How much experience does Mark Haddon have with the autism spectrum?

Question

While *The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time* is not supposed to be about autism, Asperger's or the autism spectrum, it does feature it prominently in that Christopher, the main character, is on the spectrum.However, it wasn't clear to me how much Mark Haddon knew about this topic. Did he have any personal experiences with autism that led to him writing TCIOTDITNT? If not, how much research did he do on the topic?

Answer 1

This is one of my favorite books, and there's a lot on the Internet about Mark Haddon. The gist is that he has worked with people who have autism but is not an expert. Google it. Read several articles, and formulate your own opinion in your own words.