Savant syndrome is a phenomenon where someone demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one domain, such as art or mathematics, despite significant social or intellectual impairment.
Bruno Bettelheim was an Austrian-born psychologist, scholar, public intellectual and writer who spent most of his academic and clinical career in the United States. An early writer on autism, Bettelheim's work focused on the education of emotionally disturbed children, as well as Freudian psychology more generally. In the U.S., he later gained a position as professor at the University of Chicago and director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School for Disturbed Children, and after 1973 taught at Stanford University.
The refrigerator mother theory, also known as Bettelheim's theory of autism, is a largely abandoned psychological fringe theory that the cause of autism is a lack of parental, and in particular, maternal emotional warmth. Evidence against the refrigerator mother theory began in the late 1970s, with twin studies suggesting a genetic etiology, as well as various environmental factors. Modern research generally agrees that there is a largely epigenetic etiology of autism spectrum disorders.
Bruno Jean Marie Cremer was a French actor best known for portraying Jules Maigret on French television, from 1991 to 2005.
Douglas Kennedy is an American novelist. He is known for international bestsellers The Big Picture, The Pursuit of Happiness, Leaving the World and The Moment.
Édouard Molinaro was a French film director and screenwriter.
Alain Peyrefitte was a French scholar and politician. He was a confidant of Charles de Gaulle and had a long career in public service, serving as a diplomat in Germany and Poland. Peyrefitte is remembered for his support for partitioning Algeria amid the Algerian War.
Juliette Benzoni was a French author and international bestseller in several genres, including historical romance, historical fiction, mystery and screenwriting. In 1998, at the age of 78, she received the Chevalier de l'Ordre National from President Jacques Chirac.
Le Temps des cerises is a song written in France in 1866, with words by Jean-Baptiste Clément and music by Antoine Renard, extremely famous in French-speaking countries. The song was later strongly associated with the Paris Commune, during which verses were added to the song, thus becoming a revolutionary song. The "Time of Cherries" is a metaphor regarding what life will be like when a revolution will have changed social and economic conditions. It is believed to be dedicated by the writer to a nurse who fought in the semaine sanglante when French government troops overthrew the commune.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) or autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) describe a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders in the DSM-5, used by the American Psychiatric Association. As with many neurodivergent people and conditions, the popular image of autistic people and autism itself is often based on inaccurate media representations. Additionally, media about autism may promote pseudoscience such as vaccine denial or facilitated communication.
Laurent Mottron in France, is a psychiatrist, researcher, and a professor at Montreal University. He is a specialist in cognitive neuroscience research in autism at the University of Montreal.
The history of autism spans over a century; autism has been subject to varying treatments, being pathologized or being viewed as a beneficial part of human neurodiversity. The understanding of autism has been shaped by cultural, scientific, and societal factors, and its perception and treatment change over time as scientific understanding of autism develops.
David Christopher Miedzianik is an English autistic poet and writer. His writings portray the more difficult aspects of autism. Additionally, most of his poems focus on social difficulties that he experiences. He is unemployed, but writes about how he wants to work and find love. Miedzianik writes about specific examples pertaining to those desires. Miedzianik's works have been extensively analyzed by noted autism researchers, who describe his writing as thoughtful, sophisticated, and displaying an unusually strong awareness of his social difficulties.
Joseph Andras is a French writer who lives in Le Havre.
Olivia Cattan is a journalist and author. She is also a campaigner. Cattan is president of "SOS autisme France" and honorary president of the campaigning feminist organisation, "Paroles de femmes" which she established.
Nicole de Buron was a French writer.
Julie Dachez is a French social psychologist, lecturer and autism rights activist. She's the author of Invisible Differences and Dans ta bulle!. In 2016, she became the first openly autistic person to defend a thesis on the subject in France.
Virginie Grimaldi is a French novelist. She published her first novel Le premier jour du reste de ma vie in 2015 and followed this with Tu comprendras quand tu seras plus grande (2016), Le parfum du bonheur est plus fort sous la pluie (2017), Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles (2018), Quand nos souvenirs viendront danser (2019), Et que ne durent que les moments doux (2020). Her six novels all became bestsellers. Many of her works – notably the first ones – had been analysed by some media as being close to chick lit and "feel-good" literature. In 2020 she reached second place on the Le Figaro/GfK Top 10 of French novelists selling the most books in France.
Brigitte Smadja was a Tunisian-born French author.
