In an interview on Autism and Asperger Syndrome

Could you give us a brief introduction to your work?

I’m the director of the Autism Research Centre. We look at people on the autistic spectrum who might have classic autism or Asperger syndrome, which is the so-called high-functioning subgroup, and we try to understand those people at multiple levels, from psychology – how their mind works – through to the neural level – how their brain works – right through to the biochemical and ultimately the genetic level. So it’s multidisciplinary. There are scientists working here with very varied backgrounds, working collaboratively.

Tell me something about the theory of mind, an area you have done a lot of research into.

This is now quite an old theory, about 25 years old. It’s the idea that people with autism might have a specific difficulty in imagining other people’s thoughts and feelings, putting themselves into another’s person’s shoes, or taking on another person’s perspective.

A lot of research at the psychological level points to that as a specific area of difficulty, either that people on the autistic spectrum are not developing that ability at the age that you’d expect it – by pre-school – or they are just not developing it at all, or they aren’t using the usual parts of the brain for this function. Whatever the particular manifestation of the problem, it has a big impact on their communication and their ability to socialise.

Your first choice, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a fictional first-hand account of autism.

The main character is a young boy with Asperger syndrome. He’s completely confused by the social interactions of people in his community and in his family, but he’s also very precocious in mathematics. The book describes, albeit fictionally, the disconnect between his understanding of systems – in this case mathematical, numerical systems – and his major difficulties in understanding people.

How accurate is the portrayal?

I think in fiction the writer has some licence to deviate from what is real – it’s a work of art, ultimately, for people’s interest and enjoyment, but I think that the character is very recognisable of many people with Asperger syndrome. I think the author has done a very good job.

There’s also an extra element in that this boy is a victim of domestic violence, and that’s certainly not typical of most children with Asperger syndrome, so if the reader is trying to figure out what’s causing what, it’s quite difficult to disentangle. Are his difficulties just the result of his autistic spectrum condition, or the result of early neglect and abuse?

It’s a book that I would recommend, because I think it has a very original style – it’s very engaging. The risk that this book carries is that people who read it might think that all children with Asperger syndrome have talents, which is not always the case – there’s a slight risk of misrepresentation. You could come away with the wrong conclusion.

In popular fiction, autistic characters are commonly portrayed as savants – someone who has an islet of expertise, despite developmental difficulties. But actually this is quite a rare condition, isn’t it?

Well, people are unsure what the actual proportion is. Savant syndrome certainly seems to be more common in the autistic spectrum than any other psychological or neurological group, so there’s definitely the link, but people argue about what the prevalence rate is among autism or Asperger syndrome, and it’s by no means universal.

In an interview on Books for the Reluctant 12-Year-Old Reader

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This crosses over into being an adult book as well, doesn’t it?

It does, and what’s really funny is that he wrote this spy series for eight- or nine-year-olds and then he suddenly comes out with this rather brilliant novel. It’s so wide open. Is it an adult book? Is it a kids’ book? So many people can read it and approach it.

My favourite story about it is that I went to a library at a very posh public school in Cambridge, and the librarian had a secret cupboard at the back of her library where she kept books that she only gave to her most trusted readers, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was in there. The governors of the school were such prudes, they wouldn’t let the kids read anything. I said to her: ‘What happens if they find out. Won’t you get the sack?’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘my husband’s quite well off and I retire in a couple of years anyway. I don’t care, they’re just a bunch of prudes.’ I expect she’s fully retired now, but that’s the kind of reaction that book inspires, I think.

I think it might be quite hard for an 11- or 12-year-old to read. Aren’t there pages of maths in it?

Well, h’m, I don’t remember that. But when you’re thinking about reluctant readers then, no, it’s not going to appeal to the same reluctant reader who’s going to pick up a CHERUB book or the Anthony McGowan or Acceleration. It’s a slightly higher-brow book, slightly different, but kids are different too. Maybe your son wouldn’t enjoy it now, but a slightly quirky 14-year-old girl would absolutely love it. I just think there’s not a prescription for a certain type of kid. 

In an interview on Empathy

Your final book is a novel that is also written from the perspective of someone with autism. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

This is a piece of fiction, unlike the other books, but it still links into the theme we have been talking about. The central character is a 12-year-old with Asperger syndrome, which is a form of autism. It may not be completely realistic but I think fiction can be allowed to exaggerate in a way that science can’t. It describes a child who is very gifted at mathematics, who is taking A-levels at 12 years old, yet he is completely perplexed by even ordinary human actions which are going on all around him. His excellent logic allows him to try to act as a detective in his community, and he tries to figure out how events came to happen. Again, it is looking at the world through someone else’s eyes and seeing how things that we take for granted – like being able to get on a bus or go on a London tube [train] – might be a terrifying experience for other people.

How do you think we in society can help ourselves and each other empathise more, and why do you think it is important?

Towards the end of my book I consider the potential implications in science from what I have learnt about empathy, to broaden it out towards what this means for society. I don’t want it to be preaching, but I do feel that empathy has been relatively neglected. We have talked a little bit about it already, in terms of how it can be brought into the classroom and pre-school. I think there are very few areas in society that wouldn’t benefit from a greater focus on empathy. We can do with more of it in our hospitals, our care homes, and probably even in our political system – being able to not just argue for our position and from our own perspective, but trying to set that aside to imagine what the other person is thinking, or why they are arguing from a different perspective.

In an interview on Science

The main character is a young boy with Asperger syndrome. He’s completely confused by the social interactions of people in his community and in his family, but he’s also very precocious in mathematics. The book describes, albeit fictionally, the disconnect between his understanding of systems – in this case mathematical, numerical systems – and his major difficulties in understanding people.

How accurate is the portrayal?

I think in fiction the writer has some licence to deviate from what is real. It’s a work of art ultimately, for people’s interest and enjoyment, but the character is very recognisable of many people with Asperger syndrome. I think the author has done a very good job. There’s also an extra element in that this boy is a victim of domestic violence, and that’s certainly not typical of most children with Asperger syndrome, so if the reader is trying to figure out what’s causing what, it’s quite difficult to disentangle. Are his difficulties just the result of his autistic spectrum condition, or the result of early neglect and abuse?

It’s a book that I would recommend, because I think it has a very original style – it’s very engaging. The risk that this book carries is that people who read it might think that all children with Asperger syndrome have talents, which is not always the case. There’s a slight risk of misrepresentation – you could come away with the wrong conclusion.

In popular fiction, autistic characters are commonly portrayed as savants – with an islet of expertise, despite developmental difficulties. But actually this is quite a rare condition, isn’t it?

Well, people are unsure what the actual proportion is. Savant syndrome certainly seems to be more common in the autistic spectrum than any other psychological or neurological group, so there’s definitely the link, but people argue about what the prevalence rate is among autism or Asperger syndrome, and it’s by no means universal.