I have a good friend with autism who got a record deal with Sony records and is now a fireman in Colorado. He is by far more intelligent than most people I know. I have another friend who has a little brother with a more severe case, and he is also extremely intelligent. When he was 3 he watched his dad replace a ceiling fan and he verbally explained the whole process...at 3! I guess its just a matter of finding what they thrive in right? I know they both are socially awkward so to speak, especially the musician. Everyone has a purpose, whether its accompanied by certain conditions or not. I'm sure family members that encourage their children in these areas help a lot. Some people fear these problems. If my friends mom didn't buy him a bass I'm sure he would have had a rough time trying something else, or not. He seems to be good at everything he does, even authoring a book or 3.
We can learn almost anything if you tie it in to our particular "obsessions." If one is very interested in fish tanks, like me, it can be used as a base to branch into chemistry (water values), math (additives, water volume), geography (where does that fish come from?), biology (self-explanatory), construction (tank stands, floor bracing, etc), all kinds of things that we may not have been able to process before. I hated chemistry, and kept forgetting the information because I had nothing solid to tie it to. Now I'm learning about it in relation to fishtanks, and actually remembering the information.
I hate when people think people with any sort of disorder, especially autism are "stupid". I believe they are extremely intelligent. My cousin has somewhat severe autism, so he developed more slowly in some aspects, such as in social behaviours. But now that he is older, WOW is he intelligent. He was the chess champion for my entire area at the age of 17. In some ways he has the maturity of people a lot older than him with respects to his beliefs in order and maintaining a schedule. He surprised me yesterday when he saw my tank and instantly knew how much work it is and how stable everything needs to be in order to maintain the tank, even though it was his first time seeing coral. He seriously is the only person I know of who knew that before I told them. I love him to death and hate the stigma that people are unintelligent just because they have a disorder or learn differently.
On an off note, I found this incredible.
Jacob Barnett, 14-Year-Old With Asperger's Syndrome, May Be Smarter Than Einstein. Left me speechless.
Autistic people often are quite intelligent. The issue is accessing it and untangling it from all the other information.
If we try to learn in an environment that is too overwhelming, the information often gets lost in the barrage of other stimuli. It's like our mental filters are broken; we get too much coming in and our minds get flooded.
When we have a quiet environment and a special interest, we can use that interest to 'tie' other information to - kind of like a boat dock in the middle of the ocean. If something seems irrelevant, by near necessity it is left to float away.
We often have difficulty communicating what we do know. Something we feel comfortable discussing and can feel competent at is a huge relief. We don't pick up social cues well and often get misunderstood.
Story of my life is being considered weird, rude, or even creepy because no matter how hard I've tried there are always people who will misread you...and you already have enough trouble reading them!
Did you know that they believe Einstein was probably autistic?
