|
 Silberman's is the first work of popular science to win the
prestigious British award in its 17-year history and comes at a
time of growing public awareness of the neurodevelopmental
disorder that affects millions of people around the world, the
prize committee said in awarding the prize to Silberman.
"When I started writing about autism in 2001 I thought I was
going to be doing journalism about a very rare neurological
disorder," Silberman told Reuters at the awards ceremony in
London.
"I ended up writing about the long journey of a group of people
towards freedom and self-determination and that is in many ways
the great story of our time," Silberman, who noted that he is
gay and that his husband had supported him while he was writing
the book, said.
"I think autistic people are coming into their own and demanding
a place at the table when public policy is formulated that
affects their lives and affects the lives of their families and
I think that's the future," he added.
Silberman became interested in autism when he wrote a
ground-breaking article for Wired magazine in 2001 about the
seemingly high incidence of the condition among the children of
successful tech couples in Silicon Valley.
His book, the full title of which is "Neurotribes: The Legacy of
Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think
Differently", delves into the history of the diagnosis of autism
simultaneously by Hans Asperger in Nazi-controlled Vienna and in
the United States by Leo Kanner.
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Asperger saw that the condition was not unusual and was manifested
in a family of traits, including socially awkward behavior and
precocious abilities, while Kanner described it as an uncommon
condition that was triggered by cold behavior by a child's parents.
Silberman argues that Kanner's picture of autism stigmatized parents
and the children suffering from the condition, a situation that is
only now being rectified.
"We admired Silberman’s work because it is powered by a strongly
argued set of beliefs: That we should stop drawing sharp lines
between what we assume to be 'normal' and 'abnormal', and that we
should remember how much the differently wired human brain has, can
and will contribute to our world," historian and journalist Anne
Applebaum, chair of judges, said.
"He has injected a hopeful note into a conversation that's normally
dominated by despair."
The prize, which is open to books published in English by authors of
any nationality, carries a 20,000-pound ($30,900) cash award. Last
year's winner was English writer Helen Macdonald's "H is for Hawk",
about her decision to train a goshawk as a way of dealing with the
grief of losing her father.
(Reporting by Michael Roddy; Editing by Tom Brown)
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