John Elder Robison

John Elder Robison is the author of Look Me in the Eye, My Life with Asperger’s and Be Different - adventures of a free range Aspergian.  John’s books are sold in ten languages in over 65 countries.  

Robison is a member of the Scientific and Treatment Boards of Autism Speaks, the largest private source of autism research funding.  He has also served on review boards for the National Institutes of Mental Health and the Centers for Disease Control.  He is an active speaker and advocate for people on the autism spectrum. Robison teaches in the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He is also involved in TMS autism research at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Robison grew up in the 1960s before the Asperger diagnosis had come into common use, and before the breadth of the autism spectrum was fully understood. After dropping out of high school, he worked in the music business where he created sound effects and electronic devices, the best known of which were the signature guitars he built for KISS. Later Robison worked on some of the first video games and talking toys at Milton Bradley.  After a ten year career in electronics he founded Robison Service, a specialty automobile company in Springfield, Massachusetts. Robison is an avid hiker, a photographer, a music lover, and a world-class champion eater.