Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do. Dr. Spock After the birth of our son, Mark, Gloria did not suddenly become a cold, rejecting “refrigerator mother.” I thought that there must be another cause for autism. Dr. Bernard Rimland In just the past few years the list of films and...

“The quest for understanding requires that we give up the search for certainty and go on a voyage of discovery.” – John Dunne Despite a few exceptions over the centuries, disability has found itself largely elided in the portrayal of the human condition. Works of literature (drama, poetry,...

Autism has introduced me to a life of pleasure, anger, spirituality and madness. But at the end of the day, Autism is all about beauty, grace and our children’s triumphs. My son’s differences have brought me great joy; his fortitude has touched my heart. I have watched helplessly as he struggled...

In this installment I want to introduce you to several individuals whose extraordinary talents and contributions have been found in the dimension of sound and especially music. I was first introduced to the concept of the savant when I happened upon a magazine article titled “Inside the Mind of the...

Entrainment is when one vibrating object is placed next to another vibrating object and they both move towards becoming the same vibration.  It is also known as phase-locking or a sympathetic response. As you can imagine, entrainment can have its benefits as well as some difficulties depending on what...

From an autistic teenager trying to solve a murder mystery to a teenager dealing with a younger sister with autism to four (now adults) former classmates of a school in 1982 for children with autism, this installment of WHAT’S OLD, WHAT’S NEW: BOOKS AND FILMS WORTH KNOWING looks closely at life within...

In my previous article I wrote about several old and new books.  This month I want to focus on several films that have redefined for our culture the nature of disability in general and autism in particular. I want to show how autism has affected the lives of every individual and family it has touched...

With the arrival of Rain Man in 1987 “autism” was thrust upon the public consciousness and even became a household word. Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise presented an emotionally moving picture for all the world to see of the extraordinary ability of some individuals who are caught up in the exploding...

The first two essays in this series presented a broad overview of many of the films produced over the past forty years that have portrayed the many facets of the human condition. In this essay I want to focus on several books that have brought about fundamental shifts in our understanding of autism,...