Paradiz, Valerie 1963-

PERSONAL: Born 1963, in CO; children: Elijah Wapner. Education: City University of New York, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Home and office— Woodstock, NY. Office— The Asperger Institute, P.O. Box 55, Woodstock, NY 12498. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER: Educator, author, and activist. Instructor in German and writing at Bard College, Brooklyn College, and State University of New York, New Paltz. School for Autistic Strength, Purpose, and Independence in Education (ASPIE), founder and director; speaker on autism and Asperger syndrome; Global Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership, member of board of directors.

WRITINGS

Teenage Refugees from Haiti Speak Out, Rosen Publishing Group (New York, NY), 1995.

Elijah’s Cup: A Family’s Journey into the Community and Culture of High-Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, Free Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales, Basic Books (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Many believe that the stories known as the Grimms’ fairy tales are based on peasant fables collected by two German brothers: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Educator and writer Valerie Paradiz casts aside this long-held theory with her book Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales. In Clever Maids, Paradiz contends that the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm were actually gathered from educated female friends of the German-born brothers. As Paradiz theorizes, Wilhelm Grimm’s wife, Dorchen Wild, was the actual creator of the familiar story “Rumplestiltskin,” and family friends the Hassenflug twins were the originators of “Puss in Boots” and “Little Red Riding Hood.” In her assessment of Clever Maids, Nancy R. Ives wrote in Library Journal that Paradiz’s work “will appeal to readers of women’s history and literature and to anyone interested in the Grimm tales.”

In addition to her expertise in German literature, Paradiz is also an authority on Asperger syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. As the cofounder and director of education at New York’s Open Center for Autism, she works with young adults dealing with their autism by providing educational and leisure programs. Paradiz’s knowledge of autism was acquired through her personal experiences as a mother of a high-functioning autistic son, and she chronicles these experiences in Elijah’s Cup: A Family’s Journey into the Community and Culture of High-Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. Discussing what it means to be a parent to a high-functioning autistic child, Paradiz also includes current medical findings with regard to the disorder. Kathryn Atwood, in a review for BookPleasures.com, noted that Elijah’s Cup“is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the fascinating world of high-functioning autism.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, February 1, 2005, Nancy R. Ives, review of Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales, p. 80.

ONLINE

Autism Society of America Web site, http://asa.confex.com/ (January 4, 2007).

BookPleasures.com, http://www.bookpleasures.com/ (January 4, 2007), Kathryn Atwood, review of Elijah’s Cup: A Family’s Journey into the Community and Culture of High-Functioning Autism.

Omega Institute Web site, http://www.eomega.org/ (January 4, 2007), “Valerie Paradiz.”

Open Center for Autism Web site, http://www.aspieschool.org/ (January 4, 2007).

Valerie Paradiz Home Page, http://www.valerieparadiz.com (January 4, 2007).