John Elder Robison, a world-recognized authority on life with autism, is a New York Times bestselling author of thoughtful and humorous books about his experiences living on the autism spectrum.
A photographer, educator, neurodiversity advocate, automobile aficionado, and designer of special effects guitars for the rock band KISS, Robison received his autism diagnosis at the age of 40 — when he was already the parent of a second grader with a similar diagnosis.
Prior to that, Robison had merely been pegged as a “social deviant,” because of his tendency to blurt non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes.
Robison is the neurodiversity scholar in residence at the College of William & Mary and he serves on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which produces the U.S. government’s strategic plan for autism spectrum disorder research.
Robison’s books include Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s (2007), a memoir about growing up with Asperger’s syndrome; Be Different (2011), Raising Cubby: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s (2013), and Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening (2016).
Major support and funding provided by New York State Industries for the Disabled, Inc. (NYSID) and KeyBank.
About Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Wakening
It has long been assumed that people living with autism are born with the diminished ability to read the emotions of others, even as they feel emotion deeply. But what if we’ve been wrong all this time? What if that “missing” emotional insight was there all along, locked away and inaccessible in the mind?
In 2007 John Elder Robison wrote the international bestseller Look Me in the Eye, a memoir about growing up with Asperger’s syndrome. Amid the blaze of publicity that followed, he received a unique invitation: Would John like to take part in a study led by one of the world’s foremost neuroscientists, who would use an experimental new brain therapy known as TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, in an effort to understand and then address the issues at the heart of autism? Switched On is the extraordinary story of what happened next.
