## Highlights - It is that spirit that makes autistic people seem like they are either objects of pity or "inspirational figures" who don't let their condition "hold them back," when it is often the world and its unwillingness to adapt that is much more of an impediment to them. (Page 9) - In this same speech, Sinclair introduced a radical idea: “Autism is a way of being. It is not possible to separate the person from the autism,” they said. "When parents say, child did not have autism, what they're really saying is 'I wish the autistic child I have did I wish my exist. not More than a decade before the Combating Autism Act and George W. Bush's search for a cure, Sinclair pointed out the hurt caused by this thetoric. They said that when autistic people hear this, they hear that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces." Sinclair's words paved the way for shifting the onus of change away from autistic individuals and onto society as a whole. "Yes, there is tragedy that comes with autism: not because of what we are, but because of the things that happen to us," they said. "Be sad about that, if you want to be sad about something. Better than being sad about it, though, get mad about it and then do something about it. (Page 20) - What's even more disturbing than these treatments themselves is the logic at their core that it is better to gamble with children's health by giving them pseudoscientific treatments than to let them be autistic. (Page 116) - According to a 2019 report from the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, the federal government's advisory body on the condition, 75 percent of all research spending goes toward finding the root causes of autism and the best way to "treat" autistic people. The report also showed that the U.S. government spent only 6 percent of its budget on "research to improve services and supports for people with [autism spectrum disorder]." This contrast in spending reflects this country's backward values; rather than learning how to best assist autistic people as they navigate the world, researchers focus on mitigating symptoms and finding a cure