The Real Rain Man

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http://videos.komando.com/2008/11/09/the-real-rain-man/

Absolutely amazing

Oh, Kim Peek? (I haven't watched the video, I've read about him.)
He's amazing.

I think that the whole Autistic-Savant thing is unfair. It makes parents assume their kid's a savant, and then get really disappointing when they aren't

I don't think he's got autism, has he? I think he was born without a corpus collosum, or something like that...

I find Kim Peek and other savants very fascinating but similar to what LifeOnTheSpectrum said, alot of people will watch videos about savants and assume that everyone with autism has an amazing talent.

For example a girl at my college once said "I work with someone who is autistic, autsim is when you can do amazing calculations in your head." Of course I tried to correct her but I'm not sure she listened to me fully.

Interesting comments. Thanks! I loved the movie, but didn't know who it was based on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Peek

And, yes, the movie misrepresented him as autistic.

You have to admit he meets a hell of a lot of the diagnostic criteria though.

That is one amazing mind. I'm glad you posted that, as I never knew there was a real-life basis for Rain Man.

Amazing!

Thankyou

hmm...have to look that up. Ok, looked up, hard to tell, I'm not a neurosurgeon...

as far as am remember,he is not autistic,but has 'autistic behavior',that term being used because he doesnt have autism,but has behavior like autism caused by something else [what Callista said].

being a savant or savant autistic,must be very hard because of what would be expected of them,probably like those who have the 'gifted' label.

doesn't have autism, but his brain is oddly formed. Apparently from a visual standpoint, and ability to remember, his brain is far more capable than most. Like autistics though, he gave up some things.

I heard about him a long time ago.. and I do remember hearing that he isn't really autistic either, even though he has many traits. I should do a search on him on youtube.. there may be some pretty cool videos about him.

I think he has autism. Seems that people who want to have nothing air about savants with autism think that because they themselves aren't that way.

At the end of the first video, it said that he could work out math problems well. His memory is very good.

If another person with autism reminded you of you, someone else would come in and claim that because the person didn't remind them of themselves then it was misrepresentation.

According to Wikipedia he does not have autism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Peek

I also read somewhere else he did not have autism, but can't remember what they said he had. I need his amazing memory.

I've only watched one video and already I want to find out more about him. He is amazing and someone that I could really look up to, especially in this difficult time in my life.

Very specialized, certainly. I wonder what it's like to have such a huge difference between what you're good at and what you're not good at? It's normal to have that kind of a gap if you're autistic; but this is way bigger than anything I've ever met! Certainly bigger than the average autistic's, anyways. (Which may be where the savant stereotype comes from--if you're autistic you will usually have some things you're very good at, some things you're horrible at, and people think that means savant.)

The reason why he doesn't have "Autism" is because his disorder is actually known (a bundle of nerves in his brain are actually missing); I'm sure from his behaviour and background alone, he could be fitted into PDD-NOS if this prior disorder wasn't known.

Anyway, he could read early (reading is quite delayed in Autism, as are most verbal abilities), and he's far more outgoing than your average person with Autistic Disorder/Autism.