Just a few weeks old, Dasha the cat found herself in a family with an autistic child. The publication of Temple Grandin's book Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behaviour turned the household into a research laboratory, with the humans observing Dasha's behaviours and the cat experimenting with the 'human guinea pigs'. The feline perspective provides a new outlook on autism conditions, challenging long established stereotypes and analysing controversies in the field with an unbiased attitude and humour. The text is interspersed with Dasha's 'wisdoms', 'research notes' and definitions of concepts based on her own understanding, such as 'A pet shop is a place where humans come to be adopted by the animals who are brave enough to take a responsibility of looking after them.' Dasha's Journal provides research-based information in an amusing and accessible form and makes serious and complicated issues such as sensory perception, memory, communication, savant skills and challenging behaviours in autism easily understandable for the general reader.
1. My Story and the Four Reasons to Write This Book. 2. Disclaimer. 3. What Is Autism? That's the Question. 4. Animals and Humans, Cats and Dogs - What Are You Trying to Meow? 5. 'Senseless' and 'Senseful' Ways of Being. 6. Thinking About Thinking. 7. What is so Special About Special Abilities? 8. Language and Communication: Let's Talk About Talking. 9. Emotions: Love Me? Love Me Not? 10. Challenging Behaviours: Who Challenges Whom? Dasha's Glossary. Notes. References. Dasha's Library: Selected Bibliography
'Dasha is a brilliant feline! She is flat-out funny, wise beyond her cat years and a true champion of autistics everywhere! Read her journal and let her teach you about autism!'' - Liane Holliday Willey, EdD, author of Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger's Syndrome'A heartwarming book providing insights into how autistic persons perceive and interact with the world as only a cat can. As Dasha ''meows'' about her human members of the family we learn how autism is a different, rather than a disordered way of being. This book is a delightful and informative read.'- Stephen M. Shore, EdD, Executive Director of Autism Spectrum Disorder Consulting, Board of Directors for the Autism Society of America and the Asperger's Association of New England 'Dasha's Journal is a charming and original way of explaining the mystery that is autism. Dasha is a cat who lives in an ''autistic'' family. Her observations on the behaviour of both the autistic and neurotypical members of the family put the ''problems'' of autism into perspective; we are often told that autistic people are ''mindblind'', but, as Dasha shows, neurotypicals are just as blind to the ways of those who are ''differently abled'', whether autistics or cats! The Journal is quirky and amusing, but beneath the humour lies a serious and profound examination of autism and the misconceptions that surround it.'- Charlotte Moore, author of George and Sam: Autism in the Family
