In June 2001, I was interviewed by writer and author Lawrence Osborne for his book-in-progress about Asperger Syndrome. I heard nothing more about the project until July 2002, when permission was asked to reprint a couple of my poems in the book. Two months later, I was notified that the book had been printed, and was sent an advance copy.

Pages 166-175 describe Osborne's trip to Asheville, North Carolina (US) to interview my wife and me, and to hear me and a few autistic friends give a training presentation. I was first amused, then angered, and finally saddened by the number of factual errors, misquotes, and misattributions which appear in this section of the book. These seriously distort the accounts of autism provided by me and my friends. We were given no opportunity to review the manuscript for errors before the book was printed. I don't know why.

The most serious of these errors has me stating that my (late) father was an alcoholic. That is not true - the statement was made by another person regarding their own father. The book's publisher has an apology for that error on its web page.

I must therefore state that I disavow the accuracy or authenticity of any statement about me or quote attributed to me in Lawrence Osborne's book American Normal. That is not to say that every such statement or quote is incorrect, but so many things were gotten so wrong that I must make that disavowal. I regret having agreed to be interviewed for the book, and also regret that my autistic friends were treated as they were in it.

On pages 48-49 of the summer 2003 issue of The Oxford American, there is a sidebar piece titled, "Fit to Print?" Its subtitle is "Factchecking in commercial book publishing." From it, I gather that factual accuracy is considered the author's responsibility. Through the publisher, Osborne has made it clear that he does not wish to meet with me regarding this book. There things stand.

For another opinion on American Normal, its Amazon.com page contains a review from the prestigious Library Journal, which many libraries nationwide use for guidance about which books to consider adding to their collections and which ones to pass up.

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