Walt Disney was probably an Aspie

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Do you think Walt Disney was an Aspie?
Yes 10%  10%  [ 1 ]
No 50%  50%  [ 5 ]
Probably 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Maybe 20%  20%  [ 2 ]
Could be 10%  10%  [ 1 ]
What's an Aspie? 10%  10%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 10

jimmy m
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07 Jun 2019, 3:02 pm

Over the last 50 years, I have probably been to Disneyland and Disney World a dozen times. I just returned from a visit to Disney World with my family. Since I am 70, I found that the old bones do not quite move as fast as they use to. But as I traveled around the various parks, I was struck by the thought the this whole world was actually created by an Aspie. It is a marvelous magical world. I was actually walking around on another planet, a whole new universe.

So when I returned home, I searched the internet and sure enough I was not the only one that was struck with that thought.

According to George Ratliff at Prezi - Walt Disney had a mild version of aspergers, dyslexia. Walt struggled in school. He found maths and physics/ sciance very hard. He ended up dropping out of high school to continue his dream of being a artist.
Source: Famous people with Asperger's

Douglas Quenqua at US Campaign also seems to think Disney was an Aspie.

Given the choice, few people would choose to have a condition like Asperger's. The same goes for learning disabilities including dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or dysgraphia. Everyday business chores such as writing an email, managing a schedule, giving a presentation or reading a creative brief can take twice as long when your brain doesn’t process information in the usual way.

But a growing body of research suggests that many of these conditions come with a little-understood benefit: higher degrees of creative thinking and achievement. Study after study has shown a link between such conditions and artistic capacity or the ability to solve problems in unconventional ways. Da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Walt Disney are just some of the creative nonconformists who have been posthumously (and controversially) diagnosed with learning disabilities. The idea, researchers believe, is that people who are constantly forced to think about tasks in unusual ways train themselves to become creative problem-solvers.

"We speculate that it may be because they are approaching things very differently," according to the authors of a 2015 study that found a connection between autistic traits and divergent thinking. "It goes a way towards explaining how some people with what is often characterised as a disability exhibit superior creative talents in some domains."


Source: The upside of thinking different: Asperger's, ADHD and enhanced creativity


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Fnord
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07 Jun 2019, 4:21 pm

Sociable. Physically coordinated. Mentally organized. Understood other people's behavior and feelings. Regular eye contact. Didn't need any 'caregiver'.


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SaveFerris
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07 Jun 2019, 4:56 pm

Disney perpetuated the myth that lemmings commit suicide


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BenderRodriguez
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07 Jun 2019, 5:07 pm

SaveFerris wrote:
Disney perpetuated the myth that lemmings commit suicide


Would you count that for or against him being an Aspie? :wink:


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cyberdad
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07 Jun 2019, 5:17 pm

Lots of famous people being labelled "aspie"...now Disney?



madbutnotmad
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07 Jun 2019, 5:24 pm

I can't say that i know enough about the man Walt Disney.
He certainly did become massively successful.
Whether this attributed to Asperger Syndrome or not. I can not say.

As much as i love DisneyLand, what i do know is that there is one or two aspects
to how Disney did business that i am not so keen on.

For example, the entire battle between Disney and the cartoonist who created
Mickey Mouse i find upsetting. Especially when the guy apparently ended up
getting ostracised and picked on after being ripped off.

I don't know how much of this story is myth though.
I also know there was also a rumour that Mr. Hitler was apparently a keen fan on Disney.

But sure, even if that was so, does that really mean anything significant.
Disney has given a great deal of pleasure to a lot of people, now that i have no doubt of.
In turn, Disney has made an absolute fortune. And Disney land is expensive.
But on the other hand, it must have cost a lot to create such a place.

I also have to say that i do like the sound of the new Star Wars Land in Disney.
So although i think that extreme capitalism and extreme consumerism have in a lot of ways
caused a lot of damage to the world and the human race.

I still find Star Wars land hard to resist.



madbutnotmad
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07 Jun 2019, 5:26 pm

btw i have never heard anyone before call Dyslexia a mild form of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger Syndrome or Aspie. I am not saying that what you have said is wrong. I just have never heard it put like that before.

From my knowledge of the condition, this is a type of learning difficulties which strongly relates to short term memory.



SaveFerris
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07 Jun 2019, 5:29 pm

BenderRodriguez wrote:
SaveFerris wrote:
Disney perpetuated the myth that lemmings commit suicide


Would you count that for or against him being an Aspie? :wink:


I plead the fifth 8)


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madbutnotmad
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07 Jun 2019, 5:34 pm

Douglas Quenqua was a political candidate as well as journalist.
Two areas that are perhaps the least trust worthy in terms of generalisation.

(trust me, i'm a politician.... or trust me, i'm a journalist...)
Trust me, i know from experience of both, that such people can't always be taken on their word.
Don't get me wrong, occasionally a journalist and even rarer a politician proves to have moral integrity.
However, i have to say that i am still waiting to see that day....
put your trust in such people and be prepared to be disappointed.

such people are often among the worst examples of all that is wrong with neurotypicals.



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07 Jun 2019, 6:38 pm

cyberdad wrote:
Lots of famous people being labelled "aspie"... now Disney?
Yes. Some people seem to have such a need to identify with someone successful and famous that they will fabricate the most tenuous link from made-up 'evidence'.


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cyberdad
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07 Jun 2019, 8:32 pm

I have issues with Disney's politics (although he was a man of his time) but appreciate his creativity.



Joe90
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08 Jun 2019, 2:02 am

I heard he was dyslexic. But I highly doubt he was an Aspie. I think some Aspies want to believe that these famous and successful people are Aspies to either make them feel good about themselves for being an Aspie, or to deny the fact that NTs can be creative and clever.


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cyberdad
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08 Jun 2019, 3:11 am

The Aspie community here in Melbourne tried to claim famous concert pianist David Helfgott was an Aspie. Helfgott's wife came on radio and criticised the Asperger community for spreading lies about her husband just because he chooses to teach music to children on the autism spectrum.

Helfgott has publicly stated he has schizoaffective disorder



naturalplastic
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08 Jun 2019, 3:41 am

madbutnotmad wrote:
btw i have never heard anyone before call Dyslexia a mild form of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger Syndrome or Aspie. I am not saying that what you have said is wrong. I just have never heard it put like that before.

From my knowledge of the condition, this is a type of learning difficulties which strongly relates to short term memory.


That's what I was gonna say.

Saying that "so-and-so had a mild form of aspergers. And that "this mild form of aspergers is a thing called 'dyslexia'" is nonsense.

Dyslexia is one thing. And aspergers is something else. Two different conditions. Thay can be comorbid. But dyslexia is not a form of aspergers.



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08 Jun 2019, 2:42 pm

Walt Disney was a friendly, charismatic man who held his employees at the highest regard, so no not an Aspie.


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lostonearth35
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09 Jun 2019, 11:20 am

So aspies can't be charming, friendly and charismatic at all? I think I can when I really want to be.

But... maybe Dr. Suess was an aspie. He very seldom made public appearances until near the end of his life. And he was actually afraid of children, even though he is best known for his stories whose target audience was children.