In a Different Key: The Story of Autism

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism

An extraordinary narrative history of autism: the riveting story of parents fighting for their children â€™s civil rights; of doctors struggling to define autism; of ingenuity, self-advocacy, and profound social change

Nearly seventy-five years ago,Â Donald Triplett of Forest, Mississippi, became the firstÂ child diagnosedÂ withÂ autism. Beginning with his familyâ€™s odyssey, In a Different Key tells the extraordinary story of this often misunderstood condition, and of the civil rights battles waged by the families of those who have it. Unfolding over decades, it is a beautifully rendered history of ordinary people determined to secure a place in the world for those with autismâ€”by liberating children from dank institutions, campaigning for their right to go to school, challenging expert opinion on what it means to have autism, and persuading society to accept those who are different.Â

It is the story of women like Ruth Sullivan, who rebelled against a medical establishment that blamed cold and rejecting â€œrefrigerator mothersâ€ for causing autism; and of fathers who pushed scientists to dig harder for treatments. Many others played starring roles too: doctors like Leo Kanner, who pioneered our understanding of autism; lawyers like Tom Gilhool, who took the familiesâ€™ battle for education to the courtroom; scientists who sparred over how to treat autism; and those with autism, like Temple Grandin, Alex Plank, and Ari Neâ€™eman, who explained their inner worlds and championed the philosophy of neurodiversity.

This is also a story of fierce controversiesâ€”from the question of whether there is truly an autism â€œepidemic,â€ and whether vaccines played a part in it; to scandals involving â€œfacilitated communication,â€ one of many treatments that have proved to be blind alleys; to stark disagreements about whether scientists should pursue a cure for autism. There are dark turns too: we learn about experimenters feeding LSD to children with autism, or shocking them with electricity to change their behavior; and the authors reveal compelling evidence that Hans Asperger, discoverer of the syndrome named after him, participated in the Nazi program that consigned disabled children to death.

By turns intimate and panoramic,Â In a Different KeyÂ takes us on a journey from an era when families were shamed and children were condemned to institutions to one in which a cadre of people with autism push not simply for inclusion, but for a new understanding of autism: as difference rather than disability.

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Manufacturer Crown
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2016-01-19
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Crown
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2016-01-19
Format	Kindle eBook

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism

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