House Rules

I have just started reading House Rules, which means I am currently reading about three books at the moment. The book really has given me a deeper insight to Autism. Before now, I regarded the syndrome as a mild mental disorder, which only effected the person who carried the syndrome in a social way, meaning they would have a harder time making friends, and carrying out normal conversations. Yet on the other hand, they would be extremely smart, and to me, this almost made Autism in my eyes not so serious of an issue. But reading House Rules has changed all that, the book is about an Autistic teenager, and his struggles he and his family have to deal with. I realized that Autism really has very few benefits, things that regular people take as granted, Autistic people have to deal with. Even such small things as the color orange, paper crumpling, or being touched, might cause Autistic people to go off on a tantrum. This obviously not only effects the person with the disorder, but their family which have to take care of him or her. Such tasks as even making friends and being accepted are close to impossible. Yet the book not only showed me the disheartening effects of Autism, it showed me life in Autistic peoples eyes, and the good they have. The story alters between the life of Jacob, his mother, and Theo his brother. The reader is able to see Jacob's life, and through this, it showed me that Jacob tries his best to stop himself from having tantrums, and explains in his own words how he can not make friends but would so dearly like to have one. Only a few chapters in to the book, my views of Autism have changed, and I have learned a lot about the disorder and the challenges Autistic people face. I look forward to continue to read this book, and analyze my thoughts and feelings about Jacob and the story.