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Aura Todd

Famous people with Aspergers

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Isaac Newton and Tony Attwood

 

Perhaps my American uncle Isaac Asimov too, can't be sure, but they say he was " strange in many ways"

Edited by Tanya52

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Need to do some research now! Sorry to admit that I don't know who Lady Hawke is!....and Tanya, who is your American uncle Isaac? :)

 

I've always felt that Michael Jackson was like us....behind the scenes of course. But that's just a guess obviously!

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Hi Merry, :)

 

Jackson found his unique ways of self-expression, but look how awkward and ambiguous the media reflections of his social identity!

 

Isaac Asimov ( Isaak Ozimov in Russian) is the author of ‘ I, Robot’ and “ The Three Laws of Robotics” as well as another 3-4 dozens of Si-Fi books. His family immigrated to the US when he was only a toddler and my gran never saw and never heard from them again.

 

 

 

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I have heard Derren Brown has AS and this is why he is so good at reading people - because it's a skill he trained himself to do. Don't know if this is true or not.

 

Have also heard suggested -

 

Winston Churchill

Nigel Benn

Vincent Van Gogh

Loads of others. Mostly inventors/scientists, politicians (quite a few US presidents) and artists/singers/musicians.

Edited by dekra

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Of course many of the historic people suggested to have had AS are just speculation due to lack of recognition of the condition until fairly recently.

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Of course many of the historic people suggested to have had AS are just speculation due to lack of recognition of the condition until fairly recently.

Good point!

 

And good to speculate! :)

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Need to do some research now! Sorry to admit that I don't know who Lady Hawke is!....and Tanya, who is your American uncle Isaac? :)

 

I've always felt that Michael Jackson was like us....behind the scenes of course. But that's just a guess obviously!

Lady hawkes is a singer artist

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I don't think Tony Attwood is autistic.

 

Something tells me Beethoven might have been. I'm a bit skeptical about Winston Churchill.

 

I have wondered about Steve jobs having autistic traits too, but It can get a bit too easy to point at people who have a few traits and think of them as autistic...

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Tony Attwood is a psychiatrist who specialises in AS. He's not autistic himself.

 

Andy Warhol is thought to have had it. He once said he sees the world as if on television - not really there. (I find that as well - do other people here?)

 

And though I've never known anyone else to suggest this, I think the writer and performer Quentin Crisp was Aspie as well. Although he had a lot of friends and socialised regularly in cafes, he wasn't socialising in the conventional sense, it was more like an improvised performance. And he once said, "I am never with people, I am always in their presence. I am never in conversation, I am always being interviewed." That sounds very typically Aspie to me.

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Hello Eccentric! :)

 

How you doing? You might right on this one.

Isn't it just a guessing game? How do we know who is and isn't AS? Unless they themselves told so. What do you think?

Please check this link if you've got a minute

http://www.asperger-syndrome.me.uk/people.htm

Edited by Tanya52

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That's an interesting link to people with AS or who are connected with AS in some way. I'm curious about how Michael Palin fit's in though? He seems to have the most amazing people skills and when I watch his travel shows, I don't think I've ever seen anyone who empathises and connects so well with all kinds of people. How can he have AS?

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I'm dubious of Winston Churchill having AS. Take into account that he was born into a wealthy and privileged family so that could have determined much of his personality. Despite being a WWII hero, many historians consider him to have been a mediocre peacetime politician, with election results further confirming this, and by today's standards he could be called a spiv on account of his economic policies and contempt for the less well off.

 

If there is one famous politician who I think had AS it was John Enoch Powell. You might not agree with everything he believed in (neither do I) or find some of his views repugnant but I consider him to be a very misunderstood person who was vilified by the media. He knew 12 languages including Latin, Greek, Welsh, Hindi, and Urdu, and even held discussions with his constituents in some of them.

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Thanks for those replies.

 

Tanya, when I say AS people find it difficult to reach out and touch their environment, no I don't mean they can't learn from experience. I mean you are aware of what's going on around you but find it difficult to feel part of it. Thanks for that Patsy Roden video, but I'm not clear what she's talking about really.

 

Gina, on your bit about not identifying with groups, I'd be interested to know what you mean when you say you had an 'aversion' to groups. On the psychiatric point of view (and I'm no expert on that either), what I'm trying to say is they look at AS very much from an outsider point of view without much effort to identify how we see the world. If I'm not making myself clear, that's because it's not an easy thing to explain.

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Isn't it just a guessing game? How do we know who is and isn't AS? Unless they themselves told so. What do you think?

