Steve Silberman, gay science writer who helped humanize autism, dead at 66

Gay award-winning journalist and counter-cultural writer Steve Silberman, author of the influential 2015 book NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, has died at the age of 66. His cause of death has not yet been publicly revealed.

“It’s my very sad duty to inform you all that [Steve Silberman], my wonderful husband and best friend, passed away last night,” his husband Keith wrote in a BlueSky social media post on August 29. Keith asked Silberman’s friends and followers to “please take a moment to remember” the deceased author’s “kindness, humor, wisdom, and love.”

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He was a major benefactor to the Human Rights Campaign and advocated fiercely for gay equality.

Silberman was born on December 23, 1957, studied psychology and English literature, and moved to San Francisco, California in 1979 to live “a gay life without fear,” he said. He contributed to and grew from the city’s counter-cultural movement, spending his 20s working as a teaching assistant for gay beat poet Allen Ginsberg, becoming a devoted fan and historian of the psychedelic band The Grateful Dead, establishing a friendship and podcast co-hosting with legendary musician David Crosby, and helping as a “gay coach” to famed neurologist Oliver Sacks.

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During Silberman’s 20 years contributing and editing for the science and tech magazine Wired, he wrote a 2002 profile of Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife and Awakenings. Their conversation led to the two men becoming friends.

“I figured out in the course of writing the profile that he was a closeted gay man,” Silberman said of Sacks. “He was traumatized by a remark his mother had made when he came out to her: ‘You are an abomination, I wish you had never been born’ – and he hadn’t had a love affair in 30 years. So I became his gay coach, talking about his work and his feelings about being gay.”

Silberman married his husband, a high school science teacher, in 2003. On X (formerly Twitter), Silberman posted images of him and his husband smiling with visiting friends; old photos of Sacks, Ginsburg, and Crosby; posts detailing his own recent projects and collaborations; and also numerous humorous messages trolling various MAGA Republicans for their extreme anti-LGBTQ+ views.

We're those scary #LGBTQ+ people @GOP keeps telling you about, here to hijack the traditionally Christian holiday of St. Valentine's Day – formerly celebrated with self-flagellation and the Denunciation of the Poor – with our insidious gay-agenda message of love and compassion. pic.twitter.com/Npzxt6843F

— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) February 14, 2023

Steve Silberman’s December 2012 Wired article “The Geek Syndrome” helped raise widespread awareness about autism, its symptoms and its prevalence among children and adults.

Previous to his article, the most popular web articles about autism pondered the repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that vaccines cause autism, Silberman told PBS NewsHour in a 2016 interview. After the publication of his article, Silberman found himself swamped with emails from individuals struggling to find healthcare, workplaces, schools, and other support for their own autism or that of their kids.

He went on to write his groundbreaking 2015 book NeuroTribes, a history of the changing perceptions of autism over the past century. His history noted that the earliest researchers of autism were driven out of Germany by Nazis who also persecuted LGBTQ+ people, Jews, and clinicians researching transgender healthcare. His book also noted that many researchers consider autism to be far more widespread than realized, leading to an increase in diagnoses as more patients and doctors learn about its varied symptoms.

His book became a best-seller and was named one of the best books of 2015 by The New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian and other major publications. It is also credited with helping reduce misconceptions, shame, and stigma surrounding autistic people.

Silberman himself didn’t have autism; he even once described himself as “hyper neuro-typical.” Nevertheless, his contribution is especially important considering the increasing links between autism and the LGBTQ+ community.

“My very being [gay] was defined as a form of mental illness in the diagnostic manual of disorders until 1974,” Silberman told The Guardian. “I am not equating homosexuality and autism – autism is inherently disabling in ways that homosexuality is not – but I think that’s why I was sensitive to the feelings of a group of people who were systematically bullied, tortured and thrown into asylums.”

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