When it comes to disorders of the mind, our society has a
tendency to seek out the safety of clear-cut categories. We want
there to be a bright line separating normal from abnormal,
health from sickness. Alas, the human brain is a category
buster, an organ so complicated that it continues to surprise
and confound. Consider autism. In recent years, autism has
received an increasing amount of attention, largely because of a
dramatic increase in its incidence. According to a new report
from the Centers for Disease Control, about 1 in 88 children is
now diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorders, which include
"classic" autism as well as Asperger syndrome. These diagnoses
are often based on observed deficits in social interaction, such
as a lack of eye contact or verbal conversation. Temple Grandin,
a noted autistic doctor, describes the experience of spending
time with nonautistics as akin to being "an anthropologist on
Mars." Because of these obvious shortcomings—humans are supposed
to be social animals, after al