Please check this link if you've got a minute

http://www.asperger-syndrome.me.uk/people.htm

Yes, I'm also sceptical about these supposedly Aspie people. I also have very mixed feelings about the whole diagnosis. Some people have said that being diagnosed is like being found 'not guilty' in court, which is good, but if any of those famous people had been diagnosed as having AS when they were kids, would they have ever become famous? Of course, they might - there's Stephen Wiltshire and Temple Grandin, who were both diagnosed long ago, but there is a tendency for people found to be autistic to be written off as useless unless they show obvious savant abilities before being diagnosed.

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Hi Essentric,

 

Thanks for your reply. Patsy is a voice/acting coach, one of the best in the UK. Her book Presence: How to use positive energy for success in every situation, is a manual how to navigate in social interactions, with focus on self-development. This model of connectivity with environment called ‘Presence’. I though it compatible with your description of feeling a part of it.

 

What can I say? It’s different. Her methodology might seem as a bit laborious( breathing excesses, posture exercises and lots more) but one might find them beneficial and fun to lean. This lady has been working with the most celebrated actors, with prisoners, with severely disable people, you name it –she’s done it. Unfortunately for me, a few years ago she moved to LA and doesn’t teach in the London's Central Voice and Drama any more. They do personal coaching and short courses .

Edited by Tanya52

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Hi Essentric,

 

Thanks for your reply. Patsy is a voice/acting coach, one of the best in the UK. Her book Presence: How to use positive energy for success in every situation, is a manual how to navigate in social interactions, with focus on self-development. This model of connectivity with environment called ‘Presence’. I though it compatible with your description of feeling a part of it.

 

What can I say? It’s different. Her methodology might seem as a bit laborious( breathing excesses, posture exercises and lots more) but one might find them beneficial and fun to lean. This lady has been working with the most celebrated actors, with prisoners, with severely disable people, you name it –she’s done it. Unfortunately for me, a few years ago she moved to LA and doesn’t teach in the London's Central Voice and Drama any more. They do personal coaching and short courses .

 

I am not being rude but why didn't you put your reply in the thread it was intended for? This is a discusion about famouse people who have aspbergers not about voice coaching. Thanks.

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Hi Aura

 

Quite right too!

I did not mean to hijack your thread, just made a mistake, tried to delete my message after posting it but was unable to do so. I am sincerely sorry for upsetting you and promise it will NEVER happen again.

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Hi Aura

 

Quite right too!

I did not mean to hijack your thread, just made a mistake, tried to delete my message after posting it but was unable to do so. I am sincerely sorry for upsetting you and promise it will NEVER happen again.

 

Not to worry mate. I had a thread started on another forum, but it was spammed to death by people adverting modols so eventually it was locked.

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Considering how difficult it is to achieve a definitive diagnosis, (particularly in adults), how do people justify saying so and so was/is Autistic, (particularly if the subject is deceased)?

 

It seems hopeful at best.

 

Sure it's nice to think that we are of an ilk that has spawned many marvelous people, and tbh I don't doubt that, but really: Hollywood actors? Come on folks.

 

This may already be the case, while it would not be good for those of us who are actually on the spectrum, but I do not wish to see Autism become "trendy". That would be bad for a number of reasons. Specifically: it trivialises the syndrome, it makes it more open to stereotype, and it redirects attention away from those who really need consideration.

 

Well represented characters in the media, can serve to raise public awareness, but the value of this can be undermined if not done diligently.

 

If Leonardo Da Vinci was and Aspie then great! - but I don't think we'll ever be 100% sure he was.

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Well said Dude..... well may be and you may or may not have a point.

 

However.....

 

Just be who you wanna be and stuff everybody else. In the nicest possible way.

 

We all like to think that we are different....But are we?

 

You may just have provoked an identity crisis in me. Probably not actually.....it's just a thought!

 

best wishes

 

AM

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Marie Curie, winner of Nobel Prizes for both Physics and Chemistry.

 

The most famous lady in the first half of the 20th Century - bar none !

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Apparently Einstein, Bill Gates and Picasso had it, anyone else know of any more? :)

Undiagnosing Gates, Jefferson, Einstein

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I read a book once which claimed to diagnose famous people as having had AS. One of the subjects was Keith Joseph, one of Margaret Thatcher's closest advisers.

 

Apparently, whenever he went for a haircut, he would tip the barber in advance so that he would not make conversation while he cut his hair.

 

I can identify with that. I hate small talk.

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I also hate small talk, I will chat but then I do go quiet which people don't understand and some think I'm being stuck up which isn't true.

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