Asperger's Syndrome And High Achievement: Some Very Remarkable People

225 Pages·2005·1.08 MB·English

by  Ioan James

Asperger’s Syndrome and High Achievement
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Asperger’s Syndrome
and High Achievement
Some Very Remarkable People
Ioan James
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First published in 2006
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
116 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JB, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Ioan James 2006
The right ofIoan James to be identified as author ofthis work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced in any material form
(including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not
transiently or incidentally to some other use ofthis publication) without the written permission
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90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright owner’s
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Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data
James, I. M. (Ioan Mackenzie), 1928-
Asperger's syndrome and high achievement : some very remarkable people / Ioan James.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-84310-388-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10:1-84310-388-5(pbk.:alk.paper) 1. Asperger'ssyndrome.2. Geniusandmental
illness. 3. Creative ability--Psychological aspects. 4. Asperger's syndrome--Patients--Biography. 5.
Autism--Patients--Biography. I. Title.
RC553.A88J35 2006
362.196'858832--dc22
2005029311
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978 1 84310 388 2
ISBN-10: 1 84310 388 5
ISBN pdfeBook: 1 84642 452 6
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
Contents
Preface 7
Introduction 9
1. MichelangeloBuonarroti (1475–1564) 15
2. PhilipofSpain(1527–1598) 23
3. IsaacNewton(1642–1727) 33
4. JonathanSwift(1667–1745) 45
5. JohnHoward(c.1726–1790) 53
6. HenryCavendish(1731–1810) 63
7. ThomasJefferson(1743–1826) 69
8. VincentvanGogh(1853–1890) 77
9. EricSatie(1866–1925) 89
10. BertrandRussell(1872–1970) 97
11. AlbertEinstein(1879–1955) 107
12. BélaBartók(1881–1945) 117
13. Ramanujan(1887–1920) 125
14. LudwigWittgenstein(1889–1951) 133
15. AlfredKinsey(1894–1956) 143
16. SimoneWeil(1909–1943) 155
17. AlanTuring(1912–1954) 167
18. PatriciaHighsmith(1921–1995) 177
19. AndyWarhol(1928–1987) 183
20. GlennGould(1932–1982) 195
Conclusion 203
Bibliography 219
Acknowledgments 224

Preface
This book contains profiles of twenty very remarkable people. Five
camefromBritain,fourfromAmerica,twofromFrance,andoneeach
from Austria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, the
Netherlands and Spain. One was king of Spain, another president of
the United States. Three were artists, three were musicians and three
werewriters;thereweretwophilosophersandonephilanthropist.The
others were scientists: three physicists, two mathematicians and one
biologist.Atfirstsightallthesepeopleseemtohavelittleincommon
exceptforstrangeidiosyncrasies,ofthekindassociatedwiththemild
form of autism known as Asperger’s syndrome (AS for short). As the
psychologistRosemaryDinnagehassaid,perhapsthecurrentinterest
in the syndrome springs from some withdrawn but unrecognised
streak in all of us.
Hans Asperger, a Viennese paediatrician, thought that for highly
intelligentpeopleatraceofautismcouldbeessentialtosuccessinthe
artsandsciences.HebelievedthatthetypicalAspergertraitsofperse-
verance,driveforperfection,goodconcreteintelligence,abilitytodis-
regardsocialconventionsandunconcernabouttheopinionsofothers
could all be seen as advantageous, possibly a prerequisite for certain
kinds of new thinking and creativity. Those who have the syndrome
often feel as if they are on the wrong planet, and yet some of these
‘strangersontheearth’haveachievedsomuch.Itmustbeemphasised
that only a small minority of people with Asperger’s have both the
ability and the opportunity to excel.
Wherever possible I have quoted from the relevant literature. In
psychiatry there are differences of opinion which hardly concern us
7
8 Asperger’sSyndromeandHighAchievement
here, although disagreement suggests the need for caution. The
profilesarenotmeantascasestudies.Readerswhowishtoknowmore
willfinddetailsinthebooksandpaperscitedinthereferences.Among
the psychologists and others who have kindly helped me in various
ways,forexamplebysuggestingpossiblesubjectsforprofiles,Iwould
particularly like to thank Simon Baron-Cohen, Michael Fitzgerald,
Uta Frith, Gaie Houston, Mark Houston, Viktoria Lyons, Michel
Treisman, John Tyrer and Rachel Warner.
Introduction
Autism, so far as we know, has always existed, in every period and
culture. It is interesting to try to identify well-known people of the
pastwhodisplayedsomeautistictraits.Sometimesthesecorrespondto
adisorderontheautisticspectrum,suchasAsperger’ssyndrome,and
theremaybeadiscussionofsuchcasesintheprofessionalliterature.In
someinstancesthereisdisagreementamongtheexpertsastowhatthe
disorder is or was involved. Setting such questions to one side, it is
interestingto review thefascinating life storiesof thesevery remark-
ablepeople,highlightingthepatternsofbehaviourthatpsychologists
regardassignificant,andthateveryonewouldregardasextraordinary.
In Autism:ExplainingtheEnigma, Uta Frith (2003) discusses some his-
toricalcases,suchasthetwelfth-centuryItalianBrotherJuniper,oneof
the original followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. Challis and Dewey
(1974) maintain that some of the ‘blessed fools’ of Old Russia may
have been autistic too. Michael Fitzgerald has proposed the early
English scientist Roger Bacon and several others. There must have
beenplentyofothercases,buttherightkindofbiographicalinforma-
tionisnoteasytofind.Theclassicaltypeofautisminvolveslowintelli-
gence,significantlearningdisabilities,memorybyrote,literalnessand
arigidinsistenceonsameness.However,autismisaspectrumofdisor-
dersof development,onlysomeof whicharesodisablingastomake
normal life impossible. The psychological, emotional and cognitive
characteristicshavebeenshowntohaveabiologicalbasis,evenifthat
is not yet well understood. The disorder has strong genetic roots. At
leastathirdofparentsofchildrenwithAsperger’ssyndromewillhave
at least some related symptoms.
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