Anemone's Research Emporium

Criteria for diagnosing "famous auties"

Anemone Cerridwen
February 23, 2009

There are few historical role models for autistic people today. Many creative geniuses have been speculated to be autistic (e.g. Fitzgerald 2004, 2005; Grandin 1995/2006) but while many of them appear to have been somewhat isolated and unusual, often this appears to have been due to their genius, not to autism. It is typical for gifted people, especially exceptionally gifted people, to be isolated in childhood and to have only a small circle of like-minded friends as adults, and in addition to be impatient with average people who are hard to communicate with. But this is not the same thing as autism, as these people usually do not have significant problems with the social requirements of work or personal relationships, and can participate in society in their own way (Webb et al. 2005). It is, however, possible that a few famous historical people were autistic, in addition to being gifted enough to become famous (Sacks, 2001, makes a good case for Henry Cavendish, for example), although it is more likely that gifted autistic people in the past were generally as invisible as they are today.

In order to determine if a historical figure was possibly autistic or not, it is necessary to determine if he or she was significantly impaired in work and personal relationships. Was this person socially isolated, not just as a small child in an environment he or she had no control over, but also as an adult in the larger world? If so, was it due to some cause other than autism, for example poverty, the political situation, or some other disorder or difference that is sufficient to explain the impairment?

An additional question is: did this person differ significantly not only from average people of the time but also from other famous people in the same field? In a hypothetical example, if musicians in general are a moody bunch, then a musician being moody is hardly diagnostic of anything except perhaps fitting in with other musicians. If writers need long periods of solitude (as many do) then needing long periods of solitude is normal for a famous writer, even if it isn't for the average reader.

A third factor to consider is that it is hardly fair to diagnose someone with a disorder without that person's permission. There is enough of that today with famous living people, who are unlikely to respond to speculation no matter how far-fetched. But at least they can protest if it goes too far (although they shouldn't have to). People in the past cannot respond. And for all we know, they were perfectly happy in their little bubbles, and wouldn't have chosen anything else for all the world. To assume otherwise would be unfair. So all we can say is that some people may appear to have qualified for a diagnosis if they had wanted one, and, diagnosis or not, they may make good role models in that they may have done things that helped them thrive in the world in ways autistic people could possibly emulate.

After reading over three hundred biographies of famous historical and present day figures, I have only come across three (so far) who might have actually been autistic: a pianist: Glenn Gould, a painter: Paul Cézanne, and a film actress: Greta Garbo, and the autisticness of each of these is open to question. In each case they struck me as being separate from their peers in a way that reminded me of autism, rather than due to choice or general temperament. Strangely, they do not generally appear on other people's lists of famous autistic people (with the exception of Gould, which makes me want to double-check that one). Perhaps this is because they were on the whole quieter and more low-key than some of the examples other people suggest. They also appear to have been more isolated.

In addition, I have read biographies of people considered to be autistic by other authors, including Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Andy Warhol, Beethoven, Mozart, and Hans Christian Andersen. In each case I can see how they were obviously gifted, and in some cases experienced some degree of isolation or eccentricity as a result of this or other factors, but I don't see any autism. To me they're just typical gifted weirdos (there are a lot of them out there!), not really any different from other exceptional people in their fields except perhaps more famous and more successful, with more licence to not conform.

I do think it's important to look for famous historical figures (or their relatives) who may have been autistic, or at least report them when we come across them, since it is so hard today to see what autism actually looks like, and having accurate role models might help. But the role models we choose as "famous auties" won't do anyone any good unless they actually did have autistic-like impairments.

An invitation

I invite others to submit examples of "famous auties" if they want, or to provide links to their own sites (or both), to have a set of examples all in one place. If you send it here, you keep copyright. All I ask is that the writeup describes the person as a whole person, and describes how this person was both similar to and different from other people in the same field then and now, and how this person was similar to and different from other people from the same demographic group in the same period. (And as editor for this site, I reserve the right to refuse articles I don't think are up to spec.)

For example, if you wanted to describe a famous female poet, include or consider the following: Who was she? What was she famous for? When did she live? What makes her work unique? How was she like and unlike other female poets, then and now? How was she like and unlike other women in general in her time? If she is just like other women poets, do you think they were all autistic? Or is it more likely that that's just what women poets are like? Make sure you include information about actual impairments as well as personality differences, and include alternate explanations for those impairments (e.g. poverty, illness, discrimination).

If you want to disagree with a "famous autie" diagnosis, you can do that too: here, or elsewhere with a link here if you want. I will be adding descriptions of gifted people who were definitely not autistic in addition to any examples I come across who may have been, for perspective.

We may as well get this straight.

References

Fitzgerald, Michael, 2004. Autism and creativity: Is there a link between autism in men and exceptional ability? Hove, East Sussex: Brunner-Routledge.

Fitzgerald, Michael, 2005. The genesis of artistic creativity: Asperger's Syndrome and the arts. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Grandin, Temple, 1995/2006. Thinking in pictures: And other reports from my life with autism. With a foreword by Oliver Sacks. NY: Vintage Books.

Sacks O., 2001. "Henry Cavendish: an early case of Asperger's syndrome?" Neurology 57 (7): 1347. Reprinted by Neurological Foundation of New Zealand. Retrieved on March 2, 2008 from href="http://www.neurological.org.nz/html/article.php?documentCode=26

Webb, James T., Edward R. Amend, Nadia E. Webb, Jean Goerss, Paul Beljan, and F. Richard Olenchak, 2005. Misdiagnosis and dual diagnoses of gifted children and adults. Scottsdale Arizona: Great Potential Press, Inc., www.giftedbooks.com