How Autism is Changing the World for Everybody

"..., autistic people are changing the nature of our society as well — in many ways, for the better."

"To better understand how it is that autism has come to impact so significantly on mainstream culture, we spoke to two experts on the matter, Steve Silberman and Andrea Kuszewski.  Silberman is a longtime contributing editor at Wired and is currently at work on his upcoming book, Neurotribes: Thinking Smarter About People Who Think Differently. And Kuszewski is a consultant and behavioral therapist for children who are on the autism spectrum, and an expert in finding alternative learning strategies for gifted kids. We also talked to other people whose lives have been touched by autism."

"According to Gawker's Ryan Tate, notable entrepreneurs on the spectrum include Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Craigslist's Craig Newmark, and Bittorrent's Bram Cohen. And as Tate points out, autistic characteristics such as obsessiveness, impaired social interaction, and clumsiness can be beneficial in the tech sector. It's quite possible that these "impairments" are likely behind their success."

"A force for diversity
Modern culture is clearly being defined and influenced by our willingness to celebrate and learn from those who think and act differently — a clear sign that tolerance, accommodation, and understanding benefits all of us.
But not only that, the rise of autistic culture shows how important it is to have alternative psychological modalities as a part of the cultural fabric."



How Autism is Changing the World for Everybody

"Life on the Autism Spectrum can be ENJOYable."