In Elijah’s Cup, Paradiz tells the powerful story of her family’s struggle with her son’s condition, one characterized by social awkwardness, literal-mindedness, and a fixation with particular subjects and interests.
Elijah’s Cup offers a refreshing take on autism from the perspective of civil rights, history, and the arts. From encounters with the founders of the first civil rights organizations for autistics, who guide Paradiz and her son toward a sense of community and self-respect, and with visual artists, who share with Elijah their special ability to “think in pictures,” Elijah reaches extraordinary heights in his sociability and emotional well-being.
In this utterly absorbing and inspiring narrative, Paradiz also reveals her own shadow syndrome, which afflicts many family members of autistics. She is a “cousin,” a genetic link to her son’s autism. Standing as she does on this cultural borderline, Paradiz is a sensitive translator between two worlds, revealing a groundbreaking insider’s view of the beauty of minds hidden in the shadows of autism.