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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In A Body of Evidence: Disbelief, Hidden Disability, and Systemic Harm, S. M. Korhonen opens a bookcase packed with twelve years of reports about her son and begins reconstructing the history obscured by professional conclusions. His hidden disability has been recorded as defiance since infancy, turning moments of panic into evidence against him. Each new school inherits that assumption, so behavioral plans end in physical holds that make his fear of adults more severe. An autism diagnosis gives the family part of an answer, but Korhonen still cannot explain why ordinary demands feel dangerous to him. After leaving her engineering career, she studies the accumulated records for the pattern everyone missed. Her findings lead to Pervasive Drive for Autonomy, an autistic profile that changes what the family asks of the people responsible for him.
S. M. Korhonen's A Body of Evidence is a really valuable guide, helped along by the fact that Korhonen also uses it as a memoir, giving us a first-hand look at what she has experienced so we have a chance at advocating for our own children. Korhonen is intelligent and witty, and some of what she includes is downright hilarious. Generic parenting advice has historically leaned into confiscating a toy whenever her toddler screams. Korhonen goes on to tell us of her son calmly handing her a car before screaming again. This kid, sharp as a whip, viewed the toy as payment. On the heartbreaking side, Korhonen dives into school reports documenting physical holds and identifying the adult demand that came before each incident. Each report begins with her son’s reaction and completely leaves the very thing that provoked his fear out of the official account. A Body of Evidence is the book I wish I'd had twenty years ago, but those responsible for supporting a child whose distress is frequently mistaken for defiance are lucky to have it now.
