Living with Jonathan: Lessons in Love, Life and Autism

Synopsis: Sheila Barton's memoir of autism is inspiring. Finding herself, at thirty years old, with a son with autism and severe learning disabilities, she set about learning how to live a different kind of life and be a different kind of mother. This is the story, told with passion, intelligence and humour, of their journey from darkness into light. It is written out of anguish and anger, but also out of hope and love. The book tells the amazing story of their life together and how they dealt with diagnosis, birth, school, brothers and sisters, travel, therapies, obsessions, grief and sex. Sheila writes movingly of the heartbreak and the joy, the terror and the liberation. This is the story of the triumph of hope and love over pain and sadness, and it is a compelling manifesto for greater understanding of those who are born 'different'. Its ending is one of empowerment and joy.