Diane Kennedy, an author and advocate for Asperger Syndrome, writes,
“They are our visionaries, scientists, diplomats, inventors, chefs, artists, writers and musicians. They are the original thinkers and a driving force in our culture.”
Hans Asperger, the German doctor who discovered the syndrome, would agree with Kennedy’s assessment. He believed that “for success in science or art, a dash of autism is essential. .....The essential ingredient may be an ability to turn away from the everyday world, from the simply practical and to rethink a subject with originality so as to create in new untrodden ways with all abilities channeled into the one specialty.”
Likewise, Dr. Temple Grandin, an adult with autism who became a successful engineer, academic and speaker, believes that her disorder is an asset. She once famously called NASA a sheltered workshop for people with autism and Asperger Syndrome. She believes that people with autistic spectrum disorders are the great innovators, and “if the world was left to you socialites, nothing would get done and we would still be in caves talking to each other.”
it is absolutely impossible to diagnose anyone posthumously or without having the person in the room. Clinicians can only diagnose Asperger Syndrome by observing behaviors. Another problem in throwing people like Mozart and Benjamin Franklin into the Asperger population is that even if a person is in front of them, doctors have a hard time distinguishing between intellectual giftedness, Attention Deficit Disorder and Asperger Syndrome. There has been little research into the personalities of intellectually gifted people, but the few that have been done show that they are often intense, restless, strong-willed, and sensitive to light and sound — all qualities of Asperger Syndrome. People with very high IQs often question the status quo, resist direction, have long attention spans, undergo periods of intense work and effort, and like to organize things even as children. Other people often perceive them as “different.” All this is the same with those who have Asperger Syndrome.
http://www.yourlittleprofessor.com/the-benefits-of-aspergers-syndrome/
It’s interesting how folks with a ‘condition’, for lack of a better term, seem to tend to see others as having the same condition.
My bipolar mother was (RIP) convinced we are all bipolar.