list of currently alive famous Aspies,

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would Bill Gates qualifyas one?

Bill Gates has not, to my knowledge, disclosed an official diagnosis of Asperger's, but a news organization that he owns has on several occasions identified him as likely having Asperger's, and I doubt this would be permitted if it was purely a rumor.

Anyways, a few famous Aspies who have disclosed their diagnosis:
Bram Cohen
Satoshi Tajiri
Vernon Smith
Richard Borcherds
Tim Page
Daniel Tammet
Steven Spielberg
Dan Ackroyd

And others, I'm too lazy to go look them up now.

I heard that Daryl Hannah is an aspie and after seeing Bill gate introducing
Windows Vista on the Daily Show I am convinced he is and aspie too.

Ackroyd and Spielberg? What are the reasons behind this one?

Ackroyd actually said he was diagnosed in an NPR interview. I'm not sure if Spielberg is a verified case -- maybe someone else on here knows.

Darryl Hannah is autistic. I think many on the list would be PDD-NOS anyway, since they are very high functioning. Honestly I don't see how Spielberg could even be diagnosed on the spectrum, considering the amount of complicated interpersonal relationships involved in the film industry and the need to be able to identify good acting vs bad acting. Ackryod I could see though, since he's not so much an actor as a guy who gets in front of the camera and is himself.

It's because she was nonverbal as a child, she wouldn't fall under the category "Aspie". She was never diagnosed with Asperger's, however she was diagnosed as autistic. Clearly she is higher-functioning now.

It's my understanding that Daryll Hannah was considered borderline autistic at one point because of her shyness, and that Dan Aykroyd was diagnosed once as a kid when he was experiencing delays, but that doesn't actually mean they are on the spectrum, just that it looked like they might be at one point while they were developing. In the absence of ongoing impairments I would say they're probably not, but since I don't know that much about them it's hard to say. They could be covering.

The things I've read about Spielberg tell me he's not likely anywhere near the spectrum. No social impairment, for one thing.

Darryl Hannah stims all the time in interviews, now that I actually pay attention to her interviews and make note of it.

Spielberg...

It's funny because I keep hearing it, but I've never heard it FROM HIM, like in an interview or anything. It's always some kind of third hand evidence.

I was reading a few trashy, dishy Hollywood books and there are some things that make a good case for it. In "You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again", Julia Phillips mentioned how he has a tendency to repeat what people say (echolalia).

I don't get how you can be a power-mogul with impaired social functioning.

For directors, I'd say George Lucas and Tim Burton are more likely, but there's no evidence for either of them either. The problem is that with anyone over say... 35... they come from a time when Aspergers as a diagnosis didn't exist when they were in school so they never would have been diagnosed.

I heard that Ron Paul is an Aspie. I voted for him in the primaries by the way, after my first choice
Fred Thompson dropped out.

I wonder about Tim Burton...? I watched Edward Scissorhands a few days ago, and Edward struck me as the perfect allegory for an aspie.

Peter Tork from The Monkees "came out" as Aspie recently. So did Gary Numar (he did the song "Cars").

Also:
Craig Nicholls ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Nicholls )
Ladyhawke ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladyhawke_(musician) )
Peter Howson ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Howson )
Heather Kuzmich ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Kuzmich )