A Real Boy: How Autism Shattered Our Lives - And Made a Family from the Pieces

Description

David is eleven years old. He is happy, healthy and affectionate. He loves school, Disney songs and climbing trees. But he's also profoundly autistic. Unable to speak more than a few words. Barely capable of expressing his most basic needs. Oblivious to danger. Blind to other people's emotions. Deaf to their pleas. A Real Boy is David's story - the true story, told by his parents, of bringing up a child who will always be a little boy. Loving an autistic child is easy ...but living with one is harder than could ever be imagined. This extraordinarily moving account describes the heartbreak and the unexpected joy of autism - once a rare condition, but one that now affects one in a hundred British children. With raw and sometimes brutal honesty, Christopher and Nicola Stevens lay bare their experiences, which are by turns harrowing, funny and inspirational. As David's story unfolds, his parents reveal how the condition has bestowed on them an unbreakable bond. Caring for David is an all consuming experience ...and through it they have learned, above all, the meaning of unconditional love.

Christopher Stevens has been a sub-editor and reporter at the Observer for ten years and has ghostwritten several celebrity autobiographies. Nicola Stevens is a Connexions advisor. Together they have two sons.

"This wonderfully honest book tells us a great deal, not only about autism, but also about the extraordinary tolerance and unselfishness that is born out of unequivocal love. At the same time, it reveals some uncomfortable truths about the struggle it takes to access the rights of those with disabilities in our so-called civilized society." " "Jane Asher, president, National Autistic Society"