Summary Of Being Seen By Anlor Davin

I had never heard of the author Anlor Davin until I came across her autobiography, Being Seen, when researching titles to read for this very assignment. At the time, I was unaware of how deeply the story of a stranger would transform how I viewed individuals with IDD. More than anything, I am thankful for this book for its relevance to my career and personal life, where I strive to better myself by being a stronger, more knowledgeable advocate for marginalized individuals in today’s society.
Before reading Being Seen by Anlor Davin, I had assumed that autism was a disorder that exclusively manifested itself intellectually rather than somatically. Almost everything that I had seen beforehand characterized autism through deficits in social

Born in a small tourist beach town in France, Davin was seldom exposed to other individuals that showed any symptom of an intellectual disability. Moreover, the mid 20th century was not yet completely accepting of individuals with disabilities, thus encouraging her to fake neurotypicality by repressing her symptoms. Davin showed exceptional talent through her ability to read and write from a young age, and while this was advantageous to her education, her teachers and parents saw this skill as invalidating any possibility of her having an intellectual disability. On top of this, her sharp motor abilities were reflected through her success in playing tennis, which only extended her parent’s dismissal of her condition. Ultimately, this dismissal led Davin to drift from her family through the years, so she left France behind for Chicago, where she married and gave birth to her only son, Matthieu. Her life was improving to the point where her symptoms fell by the wayside, up until she became overwhelmed by the overstimulating nature of the city. Unfortunately, the resurgence of her symptoms eventually strained her marriage to the point of divorce. At this point, her somatic symptoms and reactions became undeniably present, ranging from seizures and paralysis to blinding headaches from light and sound. This prompted her to move to a

Throughout the course of the novel, many of the hardships she faced—discovering that her late father was incarcerated for murder, attempting suicide, and being sexually assaulted while hospitalized—were largely unrelated to her having autism. Adding in the factor that she was confronting her symptoms as all of these traumatizing events were happening revealed how extensively Davin had to advocate for herself in times of adversity. Additionally, Davin challenged the stigma that individuals with IDD cannot be involved and responsible parents, as she was a single mother with an undiagnosed disability the whole time she was raising her son. Even though she was incredibly high-functioning in her interpersonal and intellectual skills, the biggest obstacle to her was the inevitable, uncontrollable nature of sensory stimuli. She garnered incredible amounts of respect from me when she, even at her worst, would risk the erratic lights and sounds of public transport when working to provide for her son. The severity of this seemingly casual situation came as the biggest surprise to me. Having never realized how debilitating the somatic effects of autism can be, I was prompted to realize how even the simplest of tasks became complicated and potentially dangerous. The intense bouts of headaches, dizziness, seizure, and blindness described by Davin could be caused by smelling exhaust from a car