I've always thought of myself as a cattle-handling specialist, a college professor first; autism is secondary.

If I could snap my fingers and be nonautistic, I would not. Autism is part of what I am.

What would happen if the autism gene was eliminated from the gene pool?

You would have a bunch of people standing around in a cave, chatting and socializing and not getting anything done.

I believe there is a reason such as autism, severe manic-depression, and schizophrenia remain in our gene pool even though there is much suffering as a result.

Autism is an extremely variable disorder.

Autism is part of who I am.