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cyberdad
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07 Feb 2013, 1:53 am

Callista wrote:
The Einstein/autism hypothesis is a plausible one.

Italicized are the traits Einstein probably had. So, depending on whether there was what they call a "significant impairment", Einstein may well have been autistic.
Einstein's autistic traits included:
--Speech delay
--Naivete
--Lack of tact
--Obsessive fascination with physics
--Tendency to "lecture" rather than converse
--Highly visual, detail-oriented information processing
--Loner; disliked crowds
--Had meltdowns
--Did not adjust style of speech to audience (ex., lecturing an eight-year-old about advanced physics)
--Very literal thinker; when told by a doctor to stop smoking his pipe, he scavenged cigarettes and smoked those instead..


Curiously this also describes a prominent pianist in Australia named David Helfgot who is considered by many to be a musical genius. Both David Helfgot's and Albert Einstein's families have rejected the autism label despite both having speech delays as children.



emimeni
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07 Feb 2013, 2:03 am

cyberdad wrote:
Callista wrote:
The Einstein/autism hypothesis is a plausible one.

Italicized are the traits Einstein probably had. So, depending on whether there was what they call a "significant impairment", Einstein may well have been autistic.
Einstein's autistic traits included:
--Speech delay
--Naivete
--Lack of tact
--Obsessive fascination with physics
--Tendency to "lecture" rather than converse
--Highly visual, detail-oriented information processing
--Loner; disliked crowds
--Had meltdowns
--Did not adjust style of speech to audience (ex., lecturing an eight-year-old about advanced physics)
--Very literal thinker; when told by a doctor to stop smoking his pipe, he scavenged cigarettes and smoked those instead..


Curiously this also describes a prominent pianist in Australia named David Helfgot who is considered by many to be a musical genius. Both David Helfgot's and Albert Einstein's families have rejected the autism label despite both having speech delays as children.


You know, maybe we shouldn't call them "autistic" if they can't or are unwilling to say "I am/am not autistic, and here's why." by themselves.

If someone famous and famously eccentric is dead, maybe we can just say they had "[insert their name here] Syndrome.". So, Einstein had "Albert Einstein Syndrome.". Van Gogh had "Van Gogh Syndrome.". Emily Dickinson had "Emily Dickinson Syndrome". Etc.


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cyberdad
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07 Feb 2013, 8:34 pm

emimeni wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
Callista wrote:
The Einstein/autism hypothesis is a plausible one.

Italicized are the traits Einstein probably had. So, depending on whether there was what they call a "significant impairment", Einstein may well have been autistic.
Einstein's autistic traits included:
--Speech delay
--Naivete
--Lack of tact
--Obsessive fascination with physics
--Tendency to "lecture" rather than converse
--Highly visual, detail-oriented information processing
--Loner; disliked crowds
--Had meltdowns
--Did not adjust style of speech to audience (ex., lecturing an eight-year-old about advanced physics)
--Very literal thinker; when told by a doctor to stop smoking his pipe, he scavenged cigarettes and smoked those instead..


Curiously this also describes a prominent pianist in Australia named David Helfgot who is considered by many to be a musical genius. Both David Helfgot's and Albert Einstein's families have rejected the autism label despite both having speech delays as children.


You know, maybe we shouldn't call them "autistic" if they can't or are unwilling to say "I am/am not autistic, and here's why." by themselves.

If someone famous and famously eccentric is dead, maybe we can just say they had "[insert their name here] Syndrome.". So, Einstein had "Albert Einstein Syndrome.". Van Gogh had "Van Gogh Syndrome.". Emily Dickinson had "Emily Dickinson Syndrome". Etc.


I take your point. It is still possible to do a forensic analysis of their traits/behaviors based on other people's observations and their own diaries. However maybe best to leave them be. The main reason the matter of Einstein is raised is because he could quite easily provide a role model for autistic individuals who have an inclination toward physics or math.



emimeni
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07 Feb 2013, 10:19 pm

cyberdad wrote:
emimeni wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
Curiously this also describes a prominent pianist in Australia named David Helfgot who is considered by many to be a musical genius. Both David Helfgot's and Albert Einstein's families have rejected the autism label despite both having speech delays as children.


You know, maybe we shouldn't call them "autistic" if they can't or are unwilling to say "I am/am not autistic, and here's why." by themselves.

If someone famous and famously eccentric is dead, maybe we can just say they had "[insert their name here] Syndrome.". So, Einstein had "Albert Einstein Syndrome.". Van Gogh had "Van Gogh Syndrome.". Emily Dickinson had "Emily Dickinson Syndrome". Etc.


I take your point. It is still possible to do a forensic analysis of their traits/behaviors based on other people's observations and their own diaries. However maybe best to leave them be. The main reason the matter of Einstein is raised is because he could quite easily provide a role model for autistic individuals who have an inclination toward physics or math.


That's what I'm trying to say, to leave them be.


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eric76
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08 Feb 2013, 3:14 am

guywithAS wrote:
einstein had autism.

he was ashkenazi jewish, which has a very high prevalence of autism.


Unless every single Ashkenazi Jewish are Autistic, that proves nothing.

guywithAS wrote:
if you read books about how einstein came up with the theory of relativity, he was obsessed with asking "why". (autism / systematizer). and he did this endlessly, which is a sign of alexithymia.


That is perhaps the most absurd nonsense that I have ever read about Einstein.



GnothiSeauton
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08 Feb 2013, 9:44 am

imho every single human being is part autistic, part NT. After all our brains are like a mixing table full of controls, dials, sliders and buttons etc. And to boot, we have both digital and analog inputs/outputs. All combinations are possible. Labelling is just for fun. I know what I am and Einstein knew what he was. A human being.



cyberdad
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08 Feb 2013, 7:40 pm

eric76 wrote:
guywithAS wrote:
einstein had autism.

he was ashkenazi jewish, which has a very high prevalence of autism.


Unless every single Ashkenazi Jewish are Autistic, that proves nothing.
.


Not every Ashkenazi Jew had a significant speech delay and obsession over math but yes not impossible it;s was just a coincidence.

According to his family - **the boy was, and remained, a reluctant talker for quite some years (speech delay), and, until the age of about seven, used to repeat his sentences to himself softly (echolalia). It's a curious coincidence that most autsitics who overcome a speech delay and echolalia start to use sentences around that particular age of 7 yrs.