Spotlight on NEUROTRIBES by Steve Silberman

When I saw that Net Galley was offering this book, I signed up for it right away.

Here’s the description from Net Galley:

Description

A groundbreaking book that upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently.

What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. WIRED reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.

Going back to the earliest days of autism research and chronicling the brave and lonely journey of autistic people and their families through the decades, Silberman provides long-sought solutions to the autism puzzle, while mapping out a path for our society toward a more humane world in which people with learning differences and those who love them have access to the resources they need to live happier, healthier, more secure, and more meaningful lives.

Along the way, he reveals the untold story of Hans Asperger, the father of Asperger’s syndrome, whose “little professors” were targeted by the darkest social-engineering experiment in human history; exposes the covert campaign by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner to suppress knowledge of the autism spectrum for fifty years; and casts light on the growing movement of “neurodiversity” activists seeking respect, support, technological innovation, accommodations in the workplace and in education, and the right to self-determination for those with cognitive differences.

**This was a very readable and highly interesting book, covering the “history” of autism and focusing on real life stories. The subtitle of this book is “The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity” – which is apt as it works to have reader see autism and and Asperger’s as a type of diversity as opposed to being disorders or disabilities. I heartily concur with this — I’ve often found myself saying “we’re all somewhere on a continuum” (and that was well before ‘being on the continuum’ was a “thing”, if you know what I mean). For those who aren’t familiar with the psychological/historical background of autism, it is very thorough and easy to read. This is the type of book that anyone from a lay person, to a parent/family member of an autistic individual, to a college student can read. I have to say, though, that if you are a psychologist or highly read in the field, you might not find anything new.

It’s also interesting to me that the latest manual for diagnosing (DSM-V) has removed the category of Asperger’s. It has combined several different “types” of autism under the umbrella term “ASD (autism spectrum disorder)”. You can read more about that here at http://www.dsm5.org

Highly recommended read for those who want to understand more about autism and its history.

Thank you, Net Galley, for my e-copy!