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Mark Haddon on "disability"

Mark Haddon is the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He describes the young teenager Christopher, who is the book's central character, as "a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties". Others have interpreted this as meaning he may have Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. Mark says he is often asked to talk about autism, but declines because he does not know enough about the subject.

He does not like labels, and says he prefers to say the novel is about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. In this excerpt from the World Book Club programme, Mark tackles the subject again.

(Photo: Mark Haddon)
(Credit: Nicola Barranger)

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Duration:

3 minutes

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