with probably everybody on the a/A spectrum likens autism to sociology (learning about how humans behave and interact and what general expectations are) and feeling like an alien for not having this inborn, instictive and intuitive knowledge. People on the spectrum will certainly be able to identify with her experiences and how she describes them as well as her feelings regarding same. I like the way she describes her client-doctor relationship with her therapist, Dr. Marek. It sounded like a dance, of sorts where each was dancing timidly around the other, trying to figure out what step to take next.

Like the Bronte Sisters who created wonderfully creative, diversely populated fictional towns, Donna Williams sets out to create such an "Autistitopia" (Autistic Utopia).

Sheer luck and an unlikely friend come through like the Cavalry for her. Her first manuscript was left in England. A stranger found it and forwarded it to her. From there, an agent contacts her, expressing an avid interest in her work. That was the first quantum stride forward that transformed Donna Williams from a private citizen into a leading expert and scholar in matters relating to autism and treatments. This book is a shining beacon of hope and a ray of strong sunlight. WE NEED THIS BOOK!

This is an excellent book. I thought it was better than Nobody, Nowhere because it focuses on Donna's emergence from being in only her world and has specific examples of how she learned about the outside world. It gave me great insight into the a brilliant mind of a woman who just happens to have autism.

This book came in excellent shape and quickly. I heard a radio program years ago about this book and the other one Donna Williams wrote. It is worth reading.

I suppose the story mainly includes her drastic change by meeting a lot of people. I could notice that when I came across the interaction between Dr. Marek and Donna. I guess she could express herself not only orally but by a lot of letters to Dr. Marek. And one more thing that caught my eye was the Miller's family, who really were a lot nicer than Donna's family. At first, Donna seemed to feel distant from Mr. Miller when Mr. Miller tried "Give me five!". Maybe that meant Donna wasn't used to this sort of friendly approach because of her autistic traits. Nonetheless, she came to realize that not everybody was as evil as her mom and elder brother. I would say this implied the release from 'her world'. Besides, I guess she came to notice her autism objectively by meeting those who had the same problems as her.

And I was really impressed by the conclusion of the book which said," AUTISM IS NOT ME." and "I CAN FIGHT AUTISM...I WILL CONTROL IT...IT WILL NOT CONTROL ME." This may indicate she became more positive and realistic about her life.