[Sleeping Freeper]

These stories of people succeeding with handicaps never cease to amaze me....

[AnAmericanMother]

The brain -- or the human spirit, if you prefer -- is an amazing thing.

If the spirit can't express itself in the usual way, it often finds a way around. Many profoundly handicapped people have amazing talents that (as it seems to in this case) make them happy.

God bless this young man, he seems to have found something that makes him happy and can support him in life.

[stevio]

I remember many years back about an autistic guy. His mother heard music playing and thought she left the radio on. Here her adult son is playing piano and singing, after never touching the piano before. God gives us all gifts.

[nmh]

Autistic kids are amazing. Their problem is they can’t process as we do. They process differently. Some of them are incredibly bright - wish we had the key to unlock this mystery.

[DoughtyOne]

One of my wife’s clients suffers from similar ailments, and has the ability to draw maps. If you name a nation, he can draw a map of it in excellent detail.

[r9etb]

[Sloth]

[Hazcat]

Autistic Artist Draws With Photographic Memory

What part does he use to hole the pen/pencil? The brain stem? (I really dislike stupid copy editors!)

[Constitution Day]

Ping!

[ReignOfError]

This kid is wired differently. This is a fairly extreme case, but people who are geniuses in one facet of life are often completely inept in others, like social skills, simple cleanliness, or tying their shoes?

Which raises an almost existential question: would you rather be an average, happy, Joe Schmo, or a brilliant, tortured, Van Gogh?

[AppyPappy]

An autistic kid in my daughter’s first grade class could do this.

[birddog]

Check out this link - he draws a map of Rome after flying over it in a helocopter....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqRT_kCOLI

[ReignOfError]

These stories of people succeeding with handicaps never cease to amaze me....

I'd argue that he succeeds not in spite of his handicap, but because of it. All of his brain is focused on the one thing.

[Bigoleelephant]

I read a fascinating book about an autistic man who could do the rain man thing, multiply numbers quickly. Well, he was coherent enough to explain how he did it. He said when normal people are shown a bush they know it's a bush. When they're shown a cat they know it's a cat. When they're shown a cat in a bush, well you get the idea. That's what he said it's like. The number 829386524 looks like a bush to him. The number 1928734 looks like a cat to him. Put the cat in the bush and that's what the 2 numbers multiplied together look like to him.

I don't remember the name of the book unfortunately.

Great Simpsons episode where Homer is in an insane asylum:

Homer: What's his problem?
Michael Jackson:He's an idiot savant. he can multply any two numbes together.
Homer: (To savant) 9 times 5?
Savant: (Without skipping a beat) 45
Homer: Wow!

[rvoitier]

His website

Thanks for the heads-up. Love these stories.

[Rte66]

Wow is all I can say - I saw a feature on him this morning on one of the morning TV shows and was blown away by his abilities. Just WOW! Absolutely incredible!