Aspergers and Genius

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http://ezinearticles.com/?Aspergers-and-Genius-Share-Same-Characteristics&id=1020152

A famous psychiatric, Michael Fitzgerald from Trinity College, Dublin has claimed that many geniuses in the fields of science, politics and the arts have achieved success because they had Asperger's syndrome(AS), a mild form of Autism.

Michael Fitzgerald said that lots of geniuses showed autistic traits, such as Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, George Orwell and H G Wells. According to the diagnosis after death, these people had Asperger's syndrome: Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus, Andersen Hans Christian and Kant Immanuel.

At a meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Academic Psychiatry, Fitzgerald argued that the gene linked to Asperger's syndrome were the same as those associated with creativity and genius. "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."

"Asperger's sufferers can be so successful mainly because they are more focused and persistent, they do not get distracted and they are not interested in outside society." he added.

Michael Fitzgerald compared the charateristics of 1600 autism patients to some geniuses and found they have many traits in common. His book "Genius Genes: How Asperger Talents Changed the World" was pubilshed at the end of last year.

But there are also different opinions. Amanda Batten, of the national autistic society, said it is important to avoid stereotypes of people with autism as geniuses. Anyway, it is estimated that for every 10,000 people, there are 60 to 120 people with autism, and the percentage of genius is definitly less than that.

 

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But there are also different opinions. Amanda Batten, of the national autistic society, said it is important to avoid stereotypes of people with autism as geniuses.

I totally agree with this. The last thing anyone needs is someone stereotyping Aspies as geniuses. Because then those of us (like myself) who are not are going to start feeling doubly excluded. :shiftyninja:

The positive side of this is that most of us are probably capable of a lot more than we realize. We all have talents and if we focus on them and make use of them we can likely achieve a lot more than we realize.

 

[Quasar]

Yeah, I agree with you there. I'm certainly not a genius- even though I excel in certain areas- nor am I particularly creative. I do agree with you though that we all have areas we do well in. In addition with our ability to hyper focus on what we like, can lead to great things, particularly if our interests there happen to cross with a career opportunity.

 

[Emor]

Arggggh... this is just glorifying crap.
It's damaging to do research like this, talk to my ex, he was so delusional about his intelligence it was pathetic. He wasn't even going to go to college because he figured he'd be rich like all the other famous aspies(and still does)...
Seriously people, acquired situational narcism EPIDEMIC.
Sorry but it just pisses me off. Research like this shouldn't even be allowed. It just makes us feel like some elite superior race which is total crap.
I just love how most of us will end up on benefits, while comparing ourselves to people like Mozart and Einstein.
I have serious problems with people who makes asperger's look like it's a good thing. A lot of us can't leave the house without feeling like we're going to have a panic attack.
EMZ.

 

[Sipe]

This is interesting. I have been thinking a little bit like this for some time and now there has been made a research of this. I agree that Aspergers can become "geniuses" because they think in a way which "normal" people can`t. And if they find their "thing". But yes, Aspergers should not be stereotyped. We are individuals after all so not all of us are interested in science, arts and so on. Some of us might not even want to become famous or genius everyone admires. This kinda confirms my theory that "Asperger Syndrome is not a disease but an ability you should take advantage of".

But because many great thinkers and scientists had (or at least is believed that they had) Aspergers, that theory of Fitzgerald is not impossible. I once got an idea that maybe we Aspergers are next step in evolution. Our numbers is increasing pretty fast here in Western countries. I`m not saying that this is a fact and I don`t even believe in this myself but that`s one possible theory as well.

But I don`t like that phrase "Asperger's sufferers" because that gives an idea that we a suffering from a disease like cancer or something.

 

[Sipe]

1: I think we should research things like this. I just don`t see any good reason to stop it. And even if we were "elite superior race" would it really be a bad thing?

2: So, are you saying people should say that Aspergers is a bad thing? And yes, there are people like that but I believe it`s because they don`t know how to take advantage of Aspergers. And there can be hundreds of different reasons why they are like that; they could have had a sad and terrible childhood, the person is being bullied, he does`t have friends and so on. So, the Aspergers itself is not ALWAYS the main cause. Many other things affects ones life as well.

