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Some Interesting Info on Autism Spectrum Disorder
> 5/2/2006 10:57:38 AM

There have been a couple of interesting items to float through cyberspace recently that relate to autism and autism spectrum disorder. On the heals of Autism Awareness Month, there has been some really great coverage of the disorder in many outlets.

Mind Hacks has a great round-up today of some of this coverage. ABC Radio National offered a discussion with researchers who are working on Autism Spectrum Disorder. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Medical Society has featured a short video on acclaimed artist Stephen Wiltshire, who has autism. Able to render intricate sketches with a casual assurance, Wiltshire was profiled on the BBC at the age of twelve. The viewer response was so strong that later that year, a book of his work was published. The video shows Wiltshire exercising his talents on a rendering of the city of Rome.

Also worthy of some attention is the recent release of a book by Kamran Nazeer. Entitled Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism, Nazeer's book is a series of portraits of grown-up Autism sufferers with whom he attended a private school program in NYC as a child. Reviewer Tasha Robinson had this to say in review from the AV Club:

Nazeer's portraits of his former classmates are touching and revelatory. One, a computer programmer, speaks through homemade puppets when he gets tongue-tied; another, a Democratic speechwriter (whose childhood obsessive-compulsive phrase-repetition gives Send In The Idiots its title) intricately orders and organizes words for other people, though he can't give speeches himself. A third committed suicide, and her parents stand in for her, discussing her life and its challenges. Still, while Nazeer investigates their setbacks and successes closely, he avoids sentiment or even overt sympathy; he clinically analyzes their actions, while documenting his own obsessive behaviors and communication difficulties just as thoroughly

Released just last month, Nazeer's work sounds like a wonderful exploration of a condition that is only marginally understood even by doctors. We can't wait to get our hands on a copy.