Most books on autism are written by practitioners, parents or people on the spectrum themselves.

Silberman, an American journalist, came to the subject from an unusual perspective. Silberman combines portraits of autistic individuals with a forensic exploration of the disorder’s history and also delineates the current political and cultural battles that divide professionals and parents, self-advocates and charities. First defined as a rare disorder of childhood in 1943, today autistic spectrum disorders are estimated to affect about one in 100 people of all ages in the UK (in the US, the figure is one in 68). It’s a gripping narrative written with journalistic verve. Neurotribes by Steve Silberman explores in fascinating, near-encyclopedic depth how autism has evolved. The fact that Gardner could have reached his 50s without a diagnosis doesn’t mean that autism didn’t affect his life, but it speaks volumes on how awareness of the autistic spectrum and its definition have changed over the last 50 years. There’s a clue in the dates when they were diagnosed – my brother in 1961, at the age of three, with what was then called “childhood psychosis”, and Alan Gardner only two years ago with Asperger syndrome. How can the same word describe both these men? While one is charmingly articulate, capable of negotiating with private clients and a production company to create both beautiful gardens and engaging television, the other requires considerable support and is minimally verbal. Star of Channel 4’s latest makeover show, The Autistic Gardener, Alan Gardner is just three years younger than my autistic older brother, but if you sat these two middle-aged men next to each other it would be very hard to see what they have in common. C urrently, the most high-profile person on the autistic spectrum in Britain is a garden designer with flamboyantly pink hair and muscly, tattooed arms.

Silberman neurotribes