Tracing History and Politics of Autism

We worked with John Donvan and Caren Zucker years ago for a piece on autism and love. They came to follow one of the individuals we support at our National Institute for People with Disabilities of New Jersey. 
In their book published this month, In a Different Key: The Story Of Autism, journalists John Donvan and Caren Zucker delve into the history of the good and bad intentions, sometimes wrong-headed science, and shifting definitions that can cloud our understanding of what has come to be called the autism spectrum.

In their Tuesday conversation with NPR's Robert Siegel, host of All Things Considered, Donvan and Zucker tell of a particularly dark period in the 1940s when psychiatrists blamed autistic behavior on "refrigerator mothers" — emotionally distant women who, supposedly, didn't love their children enough. "This was a very, very poisonous idea," says Donvan. And it wasn't the last flawed notion about autism's roots.

Preview of MacNeil's Return to PBS and His Upcoming Autism Series

For the first time in more than 15 years, Robert MacNeil is returning to the program he co-founded, with a major series of reports on "Autism Today." The subject that drew him back is one that resonates deeply with his own family and many others. Robin's six-year-old grandson, Nick, has autism.
The six-part series, "Autism Today," will air on the PBS NewsHour beginning April 18. It's the most comprehensive look at the disorder and its impact that's aired on American television in at least five years. For more than a year, Robin has been researching and preparing these stories. He and his producer, Caren Zucker, have been criss-crossing the country producing the reports for the past five months.