Simon Baron-Cohen is Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge and professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry. His latest book, The Pattern Seekers: a new theory of human invention, celebrates human cognitive diversity and the role it has played in human creativity and invention. He will be speaking about it on 1-2pm 30th March.
What prompted the book?
I wanted to focus on the positive sides of autism, which has been largely neglected ever since autism was first described in 1944. Historically, research has focused on the disability in autistic people, which is important, but so are the strengths, in pattern recognition. And I wanted to explore the link between autistic people's strengths in pattern recognition and the uniquely human ability to invent generatively.
What has been the response to it?
Readers have commented on how it celebrates autistic people and their remarkable contributions to human progress, and how it serves as a call to action for us all to wake up to how autistic people have been excluded from society, particularly in education and employment, despite their contributions.
What did you find most compelling in the course of writing it?
The book describes some of our research, including the discovery that the genes for good pattern recognition (or "systemising") overlap with the genes for autism. And the book takes the reader back in evolutionary time to the origins of human invention, including the earliest musical instrument ever found, 40,000 years ago.
What are the implications for how we treat those on the autistic spectrum? What are the implications for education?
Many autistic adults have poor mental health, through inadequate support and inadequate safeguarding against bullying and other forms of exclusion, stigma and discrimination. It's time for society to make reasonable adjustments for this 2% minority, both in the classroom and in the workplace, so that they can enjoy feeling valued, respected and experience dignity. And it's time to acknowledge 'neurodiversity' in the classroom and at work, so that each person can play to their strengths and be appreciated for their contribution.
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