Description: Written by an autistic therapist, this clear and urgent case for rethinking how we relate to one another upends popular notions of empathy and teaches us how we can all build deeper, more authentic connections
Brief description: Aimee Cliff is a writer and therapist based in London. She began her career as a music and culture journalist, working as associate editor of The FADERand editor of Dazed Digital. As a freelance writer, she has bylines in The Guardian, Pitchfork, The Independent, Vice, and more. She currently works for a disability charity
Review Quotes: Historically, autistic people have been demonized for differences in how we connect and understand emotions. It's taken as a given that 'empathy' is an intuitive, universal human quality, and those of us who lack an empathy instinct are seen as dangerous and unsympathetic. But in Empathy Takes Action, Aimee Cliff challenges us to question the 'universal' in human psychology and relationships, and uses careful argumentation and a close study of social dynamics to argue that what really matters is how we show up for each other.--Devon Price, PhD, author of Unmasking Autism