From being a rare and obscure disorder when it was first identified autism has entered the nation’s consciousness through books, films and, last year, even a political insult. But beyond most people’s casual understanding of autism lies a range of conditions that make it difficult for people to interact with others and understand how the world works.

Why do so many of us find autism so fascinating? What is it like to have autism, or to have a child with autism? Is it better for people with autism to try and fit in with ‘neurotypicals’ or to maintain a separate identity? Can autism give us any insight into how we all understand the world – and can its causes tell us something about what it means to be human?

Kamran Nazeer, author of Send in the Idiots; Prof Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge; Marti Leimbach, author of Daniel Isn’t Talking; and GP Dr Michael Fitzpatrick will discuss these questions and more.

Prof Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge. He is the author of a number of books, including Mindblindness and The essential difference: men, women and the extreme male brain, and has also written for parents and teachers.

Dr Michael Fitzpatrick is a GP in Hackney, London. He regularly contributes to spiked, and writes for the Lancet and a variety of medical publications. He is also the author of MMR and autism, an explanation of why he believes the anti-MMR campaign is misguided, with the aim of both reassuring parents considering vaccination, and also relieving the continued anxieties of parents of autistic children.

Kamran Nazeer has been and will be again a civil servant in the service of the Crown. He writes regularly for Prospect magazine. He is currently researching a book about ghosts.

In association with the ICA