We are happy to tell everyone about a special resource we are creating at the Guelph Public Library. It is a collaboration between GSA's Bridges-Over-Barriers and Facilitation Wellington Dufferin. At the following link is a list of the first 60 books with a note of explanation about this project. Above all we hope that our community will come to understand and really support our people who live with ASC (Autism Spectrum Conditions) to be included and have real choices to sustain good lives.
http://www.ont-autism.uoguelph.ca/GSA-books-FWD-GPL-2017.pdf
http://www.ont-autism.uoguelph.ca/GSA-books-FWD-GPL-2017.pdf
Just skimming the titles will give you an idea of the breadth of ASC and the welcome increase in information.
Sensory issues have come into clearer focus, including in planning environments that help people to thrive. For GSA supporters and others interested in creating good homes, we recommend At home with autism : designing housing for the spectrum / Kim Steele, Sherry Ahrentzen / Kim Steele, Sherry Ahrentzen | Policy Press | 2016.
People with more complex needs at the severe end of the spectrum are not always discussed with similar respect, notably people who cannot use their voices and who are assumed to be cognitively as well as communicatively impaired.
While there is still a shortage of books about communication supports, the top Autism book of 2017 must be Naoki Higashida’s Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8, translated by David Mitchell. Friends of GSA and Bridges: If there’s only one book about Autism you can read this year, this should be it. Happy to report that GPL already has this book as well as Naoki’s earlier The Reason I Jump (2013).
This is one way we are honouring the memory of Mary Johnston, a great friend and encourager of GSA and Bridges-Over-Barriers for the past 20 years.
Andrew with Gerry & Elizabeth
Guelph Services for the Autistic: Bridges-Over-Barriers
