Temple Grandin has contributed greatly to our understanding of autism by giving us a view from the inside out. Through her writings she has described autism as an alternative way of thinking and perceiving the world–thinking in pictures, as she calls it. Here are some key sites with writings by and about Temple Grandin.
My Mind is a Web Browser: How People with Autism Think
A fascinating window into the mind of a person with autism and why such persons respond the way they do.
Thinking in Pictures From the most important book by Temple Grandin, here is “Chapter 1: Autism and Visual Thought.”