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Kraichgauer
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20 May 2017, 4:30 pm

While I realize this topic has been done to death, I think it's a worthy one. Name those writers, living or dead, who you either know or suspect, were autistic. I'll start first:

H.P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
Thomas Ligotti
James Elroy
Franz Kafka
Emily Dickenson

I'm sure there are many others.


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Meistersinger
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20 May 2017, 5:36 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
While I realize this topic has been done to death, I think it's a worthy one. Name those writers, living or dead, who you either know or suspect, were autistic. I'll start first:

H.P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
Thomas Ligotti
James Elroy
Franz Kafka
Emily Dickenson

I'm sure there are many others.


You forgot WP's own RedRobin, Robin Ray.



Kraichgauer
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20 May 2017, 5:48 pm

Meistersinger wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
While I realize this topic has been done to death, I think it's a worthy one. Name those writers, living or dead, who you either know or suspect, were autistic. I'll start first:

H.P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
Thomas Ligotti
James Elroy
Franz Kafka
Emily Dickenson

I'm sure there are many others.


You forgot WP's own RedRobin, Robin Ray.


Then I will make a note of Robin ray.


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QuillAlba
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20 May 2017, 6:03 pm

Not fair to diagnose people after their death.

We all needed to see a person and interact with them to get our diagnosis, we can say they had traits but that is all.



Kraichgauer
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20 May 2017, 7:05 pm

QuillAlba wrote:
Not fair to diagnose people after their death.

We all needed to see a person and interact with them to get our diagnosis, we can say they had traits but that is all.


Both Ligotti and Elroy are very much alive, and both come across as Aspies. From descriptions of those authors now passed, given by those who knew them, also fit the spectrum.


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QuillAlba
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20 May 2017, 7:11 pm

Hence traits rather than giving dead people a full diagnosis.

I'd love for them to be like us too, I just feel uneasy.



Kraichgauer
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20 May 2017, 7:28 pm

QuillAlba wrote:
Hence traits rather than giving dead people a full diagnosis.

I'd love for them to be like us too, I just feel uneasy.


That's your right.


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20 May 2017, 7:36 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
QuillAlba wrote:
Hence traits rather than giving dead people a full diagnosis.

I'd love for them to be like us too, I just feel uneasy.


That's your right.


Sorry, didn't mean to get your back up.

They can't speak for themselves, I get what you are saying, they do indeed display traits of the spectrum.

We can both be right in our positions here.



Kraichgauer
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20 May 2017, 9:15 pm

QuillAlba wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
QuillAlba wrote:
Hence traits rather than giving dead people a full diagnosis.

I'd love for them to be like us too, I just feel uneasy.


That's your right.


Sorry, didn't mean to get your back up.

They can't speak for themselves, I get what you are saying, they do indeed display traits of the spectrum.

We can both be right in our positions here.


Absolutely.


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22 May 2017, 1:04 am

I also like playing the guessing game, "Were they or weren't they?" The autism spectrum is so wide that, hopefully, definitive diagnoses will one day be determined by genetic testing. I suppose, for all intents and purposes, the most accurate descriptors would be those outlined in the DSM-IV or V manuals as well as ICD-10. I'm still a bit skeptical about all those online quizzes because a few of the questions make no sense. To wit:

Do you often notice small details which others don't?
My answer? I don't have a f*cking clue what other people notice so how the hell should I know?

Do you focus on details and miss the big picture?
This question makes no sense. It's like saying I noticed the transporter beam, the tricorder and the pointed ears of the first officer but don't have a clue about what show I was watching or what the story was about.

FREE!! FREE!! FREE!! FREE!!

While I'm on the subject, I recently made all my ebooks obtainable for free from Smashwords. A lot of them veer towards horror and crime fiction but "Commoner the Vagabond" is about the misadventures of a man on the autism spectrum.



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27 May 2017, 10:17 am

To me, what this question flags up is the /shortage/ of living writers who are known to be autistic. A little searching around only bagged me Corinne Duyvis, YA fantasy author: and that's only because she wrote an article on that subject. https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-b ... nd-writers

There's another YA author I met at an SF convention who very definitely has Aspergers, but his publicity material doesn't mention it so I'm hestitant to "out" him.


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27 May 2017, 12:20 pm

I've heard a number of sources claim that Jane Austen was an Aspie, but I don't know why people would draw that conclusion from her writing. (Perhaps her diaries hold more revealing insights into her character).


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