Was Einstein an exception?

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I find the idea of Einstein having had Aspergers or being on the autistic spectrum irritating.
He seemed to be a very agreeable person who had a lot of friends, which is what you need to be like if you want to get on well in scientific research, as it's all about making the right connections.
So even if he did have some autistic traits they certainly weren't holding him back as far as his communication skills went, so from my point of view he had no need of a diagnosis and therefore any traits he had were negligible.

He is probably a person who thought in a very unique way, like Picasso, which enabled him to have ideas and make connections no one else had thought of. That's just having a unique mind, not necessarily autism.

As far as wanting to do things better than others I'm definitely like this. I like to find ways of distinguishing myself from others by doing things better. I can't see why people want to be like everyone else as where's the skill in that?? You might as well not have been alive if you've lived your life exactly like everyone else. I think making an important discovery or inventing something society can make use of is the highest form of achievement and really envy and admire people who manage to do this.

One thing I heard in school years ago was "It's OK to be dyslexic because Shakespeare was Dyslexic". This is the same tactic.. it's quite destructive because 99% of dyslexic children will *not* become famous playwrights.

What's wrong with "It's OK to be yourself"?

What actual autistic symptoms did he have?

I never really see much in the way of people explaining it (not interested enough to research it myself); I knew he was odd, married then divorced a couple of times, and...that's about it (plus one son having Schizophrenia). Focused on a specific area too, and that can be a symptom, but for that to be a "diagnosable" symptom, he'd have to exclude doing pretty much everything else (Lorna Wing).

admittedly I've met only a few people diagnosed with aspergers, but I can't say I found any of them DISagreeable

Lol well I have yo say our experiences differ greatly then - I've met a fair few and they are not people I'd tend to seek out any more except via online forum discussion.

I find (for me) that there is quiet a difference between social friends and work colleagues. I've always had way more work colleagues than friends. Colleagues who respect your work will often try to befriend you whether you're Aspie or not (or stab you in the back). Unfortunately, while NTs seem to be able to remain in contact with xColleagues... I tend to leave a workplace and never see those people (who might be regarded as being "friends" with me) again
I don't know enough about his personal life to have an opinion either way. I don't even KNOW if my dead sister had an ASD (Altho, looking back now, I suspect she may have had)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

Just look at Einstein's childhood photos alone! I've never seen a child so confident and self-composed at the age of 3!

No way does he have the typical aspie look or unconfident body language; on the contrary he's bursting with confidence

Also re friends:-

'With a few friends he met in Bern, Einstein started a small discussion group, self-mockingly named "The Olympia Academy", which met regularly to discuss science and philosophy. Their readings included the works of Henri Poincaré, Ernst Mach, and David Hume, which influenced his scientific and philosophical outlook.'

Well, here's the thing--an Aspie needn't be shy or anxious. That's why the "active but odd" type of socialization is well known. People in that group have very little self-consciousness, and will interact happily with anyone, in their own way, completely oblivious to their own oddity, or else knowing they're odd and not caring. Einstein might well have been one of those.

It's known that he was eccentric, spoke unusually late and in an atypical fashion, was highly annoyed by publicity, and became extremely obsessive about his special interests. Whether he was autistic can't really be guessed, but I feel we can't rule it out. He could also have had ADHD. He could have been sub-clinical in one or the other, and had an eccentric personality, which is not something we consider pathological (nor should we). Because his mind was so atypical, it's hard to tell whether he might have had something diagnosable. Just being atypical by itself is not something you can diagnose, but it does complicate other kinds of diagnosis. For me, being a gifted kid gave my mom an excuse not to seek evaluation for me. If that can happen to me, a gifted kid in 1986, then that same effect could have been much stronger for Einstein, who was much more gifted and grew up much earlier.

What we can conclude from Einstein is that it is possible to be different and eccentric and yet contribute useful information to your field. Whether he was disabled, we can't tell. We do know there are lots of disabled people in the modern world who are contributing just fine, and many more who are held back only by societal barriers and not by their own abilities.

What we should tell children with an ASD diagnosis isn't, "Einstein was autistic, so you can be great too," but, "Einstein was unusual and may have been autistic; and he still found a way to follow his passion and contribute to his field." Whether that child's passion is postcard-collecting, fan-fiction writing, or relativity theory, they should be told that their disability does not stop them from pursuing their dreams. When those societal barriers come up, they have to be bridged, but they shouldn't stop you. Maybe you'll contribute the equivalent of relativity theory to the field of postcard-collecting; or maybe you'll just spend many happy hours sorting and categorizing. The important thing is that when it comes to all kinds of activities, autistic people should not be excluded, because we can contribute. It's important to tell children that they have just as much right to do so as anyone else.

Oh no, spare me from 'giftedness'