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A Conversation About “The Pattern Seekers” by Simon Baron-Cohen

“There are so many basic human rights that autistic people are being denied just because society isn’t accommodating autistic people.” Read about this issue and more, such as why just because autistic people are good at “systematizing” doesn’t mean they are all destined to be engineers, and “how a different style of education is appropriate for a systemizing thinker.” Our editor Carol Greenburg and NeuroTribes author Steve Silberman join Simon Baron-Cohen for a Zoom discussion on Baron-Cohen’s new book on autism, The Pattern Seekers.  —- Katherine Hill: Hi everyone, I’m Katherine Hill for Basic Books, and I’m excited to welcome you to today’s conversation about Simon Baron-Cohen’s new book, The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention.  Joining us is Steve Silberman, author of the award-winning NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. Steve’s articles have appeared in Wired, New York Times, New Yorker, and many other…

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Losing Hard-Won Freedoms: The Pandemic’s Toll on People With I/DD

Photo: Cristian | Flickr / Creative Commons [image: Olive-skinned person with short dark hair, wearing swim briefs, sitting wide-legged on a dune and tossing sand with outstretched hands.] Ivanova Smith twitter.com/LauraLovesIan1 My passion for advocacy has always been about freedom! The idea that all people should get to be free to be in their community is my purpose. I am very passionate about freedom, because I know what it is like not to have it. I was institutionalized for the first five years of my life. We had no holidays, no birthdays, and no family. We were stuck inside the institution everyday. Everyday was the same. That is why these things are  important to me. When I became a disability civil rights activist, I met many leaders who I thought had my same values of freedom. Sadly now I see that is not the case. It is nine months into…