Does Robin Williams have AS or not?

Post Reply New Topic

I do not know. Whether speculative or not, I actually have heard/read that R. Williams may likely be diagnosed. I do not like to presume but he is one I can definitely see Aspie-ishness. I understand Robin has had some awful problems with drug abuse in his life so this may have masked his AS, if he indeed is afflicted. I've read he is bipolar and that is very congruent with many AS individuals. I tend to shy away from labeling anybody and only a formal Dx is valid. But Robin is a likely suspect. He is very creative too!

One factor to note: I listened to him being interviewed once and he made comments about his son being "Rainman" with intense interest in computer technology. And comparing this to himself, behaviorally. Robin does present himself differently and definitely lacks control - but in often charming ways! He played Mork (sp?) the alien wonderfully too.

This fact I do know: Older actor who played Father Mulcahey (I think I really botched the spelling!) on an old TV series, *M*A*S*H* has a son who is profoundly autistic. This actor/father has been very supportive of his son's care and compassionate.

That's a good question - I do not know how reliable this finding is, but it's a lead. Scroll down to 'Actors' and Robin is listed:

http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/pu ... 2086.shtml

Noticed there are other links alluding to his putative AS as well. Another factor: Robin Williams is older, relatively, so if he has AS (speculative), then he likely would not have been diagnosed as such as a child/young adult.

Robin Williams and Jim Carrey were BOTH mentioned as having strong characteristics of ADHD at a Special Education Conference that I attended earlier in the year.

That doesn't mean that they DO have it of course. They are very different and I tend to like 'different'.

The ADHD comments at the conference were made to encourage parents to value and cherish the differences and gifts in their children.

The conference speakers also went through the usual list of historical AS candidates from Leonardo Davinci through to Einstein, asking where would the world be today without these 'unusual' historical people

I follow Jim on Twitter, along with over a million other people!

#BOING

i don't know. i think it's kind of helpful, especially if you're in some form of depression or extended shutdown and don't want direct human contact. some with AS (including myself) tend to "collect" celebrity heroes as a form of comfort. i'm especially fascinated by the lives of famous people who are on the spectrum somewhere, or are likely to be.

i don't know about robin williams, but it's widely thought that andy kaufman was on the spectrum. i believe it. i was with an HFA man for about eight years, and the sense of humor was very similar. he had a "performance art" approach to the non-autistic world (without calling it that, the non-autistic world---or without calling it performance art, for that matter. he also had a number of personae to help him socialize out there "in the world." he was very kaufman-esque.

I can completely relate to this operandus that you have described

I really enjoyed reading this and loved brackets, which is a hobbyhorse of mine too

Glorious

i do apologize for being out context, though---once again, i missed a few pages.

thank you for the comments, though. yes... it does make it easier to move through the world. i do that a little too.

Jim Carrey is much less annyoing now that he's not hooked up with Jenny McCarthey anymore.

I always thought he was a real typical ADHD type. I heard him detail in an interview once how he'd ruin class for everyone because he would never sit still or shut up, so his teacher would let him have 15 minutes at the beginning of the day to "act it out" of his system in front of the class.

Someone who's spoken publicly about having AS is Darryl Hannah, if you want famous names. Gary Numan (oh classic electronica hero) is self-diagnosed.

BATTY RAP

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXSsagwvo3M[/youtube]

According to this, yes.

http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/pu ... 2086.shtml

I don't think so.

I'm sorry, but that list is a bit ridiculous. Marylin Monroe autistic?

I think it's doubtful. Now Schopenhauer, there's a potential autist. Despised noise, 'specially the cracking of whips. Wrote at some length about nonverbal communication as if he'd just had some sudden great insight into human nature.

Yea, I've seen this list before and most of it's speculation but I wish Robin would come out and settle this, he has the advantage of being able to do so, unlike seventy percent of the people on that list.

Probably not, but on here almost every celebrity has AS so what would I know???

I love Robin Willians when he did the Genie in Aladdin and Aladdin and the King of Thieves. But I don't know if he does. He contributed a lot to the movie. The first scene, with the peddlar, that was actually improvised by him. They had a whole pile of stuff, and he would kind of make stuff up for each item. They were actually just stuff from the thrift shop down the street. Then he gave the animators a lot of visual ideas, too, with his imitations and stuff. When Genie turns into Pinocchio, that was actually Robin. When Eric was listening to the it, they weren't sure what it was, but it reminded them of something, until they realized that it was Pinocchio. Something like that. And as Disney owned the character, they decided to use it. I think he adlibbed a total of 26 hours. Calling Aladdin 'Al', that was also his idea. Meeting Robin was one the things Scott liked most about working on the movie, but it wasn't easy, as sometimes he was laughing so hard, he ruined some of the recordings. I'd better stop right there.

What I do know, is I highly doubt Kaiser Wilhelm II had AS. He hid his arm because it was deformed. It was an accident at his birth. Plus, it affected him when he learned to ride, as it affected his balance, or something. It was probably more that it affected his self esteem.

As for Asimov, some of his characters do strike me as possibly having AS. Janov Pelorat from Foundation and Earth, definitely. His interest in mythology and stuff, and how he begins listing facts about it when he talks. And Fastolfe, Daneel, and Giskard, wanting to find out the Laws of Humanics to understand people. The Spacer worlds, the societies on Trantor in Prelude to Foundation. I'm reading his autobiography, and when he mentions his son, he does sound to me like he has some autistic qualities.

That list is deeply problematic on so many levels. The author seems to ignore historical context and any other conditions the person might have had and assumes that any idiosyncrasies are the result of Asperger's. I'd pick apart the article, but I don't really feel like wading through that much BS right now. Maybe some other time. -_-

What pisses me off about that article is that there are a lot of awesome people who actually are on the autistic spectrum, but the author just chooses a bunch of random famous people and cherry-picks their quirks.

Last edited by Delirium on 03 Jun 2010, 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.