Amy S.F. Lutz is a historian of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, vice president of the National Council on Severe Autism and the parent of a profoundly autistic son, Jonah, 24. She has written about profound autism for many platforms, including The Atlantic, Psychology Today, Spectrum and Slate. Her most recent book is “Chasing the Intact Mind: How the Severely Autistic and Intellectually Disabled Were Excluded From the Debates That Affect Them Most” (2023). She is also the author of “We Walk: Life With Severe Autism” (2020) and “Each Day I Like It Better: Autism, ECT, and the Treatment of Our Most Impaired Children” (2014). She lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband and whichever of her five children happen to be home at the time.
Amy S.F. Lutz
Writer
From this contributor
Building bridges: Collaboration across the autism community
An autistic person and the mother of an autistic child explore partnership in the autism community.
Building bridges: Collaboration across the autism community
Adults with disabilities deserve right to choose where to live
The idea that one residential model is appropriate for the entire spectrum of intellectual and developmental disability is patently absurd.
Adults with disabilities deserve right to choose where to live
Explore more from The Transmitter
The visual system’s lingering mystery: Connecting neural activity and perception
Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools. I asked 10 neuroscientists what experimental and conceptual methods they think we’re missing.
The visual system’s lingering mystery: Connecting neural activity and perception
Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools. I asked 10 neuroscientists what experimental and conceptual methods they think we’re missing.
New questions around motor neurons and plasticity
A researcher’s theory hangs muscle degeneration on a broken neural circuit.
New questions around motor neurons and plasticity
A researcher’s theory hangs muscle degeneration on a broken neural circuit.
Boosting SCN2A expression reduces seizures in mice
A modified form of CRISPR amps up expression of the gene—a strategy that could apply to other gene variations linked to autism.
Boosting SCN2A expression reduces seizures in mice
A modified form of CRISPR amps up expression of the gene—a strategy that could apply to other gene variations linked to autism.