Are there any black Aspies in the mainstream?

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knowledgeiskey
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10 Apr 2009, 7:30 am

I've always seen lists of suspected Aspies that are famous, but none of them are black. Are there any famous blacks that you suspect to have Asperger's?



RightGalaxy
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11 Apr 2009, 5:41 pm

Yeaaaahhh...."Little John" the rapper.
And me but I'm closer to being a famous idiot.
Also, Charlie Murphy, Eddie Murphy's brother.
I think Michele Obama is "a bit" on the spectrum but what do I know?



skysaw
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11 Apr 2009, 6:27 pm

knowledgeiskey wrote:
I've always seen lists of suspected Aspies that are famous, but none of them are black. Are there any famous blacks that you suspect to have Asperger's?


If we're talking about famous living people without an official diagnosis, then I personally can't think of anyone of any race I truly suspect to have Asperger's.

However, one of the most famous diagnosed autistics in the UK is black: a guy called Stephen Wiltshire. You may or may not have heard of him already? He's famous for his artistic talent and photographic memory.



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11 Apr 2009, 8:53 pm

skysaw wrote:
knowledgeiskey wrote:
I've always seen lists of suspected Aspies that are famous, but none of them are black. Are there any famous blacks that you suspect to have Asperger's?


If we're talking about famous living people without an official diagnosis, then I personally can't think of anyone of any race I truly suspect to have Asperger's.

However, one of the most famous diagnosed autistics in the UK is black: a guy called Stephen Wiltshire. You may or may not have heard of him already? He's famous for his artistic talent and photographic memory.


Thanks for naming him! I had never before heard of him, and I looked it up. Awesome!


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protest_the_hero
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11 Apr 2009, 9:47 pm

Beethoven.



AnonymousAnonymous
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13 Apr 2009, 4:39 pm

Beethoven wasn't black. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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skysaw
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14 Apr 2009, 5:20 pm

AnonymousAnonymous wrote:
Beethoven wasn't black. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


I remember hearing some sort of rumour a while back that Beethoven was part black. I looked into it again earlier, and I'm with you - I don't buy it. I wouldn't mind if he were; I just don't find the evidence convincing.
Apparently there was a book by Nadine Gorimer called 'Beethoven was one-sixteenth black' that was partly responsible for spreading the idea, plus the fact (if it is a fact) that Beethoven was nicknamed der Schwartzer for his dark complexion.

I think some people like to exaggerate the part non-Europeans played in pre-20th-century Europe. There just weren't that many black people in Europe before the 20th century. America is another matter of course.

Still, I remember being pretty surprised when I learnt about the writer Alexander Pushkin (quarter black?) and the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (half black).

Anyway, I'm going off at a tangent. :oops:
I know this thread is about black aspies, and I don't really have any more suggestions.

[Btw, Coleridge-Taylor's wiki entry says he was 'shy'! And he was no relation to the poet Taylor-Coleridge.]



thadius
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14 Apr 2009, 6:44 pm

George Washington Carver. He was obsessed with the peanut and never married.



hartzofspace
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14 Apr 2009, 10:36 pm

skysaw wrote:
AnonymousAnonymous wrote:
Beethoven wasn't black. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I think some people like to exaggerate the part non-Europeans played in pre-20th-century Europe. There just weren't that many black people in Europe before the 20th century. America is another matter of course.

Are you certain? The term "blacks" didn't necessarily mean only Americans. There were traders from other cultures and countries who might have been classified as "black" because of a swarthy complexion. It all depends upon what is meant by black.


AnonymousAnonymous wrote:
Still, I remember being pretty surprised when I learnt about the writer Alexander Pushkin (quarter black?) and the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (half black).


It has also been speculated that both Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning were part black, in a book called "Dared and Done," by Julia Markus.

AnonymousAnonymous wrote:
Anyway, I'm going off at a tangent. :oops:
I know this thread is about black aspies, and I don't really have any more suggestions.

[Btw, Coleridge-Taylor's wiki entry says he was 'shy'! And he was no relation to the poet Taylor-Coleridge.]


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MissConstrue
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14 Apr 2009, 10:48 pm

thadius wrote:
George Washington Carver. He was obsessed with the peanut and never married.


Sorry but this just made me laugh.... :lol:

The story of my life...except the peanut butter.... :(


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15 Apr 2009, 9:33 pm

THAT made me laugh too!

Obsessed with the peanut and never married.. lol


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