From the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Berkshire [MA] Eagle:

Clara Claiborne Park, a college English instructor who wrote deeply personal and poetic books about her quest to understand her daughter’s autism, has died at the age of 86. She was regarded as an international leader in advocating on behalf of people with disabilities and in changing the prevailing wisdom about autism.

Published in 1968, Park’s first book, “The Siege,” chronicled the life of her young daughter, Jessica Park. At the time, autism was barely understood and professionals defined it as a symptom of family pathology or a “refrigerator mother.” Park’s second book about her daughter, “Exiting Nirvana”  in 2001, documented Jessica’s progress.

Jessica Park is now 51 and has worked in the mailroom of Williams College in Williamstown, MA, for 30 years. She is an accomplished artist. Clara Park was a lecturer in English studies at Williams from 1975 to 1994.

From the New York Times account:

["The Siege"] was credited with assuaging the guilt that so many parents of autistic children had assumed, and came to be regarded as an important source of insight for psychiatrists, psychologists, educators and advocates.

“She was one of the first parents who had the courage to share their story at a time when autism was poorly understood,” Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, director of the Yale University Child Study Center, said of Mrs. Park. “Since she first published her book, wider recognition of autism and early diagnosis have led to new treatments and improved outcomes.”

Bridget A. Taylor, co-founder and director of the Alpine Learning Group in Paramus, N.J., a school for autistic children, agreed. “The book really set the stage for families to search for answers; to no longer accept ‘no’ from the establishment, to have higher expectations for their children,” she said. “In many ways it decreased the isolation that families felt, and for many young professionals in the field, the book was an invaluable reading assignment to learn what the experience is like.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 10:46 am and is filed under autism, books, NOT2BEMISSED, obits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.