Are there any openly autistic politicians yet?

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I managed to pull off a win two years ago for a city council seat, and this year it's likely that I'll run for mayor and win (really unique circumstances.) I've looked at a few lists of people with AS, but haven't seen anyone in public office listed. If I start going to more of these conferences and things, will I be the only one there? Will I be the only aspie-mayor?

Yeah - David Cameron is. Well, he's got a lot of typical Aspie traits mentioned on here: lacks common sense (seems to think there's a job for every person out there, cuts back important services and chucks people on the dole then wonders why they're not in work and decides to punish them and expect them to find a job overnight). He also lacks empathy (can't seem to put himself in a poor person's shoes just because he is so rich, and he thinks everybody else is rich just because he is).

OK, maybe he's not an Aspie - he's just a w*ker. I think an Aspie would do better running this country.

I think there are very few, it's not exactly something most aspies would be good at I think. In that sense you must be pretty unique. I was wondering how you got into it? Since you're going for mayor I assume you must be running a campaign? What that like for you? It's not something I'd expect an aspie to be able to pull off, although there are always exceptions of course.

Yes, Ari Ne' eman (American) was appointed by President Obama into high-ranking position(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Ne%27eman

But, then again (and with no disrespect, Ari does good work), Ari may be too overt, if you know what I mean. In fact, it's his platform.

Although we don't usually associate AS traits with finesse in politics, I'm sure there are 'on the spectrum' politicians but, by virtue of their controversial position, they wouldn't be advertising it.

Maybe you'll be the first Aspie mayor

Sounds delusional to me just like Mitt the Twit Romney. This guy is so rich and so crooked he lost touch of reality a long time ago. The more he opens his clap trap and make assinine statements the more the people of the good ol' USA will vote for Obama.

The ASAN organization he heads is my choice autism non profit org. I think people like him will make autism more understood and I'd hope to see more openly autistic people representing us in the political circuit. We are, after all, a minority group, and deserve to be acknowledged and treated fairly. Neurological discrimination (I call it neurocism) has yet to be addressed in the modern world.

I think one way autism could benefit politics is that someone on the spectrum may be more inclined to make logical decisions in favor of the ones that benefit one personally or win the most votes. In terms of what perspectives or angles are currently used to make decisions, there's too many shades of grey on our governmental canvas, and not enough black and white.

I think it's awesome you are running for mayor. Please keep us updated on your progress.

Yeah, door-to-door campaigning would be terrible! My plan right now is to do some online fundraising, and there is still a distinct possibility that I'll run unopposed. I've always been really good at political strategy and predicting elections, but of course not so good at the interpersonal stuff.

I think the fact that I live in a rural area has made my particular skillset (computers, research, history) more valuable to the city council, because the older members can't keep up with a lot of the new online filing requirements, travel, etc. For the most part, I've really enjoyed it, although I do tend to zone out during these statewide committee meetings...

Web sites about famous AS people have said that Al Gore is an aspie.

You may find this YT video interesting. Most of the famous are suspected Aspies, but there are 2 or 3 that has actually been dignosed with it. I found this video very interesting which gave me a little more insight into the world of Autism.

FAMOUS ASPIES
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7lQa3q_OAk&feature=plcp[/youtube]

Interesting. You know, I wasn't diagnosed until the last year but as a teenager I really loved Courtney Love, Bob Dylan, and Dan Akroyd. I guess maybe I picked up on something...

I think there are some aspergers politicians in lower levels of government. Though I would think it be a good thing if there were more people with aspergers in major politics. Politicians who are honest, good at math, who take there values literally, andhave an earnist desire to improve the condition of others, would be a welcome improvement to our current federal politicians; most of whom are compulsive liers, who are unable to make the math in their budgets work, flipflop whenever conveniant, and are mainly looking out for improving their own condition.

Al Gore possibly has Asperger's Syndrome, but he's undiagnosed.

Let's not speculate on who has Asperger Syndrome and is undiagnosed. They may be masking, they may have another neurological disability, or they may even not have anything.

I've considered a run at city counsel in my district, would not be any worse then the guy we have anyway and several people have encouraged me to run at different times. Figured that dealing with the residents and related communcation, wineing and dining etc. may not work very well though for obvious reasons. Voter turnout is usaslly only 25% anyway that makes it hard to move the needle behound re-electing the same people. Maybe if they tick me off enough, I can debate well and knowage and creativeity isn't not a problem.

[Moved from General Autism Discussion to Random Discussion]

I think that the answer to the question in the original post is "NO".

No, there are no out-of-the-closet publicly self identifying ELECTED officials in any democracy on the planet- who are on the autism spectrum- except apparently- the original poster here!

you're a pioneer.

Except for you- there are no autistic/aspie equivalents of Barney Frank say ( an early openly gay US senator).

There probably are some elected officials who have been diagnosed on the spectrum, but theyre not public about it.

And there is that one official (mentioned above) who was appointed (by Obama) but not elected

And over the years and decades and centuries there probably have been ( and still are) many folks who didnt/dont know they are on the spectrum who have become elected politicians.

Many folks make a parlor game out speculating about historic figures possibly being aspies (including Presidents). But thats another subject.

Basically- you have no role models. you're it- as far as being a publicly self identifying autistic politician!

Good luck!