Was Forrest Gump on the autistic spectrum?

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Asperger? Autism? Autistic spectrum?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump (movie)

Borderline mental retardation.

he was a little south of the boarder on that chart

According to the wiki, looks like they wanted to portray Forrest Gump as an autistic savant?

According to the Wikipedia entry, his IQ is 75, which is north of the border of mental retardation (below 70). 70-84 is "borderline intellectual functioning."

Actually, I think it says that he was portrayed as an autistic savant in the book, but *not* the movie. In the book, he apparently "receives a perfect score in an advanced physics class he was enrolled in by his coach to satisfy his college requirements." None of that was in the movie.

there was a book?
I have to get it.

He seemed to have some autistic tendencies and a low IQ in the movie. I never read the book.

Ah, okay - thanks for clearing it up. The wiki entry was a bit confusing in its wording [either that or this is a sign I ought to go to bed now] and it has been a while since I last saw the movie.

Often times, with people who are neurodiverse-in-general, you'll get "autistic" vibes just because you're seeing someone who's off the norm. It's important to remember that just because we're so interested in autism, not everyone off-the-norm you see will be autistic. That doesn't mean that non-autistic neurodiverse people aren't interesting, though; when I have friends, I find them very nearly as easy to understand as autistics. I think maybe that's because, like autistics, these people are also off the norm and have had a lifetime of practice at understanding people unlike themselves. It's not surprising that bridging the gap with an autistic person wouldn't be too hard for them.

Well, well.........now I have another book to read

No - hes a fictional character. Data, Spock, Wesley Crusher and all those other people did not have Aspergers either.

I like your Harry Stack Sullivan quote.

Or rather: the IQ measured by the standard test X was blah. As per my understanding, not all IQ tests are balanced enough to give a good read of the IQ of someone with a learning disability.

His real IQ may well have been higher.

Forrest Gump is an autistic savant. This is clearly evident in how good he is at ping pong, and his perfect score in the advanced physics class his football coach enrolled him in.

Wait, just because he's a savant doesn't make him autistic. Half of all savants aren't; they're usually developmentally delayed, though, and that would make sense for Forrest Gump's case.

Did the author of the original book ever state what s/he meant him to be?