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Autism is old and unruly. It’s been a part of us since we first left handprints on cave walls 40,000 years ago. AUTISM AND US covers a long-stretch view of its neurological history and how society has judged it.
With quotes from old medical records, folk-tale beliefs, and Victorian literature, the book conjures up the 19th century mix of ignorance, cruelty, fumbling knowledge, and surprising love that led to the first medical recognition of autism as a social disorder. From that medically significant recognition has grown our present day neurological and cognitive understanding.
Eustacia Cutler, autism expert and mother of Temple Grandin, delivers a colorful and reliable account of the pioneers it has taken for autism to gain understanding and acceptance in families, neighborhoods, schools and job markets.
Editorial Note: Eustacia Curler's research on autism and retardation created the script for two WGBH television documentaries: The Disquieted and The Innocents. Her book, A Thorn in My Pocket (2006), describes raising her autistic daughter, Temple Grandin, in the conservative world of the '50s when autistic children were routinely diagnosed as infant schizophrenics and banished to institutions.
Susan Bethany
Midwest
Book Review/September 2022
Chapter 2 The Nature of Autism
Chapter 3 The Nature of Our Response
Chapter 4 Man, The Dreamer
Chapter 5 The Bed of Hot Coals
Chapter 6 Autism in Victorian Literature
Chapter 7 Medical Progress Meets the Concert Stage Late 19th Century
Chapter 8 World War II
Chapter 9 Autism and the Minefield of Blame 1940-1950
Chapter 10 Honor and Shame in the 1960’s
Chapter 11 Anxiety and Change in the 1970’s
Chapter 12 The Asperger’s Story 1980’s – 1990’s
Chapter 13 The Mirror Neuron Story 1990’s – 2018
Chapter 14 Putting It All Together and Acting On It