Well Known Autism Speakers?

Jenny McCarthy has been outspoken on the subject.

Temple Grandin

I second Temple Grandin, having heard her several times on NPR. Also, psychologist Oliver Sacks (of Awakenings fame) wrote very revealingly and affectingly on the subject in his book An Anthropologist on Mars. Temple Grandin was one of his featured subjects.

One of my sister’s little grandsons is mildly autistic; my sis and her daughter have done and are doing all the research that is possible.

They also vote for Temple Grandin; who is a very successful and well-educated autistic adult. Jenny McCarthy has a young autistic son.

hmm, the whole “autism is reversible” title of mcarthy’s site makes me uncomfortable, we don’t have a disease or something…

Temple Grandin is the name of the game in famous speakers with autism, there is also Kim Peek ( I believe son of the “rainman”) who is fantastic. A good organization to check out is Autism Speaks, a parent of a child with autism Scott Gentner, is the spokesperson for the bay area and a really great resource.

Temple Grandin is one of the very few would would speak F2F. There are many others who write but will not give F2F interviews or make appearances. I agree with @iwamoto in my skepticism of Jenny McCarthy. Autism is slightly treatable in its more highly functioning forms, such as AS in children and teens, but is definitely not curable or reversable. She is dealing in false hope. Anyone who claims to have had their autism “reversed” was probably misdiagnosed in the first place.

Autism is a condition related to the basic structure and “wiring” of the brain. Connections do not occur in the same way as with neurologically “normal’ people. To some extent we can learn how to simulate “normal’ behavior, such as faking eye contact, maintaining a “neutral” body posture and learning when to “shut up” about topics that are of no interest to others. Such things are learned by rote memorization and pattern recognition, but without understanding or any real degree of empathy. To many of us, the rest of humanity, at a face-to-face level at least, are merely obstacles to our privacy, comfort and material well-being. We must learn that “real” relationships are forever closed to us except under the rarest of circumstances.

These speakers/authors are on the ASD spectrum:

—Temple Grandin
—John Elder Robison
—David Finch

These phsychologists/speakers are authorities on ASD:

—Dr. Tony Attwood
—Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen