Famous People with Asperser’s Syndrome

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TheAutisticDirector
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23 Oct 2009, 9:54 pm

I comprised this list after doing some research, and rooting out popular speculation with pure stipulation. This list is reasonably accurate. Some people on this list are sure to surprise, but do the research yourself and one is likely to come to the same irrefutable conclusion.


Diagnosed with Asperser’s Syndrome…
Steven Spielberg
Bill Gates

Suspected to have Asperser’s Syndrome…
Stanley Kubrick
Tim Burton
Albert Einstein
Charles Darwin
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Mozart
Adolf Hitler
Isaac Newton
Vincent van Gogh
Andy Warhol
George Orwell
William Butler Yeats
Lewis Carroll
Beethoven
James Joyce
Emily Dickinson
Thomas Jefferson


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flamingshorts
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23 Oct 2009, 10:09 pm

TheAutisticDirector wrote:
Diagnosed with Asperser’s Syndrome…
Steven Spielberg
Bill Gates


Do you have a source for these? I can't see where they have actually said so.
I know there are media stories saying Spielberg has been diagnosed but they offer no source for this.



pat2rome
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23 Oct 2009, 10:49 pm

I don't really get the point of these lists... I didn't get a diagnosis for 18 years because I was misdiagnosed with ADD. If a trained professional can miss the signs with the person sitting right in front of him, how can people claim to have diagnosed deceased people with Asperger's?


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Danielismyname
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23 Oct 2009, 10:50 pm

Martin Bryant is pretty famous, and you can add him to diagnosed.



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23 Oct 2009, 11:15 pm

Danielismyname wrote:
Martin Bryant is pretty famous, and you can add him to diagnosed.


And here he is being undiagnosed. Note that this was 1996 so Asperger's was a new diagnosis at the time. Like a new toy that you just have to try out. Then the press ran with it at the time. What's written here suggests to me that both psychs had some gaps in their understanding.

Psychiatric Report Martin Bryant
Dr Sale, in his report of the 6 August 1996, indicates that in his opinion Mr Bryant manifested severe developmental problems during childhood and that he could be regarded as having shown a mixture of conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity and a rare condition known as Asperger's Syndrome. I am in agreement with Dr Sale that the records indicate that Mr Bryant was grossly disturbed from early childhood. He can certainly be fitted within the criteria for conduct disorder, but all this amounts to in the diagnostic manual is a list of a range of aggressive destructive and deceitful behaviors during childhood and as such does not advance understanding to any degree. Asperger's Syndrome is a condition which could explain some of the abnormalities in Mr Bryant and in noting this possibility Dr Sale raises a potentially important question. The section from the text on Forensic Psychiatry convering Asperger's Syndrome appended to his report by Dr Sale though providing a good account of the forensic implications does not adequately describe the critical clinical features (as one of the authors of the chapter I can perhaps be allowed this criticism). Mr Bryant craves the attention of others. He desires relationships but fails to effectively communicate with others unlike the patients with Asperger's who are blandly indifferent to others. Mr Bryant also lacks, in my opinion, the central features of this condition which are repetitive activities, unusual skills with all absorbing obsessive interests and problems with motor coordination. He also showed marked delay in the acquisition of language skills and required remedial therapy for this language deficit which is contrary to the picture found in those with Asperger's Syndrome.



Danielismyname
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24 Oct 2009, 1:52 am

Too bad said doctor uses erroneous points, which actually point to AS:

Quote:
He desires relationships but fails to effectively communicate with others unlike the patients with Asperger's who are blandly indifferent to others.


People with AS can have a delay in verbal ability and also mild mental retardation (Hans Asperger). He had a girlfriend who was a lot younger than himself, and also one who was a lot older; this is typical of people with an ASD, as they don't see the social stigma attached to such.

(The Crown's diagnosis still stands.)



flamingshorts
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24 Oct 2009, 2:17 am

Martin Bryant does seem to be described by this. Not sure if TFAS is in the DSM.

TFAS

In this paper I shall consider whether children and adults with pervasive developmental disorder can sometimes be rightly described as being malicious; how can this be recognised; and some ideas about management.



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24 Oct 2009, 9:32 am

Image

Glenn Gould, according to his biographer Peter Ostwald, a psychiatrist who studied the traits of various musicians and the connection to music, and wrote Glenn Gould: The Ecstasy and Tragedy of Genius. His latest biographer, psychiarist Helen Masaros, who wrote Bravo Fortissimo Glenn Gould: The Mind of a Canadian Virtuoso, disagrees and attributes his various character traits to more Freudian factors: an overbearing and overprotective mother, passive father, various early life crises, etc...



Radiant
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25 Oct 2009, 9:59 am

[quote="TheAutisticDirector"]I comprised this list after doing some research, and rooting out popular speculation with pure stipulation. This list is reasonably accurate. Some people on this list are sure to surprise, but do the research yourself and one is likely to come to the same irrefutable conclusion.


Diagnosed with Asperser’s Syndrome…
Steven Spielberg
Bill Gates


What is the basis for this information?

indopedia dot org/Talk:Steven_Spielberg dot html



TheAutisticDirector
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25 Oct 2009, 10:25 am

Radiant wrote:
TheAutisticDirector wrote:


Diagnosed with Asperser’s Syndrome…
Steven Spielberg
Bill Gates


What is the basis for this information?


Well Bill Gates is for sure as he came out publicly and announced it. Steven Spielberg's information is not as reputable as he has not spoken publicly on the matter. It could be that it is a rumor, but an amalgamation of various articles I read from different sources point out that there is a high probability that Spielberg does in fact have a very high functioning form of Asperger's Syndrome.

Also I can tell you from personal experience and common agreement something to back this up. It is well known that Aspys tend to hyper-focus on one particular interest or skill set. Albert Einstein hyper-focused on science and mathematics. Bill Gates hyper-focused on computers, and then buisness. I myself hyper-focus on directing... to be a good director one must be able to understand socializing, acting, body language, vocal inflection, and facial expressions to a high degree. This helps with directing the talent. As a positive side effect of this hyper focusing I found that it helped me tremendously in social situations outside of a film set. It helped me so much so that approximately 91% of the people that I've had contact with and told of my autism were in disbelief, and refused to believe I had Asperger's Syndrome. There for it is possible that a director such as Spielberg developed social techniques as a result of hyper-focusing on directing talent... it's possible, but there's no definite proof.


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TheMisfit
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25 Oct 2009, 10:30 am

TheAutisticDirector wrote:
Well Bill Gates is for sure as he came out publicly and announced it.


Do you have a reliable source for that?



Radiant
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25 Oct 2009, 10:42 am

TheMisfit wrote:
TheAutisticDirector wrote:
Well Bill Gates is for sure as he came out publicly and announced it.


Do you have a reliable source for that?



I, too, ask these questions for accuracy and out of concern for assumptions and over generalizations. Reading the "You might be an aspie if" posts, I read many, many things that describe my personality; yet, do not a diagnosis make.

All persons want company in their experience (I'm so very glad that this forum exists). I'm confident my family member would have been diagnosed if the dsm criteria had been developed sooner. However, the dsm criteria are a bit general... caution is always useful, especially with the ever changing dsm... I'm here hoping to gain more understanding of a friend of mine... and am learning as I go...

I am interested to learn of confirmed diagnosed famous aspie's...

Almost every human has a struggle in this world...

All persons are important...



TheAutisticDirector
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25 Oct 2009, 11:45 am

TheMisfit wrote:
TheAutisticDirector wrote:
Well Bill Gates is for sure as he came out publicly and announced it.


Do you have a reliable source for that?



Arghh!

It was pretty big news for awhile, and I had read an article on USA Today about it. I can't find that article otherwise I would post it, but it talked about Bill Gates having been officially diagnosed. I wish I had the evidence... next time I talk about such things I'll makes sure to site my sources.


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oppositedirection
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25 Oct 2009, 1:10 pm

No chance Orwell had AS in my opinion. The stuff that guy lived through without having a meltdown, no chance he had AS. He was not obsessive, perfectly fine social skills, no mention of sensory issues, nothing so far as I know.

Never heard anyone suggest Darwin. Can't think of a single reason to think that he was, fine social skills, not particularly obsessive, no sensory issues. Same with Einstein, the guy was a major international political player, he did not just do maths.

Hitler, debated often in the PPR board, reasonable possibility.

Kubrick probably was, a true obsessive and genius.

Newton definitely. He was very closed minded scientifically, could never see anyone else’s opinions and would switch off if people tried so show he was wrong. Not that I think calling him AS helps our cause, there is no one more I detest in the history of science.

Do not know enough about the others on the list to comment.


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25 Oct 2009, 3:10 pm

Just a hunch here, but I think Jose Mourinho might be an aspie.



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15 Oct 2010, 6:44 pm

TheAutisticDirector wrote:
I comprised this list after doing some research, and rooting out popular speculation with pure stipulation. This list is reasonably accurate. Some people on this list are sure to surprise, but do the research yourself and one is likely to come to the same irrefutable conclusion.


Diagnosed with Asperser’s Syndrome…
Steven Spielberg
Bill Gates

Suspected to have Asperser’s Syndrome…
Stanley Kubrick
Tim Burton
Albert Einstein
Charles Darwin
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Mozart
Adolf Hitler
Isaac Newton
Vincent van Gogh
Andy Warhol
George Orwell
William Butler Yeats
Lewis Carroll
Beethoven
James Joyce
Emily Dickinson
Thomas Jefferson


I would not suggest keeping Adolf Hitler in this list. He had a more insidious disorder called Malignant Narcissism. This is really just a grandiose sense of self combined with anti-social or criminal behavior. He fed off of the worship and lavish praise of others in order to satisfy his fragile sense of self. Hitler was just like Satan from the Bible. Hitler was a very depressed individual, but he was a very socially engaging, and he had social skills whenever he wanted them. People found Hitler to be very charming and even hypnotizing. Hitler wanted absolute power and control, but his pride got in the way and that was the cause of his ongoing reckless behavior. The reason he even decided to invade Russia was because he convinced himself that Russia was weak.

Hitler never really exhibited Aspergerish traits. Hitler did write a book called Mein Kampf, but people say that he was a mediocre writer. If Hitler was an Aspie, he probably would have wanted to be left alone. He probably would have hated attracting such great attention to himself. He would not have given such dynamic speeches, and he probably would have found other tactful ways in spitting his venom. If Hitler was an Aspie, he probably would have been more subtle in his approach in trying to take over the world. He probably would have had his aides take a larger part in his propaganda campaign, and he also might have tried amassing a bunch of power to himself while going generally unnoticed.

You should not try to confuse Aspies with Narcissists. People with Aspergers can be seen as arrogant, but usually it is the case that they are just oblivious. Aspies have a lot of redeeming qualities about themselves, but Naricissists are really just a bunch of pathetic excuses for human beings.



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