The publication of Steve Silberman’s Neurotribes will change how we understand autism

We ‘neurotypicals’ of the world too often expect those with autism to adapt to our often bizarre demands

In the UK, only 15% of adults with autism are in full-time employment (Getty)

If you know someone with autism, chances are you’ll recognise the truth of Stephen Shore’s comment, ‘If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.’

We are awash with stereotypes about autism – no eye contact, constant rocking, incapable of empathy, and so on – but the condition varies hugely from person to person. Most of us know this; but we forget it constantly. The only way to understand an individual with autism is to get to know that individual.

Along with the stereotypes, there is a lot of misinformation around autism. Fear, too. Combine that with a lack of funding for specialized educational programmes and social care, and it is little wonder that many people with autism find life tough. But perhaps the most obvious point of all, and the one most often overlooked, is that our society isn’t remotely set up to cater for people with autism. We, the ‘neurotypicals’ of the world, expect those with autism to play by our rules, adapt to our (often bizarre) demands. This seems illogical when we know how much variation there is in the way people’s brains are wired. In the age of neuroscience, the ‘one size fits all’ approach is starting to look a little outdated.

In the UK, only 15% of adults with autism are in full-time employment. This is not because the majority are unable or unwilling to work. It is because we have not yet learned to accommodate difference in the workplace, therefore depriving ourselves of the many and varied talents of people with autism.

This is not to minimise the impact autism can have on a person’s life, nor to gloss over the suffering that severe autism, in particular, can cause an individual and their family. Whilst many people with autism, as well as their families, embrace the celebration of autism as a ‘difference’ rather than a ‘disability’, some find this approach unhelpful; and when your child is in his teens but cannot talk, nor care for himself in the most basic of ways, it’s understandable that attempts to categorise his experiences simply as ‘different’ might set your teeth on edge. It’s crucial, once more, to bear in mind the width of the spectrum.

When it comes to our understanding of autism, the publication of Steve Silberman’s Neurotribes is looking like a game-changer. Already lauded on both sides of the Atlantic, the book was also last night awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. Its success is a triumph not just for popular science – Silberman’s book is intelligent, incisive and accessible, and is the first popular science book to win the Samuel Johnson Prize in its 17 year history – but also for autism awareness. Most fascinating of all are Silberman’s descriptions of the heroic efforts Dr Hans Asperger made to understand and assist the ‘little professors’ in his care against the chilling backdrop of Nazism and the rise of eugenics. Moving, too, is Silberman’s exploration of the concept of ‘neurodiversity’, the idea that variation in our brains is both natural and normal: certainly nothing to inspire fear, or panicked claims of an ‘autism epidemic’.

Silberman reminds us that it is not necessary to view people with autism as inherently damaged in some way. He, for one, is confident that we can build a better world for them – and for everyone else in the process.

Perhaps the first stage will be to widen our definition of what is ‘normal’.

Rebecca Wait is an author living in London. Her most recent novel is The Followers