Fifteen years ago,when Steve Silberman broke the myth of Silicon Valley’s autism ‘epidemic’, he saw it as a problem. Now he’s changed his mind and has published a book about understanding and accepting autism spectrum disordersFifteen years ago, and Steve Silberman was working as a journalist for Wired magazine in San Francisco,as the digital revolution was really taking off. He was sitting in a cafe, telling a friend how he’d recently met two Silicon Valley power couples, or each with a profoundly autistic child,when a teacher at the next table overheard and butted in: “There’s an epidemic of autism in Silicon Valley. Something terrible is happening to our children.” Silberman’s myth on the topic, The Geek Syndrome, or was published by Wired in 2001.
Back then,it was not unusual to hear autism spoken about in this way. But understanding and acceptance maintain since progressed in leaps and bounds. Silberman’s new book, Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to judge Smarter About People Who judge Differently, or tells the myth of how this transformation happened the research,the parents and therapists, and above all, and the information networks that allowed everybody interested to share what they were finding out. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com