Story
These quotes are listed alphabetically by author and then date published. They are included here because, in my opinion, they can spark important reflection. Click on a quote image for further discussion.
Alex Gillespie Enrico Gnaulati Temple Grandin Stanley I. Greenspan Paul E. McGhee Barry M. Prizant
Stuart G. Shanker Steve Silberman
STEVE SILBERMAN
”Most researchers now believe that autism is not a single unified entity but a cluster of underlying conditions. These conditions produce a distinctive constellation of behavior and needs that manifests in different ways at various stages of an individual's development. Adequately addressing these needs requires a lifetime of suppoat from parents, educators, and the communiity, as Asperger predicted back in 1938. He was equally prescient in insisting that the traits of autism are "not at all rare.”
Silberman, Steve (2015) Neurotribes. Penguin Random House LLC: New York, New York. p. 469.
”A thorough review of history also vindicates Asperger's notion that autistic people have always been part of the human community, though they have often been relegated to the margins of society.”
Silberman, Steve (2015) Neurotribes. Penguin Random House LLC: New York, New York. p. 469.
”In recent years, researchers have determined that most cases of autism are not rooted in rare de novo mutations but in very old genes that are shared widely in the general population while being concentrated more in certain families than others.”
Silberman, Steve (2015) Neurotribes. Penguin Random House LLC: New York, New York. p. 470.
”Whatever autism is, it is not a unigue product of modern civilization. It is a strange gift from our deep past, passed down through millions of years of evolution.”
Silberman, Steve (2015) Neurotribes. Penguin Random House LLC: New York, New York. p. 470.
”Neurodiversity advocates propose that instead of viewing this gift as an error of nature--a puzzle to be solved and eliminated with techniques like prenatal testing and selective abortion--society should regard it as a valuable part of humanity's genetic legacy while ameliorating the aspects of autism that can be profoundly disabling without adequate forms of support.”
Silberman, Steve (2015) Neurotribes. Penguin Random House LLC: New York, New York. p. 470.
”By autistic standards, the "normal" brain is easily distractible, is obessively social, and suffers from a deficit of attention to detail and routine. Thus people on the spectrum experience the neurotypical world as relentlessly unpredictable and chaotic, perpetually turned up too loud, and full of people who have little respect for personal space.”
Silberman, Steve (2015) Neurotribes. Penguin Random House LLC: New York, New York. p. 471.
”The process of building a world suited to the needs and special abilities of all kinds of minds is just starting, but unlike long-range projects like teasing out the genetics and environmental factors that contribute to complex conditions like autism, the returns for autistic people and their families are practical and immediate.”
Silberman, Steve (2015) Neurotribes. Penguin Random House LLC: New York, New York. p. 474.
