Autism in Adolescent Lit

I just finished reading Al Capone Does My Shirts on the plane this weekend. I enjoyed it, and took me just the plane-ride from Chicago to San Francisco. The basis of the story is that a 7th grade boy, his fifteen year old autistic sister, and both parents move out to the island of Alcatraz. The story occurs however before they know much about the developmental disorder of autism, and they aren’t able to diagnose her. I think that this author did a good job of portraying what happened to people who had mental disorders in the 40’s and 50’s. There were two parts that come into my particular mind, one being when they are at a relative’s house and an aunt suggests that they just put her into an asylum. The other part that I think of is when they start to test her at a hospital, shave her head, and start doing all kinds of tests on her. Back in the 50’s that is what they did with people who they felt they had some sort of mental incapability or sent them away to a place where the family didn’t have to deal with it.
This actually reminded me of another piece of literature that I read over Christmas break. It was Corner of the Universe by Ann. M. Martin. It is a story about a girl who’s uncle comes home from an institution because of the closing of the place. Both of these stories include a close relationship between the autistic person and the child that they are involved with. Even though the basis of the stories are completely separate, they still deal with autism before it is recognized as a what it is today
I am happy to see that stories of these different diseases are starting to pop up in literature that is geared towards middle school readers. It is just as important to have books on mental and developmental disorders since they are prevalent in todays society. Just from experience in my classroom, having a child with Downs-Syndrome and having a child with Autism, it is important for books like these to be readily available to students who are interested.