In a Different Key

Outline

In a Different Key (2016) tells the history of autism, from the first child to be formally diagnosed in the United States to the present day. John Donvan and Caren Zucker describe how understanding of autism changed over time, the doctors and researchers who shaped it, and the parents and advocates who fought for acceptance, education, and rights. The book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

• The book follows autism's history from the first child formally diagnosed in the United States to the present day.
• Public and medical understanding of autism changed a great deal over time rather than arriving all at once.
• Doctors and researchers played a major part in shaping how autism was understood and described.
• Parents and advocates fought for acceptance, education, and rights for autistic people.
• Telling the story through real people challenges old misconceptions and points toward dignity and greater understanding.

John Donvan and Caren Zucker are American journalists who have reported on autism for many years. Donvan is a longtime ABC News correspondent and host of a public debate series, and Zucker is a television producer and journalist whose own son is autistic.