Debunking the Autism Savant Myth

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[autumnpendergast]

Films like rainman prevented millions from knowing they are on the spectrum.

[gaylewatkins]

Im a high-functioning autistic female I'm 72 years old and I learned very early to watch people's body language... And I developed an extremely effective mask..

[VicGeorgeK]

Rain Man and The Boy Who Could Fly colored my perceptions of people with autism before I even knew that I had autism myself. If only autism was recognized as a spectrum condition back in the 1970s, we would have had better care and treatment.

[CircaBEFORE]

‘Rain man’ really did prevent me from ever knowing I was autistic. I hate that movie.

[anothernumber]

I have a lot of autistic friends and only 1 of them Is like rainman but most high masking autistic people do seem to know a lot about a couple of subjects (any person could get to this level) but because of their special interests a lot of autistic people seem to really drill down into topics which is amazing.

[misspat]

A lifetime of profound twice-exceptionality has rendered me fantastic at creative problem solving, as my life is essentially a series of problems I have to creatively solve, but I wouldn’t exactly call that being a “savant”! 😅

[Bordm]

Yeah was called gifted, a bit of a stereotype, and everyone saying I was wasting my talent’s/gifts. Fighting with me demanding you can be the person to cure cancer with your brain, or be an amazing anything when I just wanted to be myself, and not live up to those expectations of saving the world. I just wanted to be a person, and not try to change the world like so many have attempted to change me. 😔 Said if I solved all of the world’s problems all at once then there’d be nothing left for anyone to do.

[senorspicyboi]

The worst hollywood offender has to be The Predator. The alien is taking the DNA of superior being to evolve itself, so it's hunting down an autistic kid...

[SaMell]

I've found a lot in my life to show that, (generally speaking here) people with advanced or abnormal abilities, also have disabilities matching in severity. The same can be said about people with mild to severe autism, only the situation would be reversed. Although, it takes a lot of self discovery for a person with disabilities leading their life, to find their strengths; considering how much of their life may be filled with love and care. Their individual strength may never be needed.

[TheWilliamHoganExperience]

I’m “gifted” and autistic/adhd. I’ve never felt smart, even though my IQ tests in the top 2%. I have too many social blind spots and learning difficulties to feel smarter than anyone. There are things first graders understand about making and keeping friends that I’ll never get.

But I do have unique and extreme narrow savant-like abilities in certain areas like music and (ironically) language. My color discrimination tests at a 1 in 10, 000 level, meaning I have the equivalent of perfect pitch with color.

I’m able to reason at a very high level using words, but am at a total loss when it comes to understanding and describing my own internal feelings. I’m often overwhelmed by anxiety as a result.

Savant Syndrome is too narrow and cliche a way to describe my spiked aptitude profile.

But this sort of spiked profile seems common among autistic people, and it’s probably why we are stereotyped as savants. I suspect that highly intelligent people are more likely than most to be autistic and undiagnosed because of their intelligence than those with profound intellectual deficits and thus obvious support needs.

That might mean people like me suffer more due to misdiagnosis and lack of understanding and support for our social deficits and sensitivities.

Even when we are geniuses. Especially when we are geniuses. I find it curious that two of the 3 richest men on earth identify or have been diagnosed as autistic.

What are the odds of that? Of so many geniuses in other fields like mathematics science, literature and the arts being autistic or suspected of being so?

I don’t think autism causes savant syndrome, but I suspect it clusters at both ends of the intellectual bell curve - just like intelligence itself.

If so, there are millions of gifted people like me who are undiagnosed and unable to fully support themselves and contribute thier gifts to the world.

It needs to be studied and remedied if this is the case.

[JeffreyElliott-psjn]

According to the research I read from the National Institute of Health, the data correlates a ratio of 1:10. In other words, only 1 person who has been diagnosed as having autism is also found to be a savant.

[leofelix]

10% of autistic people is not extraordinarily rare.

[auparsec]

I don't think that savant abilities in autism is completely and utterly untrue, because some people on the autism spectrum still have a savant like ability even though a larger majority of people on the autism spectrum may not have a savant like ability. I am someone on the autism spectrum who still has a savant like ability even though my brother who is also on the autism spectrum may not have a savant like ability. I am mostly a creative savant.

[desertdarlene]

And, we're not all good at math and computers, either. I like math and understand it, but I tend to twist around numbers, so I was never good at it. I used to like putting together computers, but I get super bored learning about coding and algorithms.

[darkhorseman]

The genes linked to autism are linked to higher intelligence: superior utilisation of choline and cholesterol by the brain.

They forge much more efficient neuronal connections, thus faster skill acquisition and learning.

The problem is that when you have more efficient neuronal connectivity, you also need efficient neuronal pruning.

Aberrant methylation and demethylation patterns in genes involved in neuronal pruning is common in people exposed to irreversible cholinesterase inhibitors like DDT.

[auparsec]

The fact that most autistic people aren't savants could explain why I felt that I didn't fit in with the adult Asperger's support group I used to attend many years ago since I am a savant besides having autism which would explain why I felt that I couldn't relate to any of the other members of the support group since savants are a lot more inwardly focused than people who just have autism, and it would also explain why my brother who also has autism is still a lot more social than me at family gatherings since he isn't a savant like me. Autistic people struggle with social skills and repetitive behaviors and may have better focus in some areas than most people like lifting weights for example, but other than that most autistic people still aren't savants which could explain why I was having a hard time relating to the other members of the Asperger's support group I used to attend many years ago since I am a savant besides just having autism. I am mostly a creative savant.

[mistressofstones]

I think for a lot of people you have to justify your weirdness or issues by being a genius in some way 😢

[crystalfelicia]

Always Wonder if I was autistic because I sort of relate to some of the symptoms and people often ask me that usually as an insult though But after joining a group for autistic people a lot of them do seem to have these amazing abilities and can't relate to that so in some ways 😢 couldn't relate because that's not me you know.


Their advice was to get checked out and to take the test there's an online test see if it resonates But getting an assessment and a diagnosis is hard because how do you go to your Doctor and just ask them can you assess me for autism I suspect I might have it and most doctors are so

Couldn't even get a proper diagnosis for issues that I know I have 4 certain so it's not always easy for some people and it depends on where you live as well that can make it hard

[darianricks]

It makes autistic kids and people go unnotice. Mainstream makes savant-syndrome autistics seem like the regular. But in all actuality, it’s a rarity a small chance. The good Doctor and Rain man are really bad examples.

They don’t show you the autist children or adults who are on the spectrum where they are actually disabled.

I thought for the longest autistic kids, were the young kids who would beat their heads against a floor or wall, or the ones who have bad tantrums and can’t feed themselves.

Which made me feel like I maybe I’m not autistic and I found your channel and was shocked, which made me go seek out a diagnosis. Becuas they show you two extremes of autism but never the median.

[GenVNight]

I believe the man the movie was based isn’t autistic.
He lives in Texas or Florida, I think. Anyone?