Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Famous autistic people?

Following my previous post, I'd like to elaborate a bit on famous historical people who were supposedly autistic. Many illustrous names come up when you google famous historical people in combination with autism: Leonardo Da Vinci, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Thomas Edison and many more. Well... again, I have to say... (pardon me for the third time)... WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH!!! Upon what evidence does one state that for example Da Vinci was autistic??? Because he was a genius??? Come on, give me a break! It is true that there are quite a few autistic people who are geniuses, but so are many "neurotypical" people. There is absolutely no link between autism and a high IQ whatsoever! So then, what evidence is there? Where is the psychological analysis (ZAT, MMP1-2,...)? Where's Rey's complex figure? The neuropsychological examination (Bourdon-Wiersma,...)? And so on...

Let's take the example which is closest to my heart: Johann Sebastian Bach, without any doubt the greatest musical mind in history ("next to him all others look like children" - Robert Schumann). When I took the tests, they told me that it was essential to do an in-depth psychological analysis of the first two life years in order to be able to make an autism diagnosis with a certian accuracy. As far as Bach is concerned, we know absolutely NOTHING of the first TEN years of his life. And the only thing we know from the period immediately after, is that he became an orphan and had to go and live with his oldest brother. For the rest, it's a total blank! So who is the smartass who claims that Bach was autistic??? Indeed, Bach repeatedly got into trouble with his superiors. So, is a "difficult" person by definition autistic now? By the way, who says that Bach was a difficult person anyway? What do we actually know for certain about his character? Very little as it turns out, and this very little could just as well mean that he was exactly the opposite of being autistic. His second oldest son, Carl-Philipp Emanuel, writes that he was a "loving father and that his door was always open to give visitors a warm welcome". He also gave us a couple of examples that indicate he was actually a very good-humoured person. We also know that no musician would pass through Leipzig without having paid Bach a visit. He was also the heart and soul of the musical afternoons in Zimmermann's coffee tavern. So it rather seems to me that he was indeed quite a sociable person, fun to be with and kind. Could it be that the many conflicts with the authorities arose because he was simply too good at what he did? Could it be that his magnificent music wasn't appreciated by the strong pietist movement in Germany, which claimed that music should only "support the prayers of the faithful" and hence be kept simple and dull? 

Likewise, I'd like to challenge all of the other claims for so-called autistic historical people because they're based on nothing at all. But apparently, this is the best example of the "hype" that autism has become. Hopefully it's also the best proof for the absurdity of many stories about autism. 

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