Posted on 02/22/2008 10:44:32 AM PST by BGHater
Many leading figures in the fields of science, politics and the arts have achieved success because they had autism, a leading psychiatrist has claimed.
Michael Fitzgerald, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin, argued the characteristics linked to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) were the same as those associated with creative genius.
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Prof Fitzgerald cited Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, George Orwell, H G Wells and Ludwig Wittgenstein as examples of famous and brilliant individuals who showed signs of ASDs including Asperger syndrome.
Beethoven, Mozart, Hans Christian Andersen and Immanuel Kant have also received post mortem diagnoses of Asperger's.
Speaking at a Royal College of Psychiatrists' Academic Psychiatry conference in London, Prof Fitzgerald said argued the link between ASD's, creativity and genius were caused by common genetic causes.
"Psychiatric disorders can also have positive dimensions. I'm arguing the genes for autism/Asperger's, and creativity are essentially the same.
"We don't know which genes they are yet or how many there are, but we are talking about multiple genes of small effect. Every case is unique because people have varying numbers of the genes involved.
"These produce people who are highly focused, don't fit into the school system, and who often have poor social relationships and eye contact. They can be quite paranoid and oppositional, and usually highly moral and ethical.
"They can persist with a topic for 20-30 years without being distracted by what other people think. And they can produce in one lifetime the work of three or four other people."
Prof Fitzgerald said traits such as a need to be dominant and in control and autistic repetitiveness were critical to the success of politicians such as Charles de Gaulle, who famously said "I am France", US president Thomas Jefferson and Enoch Powell.
Another example he said was science fiction writer H G Wells, whom he described as socially insecure, controlling, lonely, cruel and emotionally immature.
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Prof Fitzgerald reached his conclusion after comparing the characteristics of around 1,600 people he has diagnosed with ASDs and the known biographical details of famous people.
He said Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein demonstrated how many with Asperger's traits could work for long periods on topics without taking note of others' views.
Isaac Newton, he said, was known to work non-stop for three days without recognising day or night, often forgetting to eat, and Einstein worked in a patent office because he was too disruptive to get a university job.
Prof Fitzgerald's book "Genius Genes: How Asperger Talents Changed the World" was published at the end of last year,
Estimates of the prevalence of ASDs in the general population vary widely from 60-120 cases per 10,000 people.
Amanda Batten, of the National Autistic Society said: "It is important to avoid stereotypes of people with autism as geniuses or otherwise, as everyone has individual character traits, strengths and needs.
"These might include attention to detail and the ability to pursue something for long periods of time, however apparent ability in some areas may lead people to underestimate the challenges individuals face in other parts of their lives."
Having seen Britney Spears quick slide down the pole I'm wondering if early expression of some types of autism lead invariably to bipolar disorder, or even schizophrenia.
No, but I could understand how that may work better. My little bit of time trying to write nested do loops in college classes made me wish that my brain worked a whole lot differently than it does.
I think this article makes a lot of interesting points and is probably on to something. Maybe brains that function differently than what's "normal" should not be medicated into oblivion.
I agree 100%. We can't all be round pegs, fitting nicely in society's round holes.
My own brother said I showed some signs growing up that might now be considered autistic. I’d come home from school when I was nine or ten and just lay on the sofa thinking up stories in my head for hours at a time. I didn’t write them down (except for a few); I just stared into space and lived them.
Thank goodness they didn’t drug kids back then. My careers in information science and my avocation of playwrighting are both going pretty well. I’m no genius, but I think some of my unusual (”autistic?”) tendencies as a child helped me with my creative outlets as an adult.
I don't think that accurately describes this lady. There's obviously something very unusually different about her.
This book by her is very interesting.
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Interesting book.
People wonder why I have never done drugs. I tell them I don’t need to do drugs, with my brain I can barely keep the wild horse under control as it is!
I guess I’m somewhat autistic according to this article, I have a number of those characteristics to varying degrees though they’ve diminished some with age.
The combination of high intelligence plus the ability to super-focus on a problem for extended periods of time plus the stubbornness to keep working on something in the face of disparagement = genius
it is an interesting book and interesting lady.
Retards with poopy pants bump!
What a disruption to something that was clean and not political you are a ...
Oh so now the stima of learning disabitiy seems ok now since it has some good company!
You point^
You are not so humble are you did you stop to think of parents on FR who had children that have Autism and you make retard jokes!
offend the “stupid”??
How much do you know about Asperger’s?
Look up “Brain Man” - that would be a good introduction.
Of course, Prof Fitzgerald could be WRONG!!... one or many levels.. He seems to have bitten off a big chunk of the UN provable..
Edison described it as "one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration". John Moses Browning called it "a drop of brains in a barrel of sweat".
No.
Why should I?
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