adverb wrote:
rainman was a good movie, but what sucked about it was that they called him autistic. the character was based on a real guy, kim peek, who is not autistic. dustin hoffman worked with him for a while in preparing for the movie, getting his mannerisms and such down pretty well. kim peek is interesting tho - you should read about him.
Yeah, but they expanded it, to make Rain Man a "high-functioning" Autistic Savant; Hoffman worked with many Autistic individuals to get the communication and repetitive behaviours reasonably accurate for someone with Autism. And by my research, it's an accurate depiction of someone who displays most of the traits of Autism (eMedicine even states such).
It won't jive completely for someone with AS as they'll lack the verbal communication difficulties, and their repetitive behaviours won't be as marked [in most cases], but I can see people with AS seeing bits of themselves in Rain Man, especially when they become overwhelmed.