ABC news correspondent Jon Donvan and producer Caren Zucker culminate their decade plus of reporting on the topic with a cultural history of autism, In a Different Key. Their narrative is populated with the landmark Cases (Donald T) and renowned researchers (Kanner, Asperger), but also those of the condition’s “pre-history,” phrenologists, mentalists, institutional administrators. The authors’ scope spans the shifting landscape of its social politics, theoretical, diagnostic and management controversies, making a grounded case for neurodiversity-oriented reform.

Here are links to the authors’ various pieces on the project from around the net:

• Samuel Howe and Autism’s pre-diagnostic history, in The Smithsonian.
• The life of Donald Triplett, Case #1, and the politics of diagnosis, in The Atlantic.
• Excerpt from the book hosted on ABC (also focusing on Donald)