Autism is old and unruly. It’s been a part of us since we first left handprints on cave walls 40,000 years ago. AUTISM AND US covers a long-stretch view of its neurological history and how society has judged it. With quotes from old medical records, folk-tale beliefs, and Victorian literature, the book conjures up the 19th century mix of ignorance, cruelty, fumbling knowledge, and surprising love that led to the first medical recognition of autism as a social disorder. From that medically significant recognition has grown our present day neurological and cognitive understanding.

Eustacia Cutler, autism expert and mother of Temple Grandin, delivers a colorful and reliable account of the pioneers it has taken for autism to gain understanding and acceptance in families, neighborhoods, schools and job markets.