Savant skills may be widespread in people with autism

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Savant skills may be widespread in people with autism
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... utism.html

My Comment:
AUTISTIC autistic Autistic that one word stops people in there tracks, its like if I dare say I become an instant alien. I have Aspergers and other neurological differences and to me it is not about any label but understanding real self and how we impact on others. To be honest I use to think everyone else was stupid until I was tested and realized it was me who processed and saw things differently, I am fine now I understand, but others continue to question.

I am proud to be an autistic person and share genes with some of the most brilliant minds on this planet, every individual has strengths and weakness on or off the autism spectrum and just like those not on the autism spectrum we are as diverse and different as each other, its about time people started to see the ability not disability, the able in the disabled!

My "definition of intelligence" is the more we learn the more we do not know, just like autism as mysteries as the universe, does there always have to be answers, maybe time to focus on the good, what can be done because while others continue to question us we struggle to be excepted and allowed in society and children continue to have often unnecessary fad treatments forced on them, another label for the unexplained will change anything!

What an offensive article

I quote.......The researchers were looking for any outstanding skills and talents that were present "at a level that would be unusual even for normal people"

What is this normal nonsense. I take it they mean neurologically average

My Son and I are not neurolgically average and proud of it

I don't know why you find it offensive as such, but it is bad science. The researchers were looking for the result the set out for. this doesn't surprise me one bit. Researcher are obsessed with savants, and also accolades. To paraphrase one researcher who was working with a guy who could remember what he did on every day since the 50s, "I hope you win me the Nobel Prize".

For us that have cognitive deficits, it would be good if researchers would focus on those too. The majority of what we know about brain function was actually found out through test subject and patients with brain injuries. It is quite simple concept to understand. if one part of the brain is injured, then through a process of illumination you can find out what the function of that part of the brain is.

Savantism a gift in the form of high degree of automation, which is why savant often have trouble breaking down the stages and explaining how they worked things out.

Last edited by 0_equals_true on 19 Apr 2009, 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

I find the term normal offensive. Just because I have savant abilities shouldn't preclude me from being considered a normal person. If you cut me do I not bleed????

The opposite of normal is abnormal. I do not consider myself abnormal. Just different.

Normal is a term people use when the word average would work so much better.

The thing is you can't stick on that a caveat every time you want to describe neurotypical, and there is unlimited chance of somebody being offended by something. I could be offended by melodrama surrounding savants for instance.

If autism is an inborn condition then it's stupid to be proud for having it.

Last edited by LePetitPrince on 19 Apr 2009, 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My sons nickname at school is "The Freak". Why? Because he isn't "normal" and society has difficulty accepting that people who are not neurotypical have feelings too.
Attitudes are passed from the wider society to children who internalise them. If society is happy to lable us as abnormal then children and adults will continue to abuse those of us who are different.
Just imagine how boring the world would be if we were all the same.

There is no such thing as a normal person, they mean neurotypical, which is a range. I'm sorry you son is getting bullied though school was hell for me.

Kind of feel the same way about nationalism.

Hm. I suddenly feel a lot less special. I have a therapist now who keeps fawning over me and I thought it was because I was genuinely talented. Maybe he's just after a prize.

Then again, prizes go to REAL doctors.

Anyway, I find the term "normal" to be slightly offensive. Maybe because it implies that we're abnormal. We are, I guess, since we deviate from the average, but anytime someone says "abnormal", I get kind of a frankenstein's monster vibe. They could have just said "neurotypical" instead of "normal". If someone reading the article didn't know what it meant, online dictionaries are plentiful.

Also, perfect pitch isn't a savant skill. A lot of people have it. Most of the music majors I knew in college have it. I read in "Music and the Mind" by Oliver Sacks that it's actually caused by a difference in brain structure. I'm curious what else they consider to be savant skills. I'm going to have to agree that this is bad science. Arg.

The fact that you are offended is not wrong, but it doesn't mean something should be done about it.

Three things are guaranteed to kill advocacy programs:

• Lack of unity through identity politics culture
• Arguing over words rather than issues
• Inability to agree to disagree (with extreme paranoia thrown in for good measure)

It doesn't change the fact that it's bad science. This is far from simply being a semantic argument, but you have good points.

Well I agree with you it is bad science. That is exactly my point shouldn’t be a semantic argument, that just detracts.

Then again I have first hand experience of bad science, involving my ASD "treatment program" or lack there of att he Maudsley.

Psychiatry is pseudo science, not just bad science.

Where's my "savant"? I can't do anything. Without my husband and kids, I'm pretty much F'ed.

Hey You! Back at you
Many Savants are f'ed, as you say without their support systems of families etc as are almost everyone. I feel that all humans are in need of a deeper connection with other humans and without it we are pretty much a wasted bunch. Which makes it even harder to be an Aspie, as I'd love to unburden my husband sometimes of the hard work of being my best friend, lover, husband, shoulder to cry on etc. I can relate!

I also wondered my whole life when I'm going to come up with my e+mc2, but it has eluded me so far. The pressure to achieve something because you may have "superior" intelligence can be very hard on the self-esteem.