Genius & Autism hand in hand

It would seem someone has made the "dicovery" that those given the gift of genius are also afflicted with autism of various degrees. Now we all know that many autisic people do posses certain higher mental abilities, the most famous I giess is the ability to do complex maths quickly and accuractly without the aid of any machinery. But would nature really have such a "you can't have your cake AND eat it" attitude?
I see how in the cases mentioned, that there is eveidence for it, but the poeple in question are now dead so theres no real way to test it I guess.

news.bbc.co.uk...

I would have to agree with the connection between "autism and genius". I have met several autisic patients that were being treated my friend and it does seem that way.

One person in particular who stare at things that weren't there, kind-a-like how your dog or cat looks and follows things that weren't seen....Now I don't claim to have any special abilities...but I did see a odd light shaped thingy in the same spot that the autistic person was looking at....no one else including my friend and the nurse in the room, saw or noticed anything.

hmm well maybe its nature's way of sayng you can't have a gift without paying for it.

[Edited on 13-1-2004 by feygan]

What exactly is autism? My mother works with high school students with disabilities and some are metally challenged and labeled autistic, yet they seem to have their own strengths, one I remember knew practically everything about the space program and space history but could even answer a phone. I think that some "autistic" children are reared by the parents as inferiors when they got skills that are not realized and their full potential is missed because of their childhood. The movie "Rainman" makes me wonder if the dude had a different upbringing if he would be a "functional" genius.
It is not new news that some of the great and most intelligent minds may have been somewhat autistic or some other condition that enables to go new and different places with their mind. Calling someone autistic hurts because society associates autism with idiots and lower. Asperger is a start I guess as a way to label genius's while avoiding the negative image of autism.

yes it has been know for alongg time that autistic peole have great math and other ablitys but it seams that iether nature is balnecing it out or there could be away to get rid of the bad stuff


now, for me.. i have veryvery bad spelling and i have veryvery bad handrtiting and cant draw for SH*T!

but i have very good reading skills seams that the part of the brain that "spells, draws" for me is mixed up

I dont have the best hand and eye courtnation in video games but im good and im very good at moving

owell ill live

My cousin is autistic but he does not have any special mental abilties. His abiltiy is not of the mind but of the body.

When I was 11, and he was 7, another cousin of mine also 11 were lifting weights trying to improve our manhoods. We had 110 pounds on the dumb-bell and we were attempting to dead lift the weight. We were able to get the weight up to our knees and no more. My cousin and I were resting from our attempts to lift the weight when my autistic cousin came out of the house and walked over to the dumbbell picked it up with apparantly no effort and threw it several feet into the air.

My Autistic cousin had a sister who died when she was 13 and to this day he will carry on conversations with his deceased sister like she is standing right next to him.