The Dark End of the Spectrum

In June 2008 the radio program Ideas from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) aired a program titled “The Dark End of the Spectrum.”  The two part program is an investigation and synopsis of autism.  The original summary is below. Links to both parts are below the fold.

First seen as a medical oddity, autism has a fascinating and troubling story. Bernice Landry takes us from the heyday of psychoanalysis, to the blame-the-mother era, the rise of the activist parent, and the decoding of the dark secrets of our genes. For Rain Man it was numbers; for Darius McCollum, it was the New York City subway. Meet the man whose compulsion to steal trains had cost him years in jail long before he ever heard about autism.

Part 1

Part 2