 

[Emor]

The personality of someone with Asperger's just isn't favourable in general. That's why we get bullied. I know that seems a very blunt statement but I can't be arsed explaining for hours on end why.
There's like literally 2-3 people with AS who I prefer over NT friends.
Just watch this video I made please:

It pisses me off immensely when someone says AS is a good thing. I could launch into a massive rant but I won't. I did it on WP a while ago(ask Monkey) with all my reasoning justified.

 

[Sipe]

I agree. If this site turns into like that you described I would get out of here with you. Because then people here would be like Nazis were in Germany during World War II.

 

[Emor]

Aspie supremacists wrecked my life for a good year and messed up my entire social circle, hate them.

 

[Calvert]

Don't worry Emor and Sipe, myself and SB won't let that happen. If you do see it starting then let one of us know. I most certainly don't want Aspergic turning into an Elitist place.

@ Emor Great video. I remember watching it, you make a good point.

@ OP I also think it's important that we don't stereotype people on the spectrum with geniuses as already said. The first thing I thought when I read the name was "not him again". Says it all really.   

 

[Emor]

Meh this is just the first thread on it.
I've seen little hints of it around the forum but have resisted the urge to launch into a giant rant about it.
EMZ.

 

[142857]

I'm dead against the "Aspie Supremacist" line of thinking as well.

So far this site has been mostly about support. I hope that it stays that way. I'd be more than happy for the mods to close down any threads that get into NT bashing or Aspie superiority. I posted the link and the article, but if you note I made the first post on the thread and it was against this line of thinking.

People with AS need support and understanding, not an inflated opinion of themselves and inflated expectations driven by this kind of dodgy "research".

But... drawing the line on whether someone just has a positive attitude towards AS (like Sipe), which is a healthy thing to an extent, and where that becomes "Aspie supremacism", is not always going to be easy.

 

[henrypatterson]

But define "genius": is it the ability to entertain, or understand. To juggle (whatever, words or melody or maths); or to 'juggle inside' the questions... that force us to pick up balls and actually juggle? Some geniuses have had family, friends; but historically most have been/felt very isolated from others. Aspergic? But the real question is: genius, what is it good for?

 

[Krazie243]

This reminds of something: I remember doing a survey for Psych 100 in first year university. It tried to pair up the shape of instruments with gender. And while the results were fairly ironic, I honestly don't believe that women aim towards 'phallic' shaped instruments more than men... Smaller instruments typically make higher notes. That was a more fair comparison...

Onto the topic at hand: Perhaps this study is making the same blatant mistake. Why are they looking for a genius gene? I doubt one exists. AS people have a tendency to withdraw into their own private worlds and refuse social interaction. This condition can very easily create an environment condusive to higher focus on very specific development in a particular task or topic. So I think that as an accidental feature of our lack of social interest we find ourselves doing more useful things than the normal person who just goes out and parties and talks about the same dang things everyone else talks about for hours on end.

We Aspies aren't geniuses, we just waste less time with the useless social boredom and spend more time on things that matter to us. That's my honest opinion =)

 

[OmegaGreen17]

Aspie Supremacy, thats a kind of new one on me, as a saying.

I agree that, you can't let it all go out of hand with the research and all, you don't want to get into the whole "I'm better than you" scenario.

But, at the same time, coming from a guy who gets laughed at and was, at one time, bullied in high school, mostly because I didn't act conventionally (perhaps); sometimes, one of the very ways you're even able to walk back into the school is to think "im better than these people"....not a great thing to say, but thats me being honest...you can't always beat yourself up about everything, like I do everyday.

What Emor says is truth, I do see people being too egotistical about their Aspie status, we can't allow ourselves to become these people's frames of mind, because, even if you have been bullied, you become the very thing some of us hate; horrid people, the ones who bully others into a state of misery about themselves.

The "Genius" label is such an annoying media-based stereotype though, its very hard to live up to that hype, very hard. Also, you are raised (as an Aspie child, different from the rest), that you have this almost inhuman ability at certain things, like Music or Maths.....maybe thats true sometimes, as a derivitive of the huge focus WE can put into things, but none of us are just born with the ability of Integration by Parts now are we?

Aspies need hard work, like air to the lungs, Aspies are nothing if they've got all the talent in the world, but no drive.