Famous People (Who Might Have Had) Aspergers or Autism
Famous People With Autism
Some famous people with autism may have been: Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Sir Issac Newton, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Wolfgang Mozart, Vincent Vangogh. (I didn’t make this video; note a comment below from a relative of Emily Dickinson regarding the theory of her feasible Asperger’s.)
Parents and loved ones may have concerns about how their children will cope with having been diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum Disorder, e.g. Autism, High Functioning Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and if their child will grow up to have a successful and productive career and fulfilled life.
While their concerns are valid, and each child’s individual needs with ASD differ, there are many people who do very well in life who have autistic traits or ASD.
Author Temple Grandin, a professor at Colorado State University, was diagnosed with autism as a child, today she is a successful specialist in livestock handling; she also writes books specifically about autism. She is now a famous person with autism.
There are many famous and successful people who either had, or are believed by Aspergers’ researchers to have had, Asperger’s Syndrome. Celebrated people with autism have had accomplishments in art, music, engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, theater, writing, athletics, inventions and service work.
There have been people throughout our world’s history who have autism. We cannot be certain of the diagnosis, because they are no longer living. Researches had to go back and review documents, accounts, and writings to look for autistic traits in people in the past believed to have had autism. They found many successful individuals exhibited the traits and behaviors of someone with ASD, such as intense interest and concentration in one subject area, and difficulty with social skills.
People who display(ed) established traits of autism include: Andy Kaufman, Andy Warhol, Michelangelo and Charles Darwin. Darryl Hannah, a now famous actress, was diagnosed with autism at a young age.Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of the Pokémon, is also believed to have autism.
Experts generally agree that many adults with Asperger’s or High-Functioning Autism will be able to live independent lives and work successfully in a career.
Individuals with Asperger’s have the capacity to make valuable intellectual contributions to fields that beneift society. Some suggest that the type of thinking and attention to detail people with Asperger’s exhibit is a necessity for the intellectual contributions.
Everyday Asperger's 
Thanks for sharing the inspiring post… 🙂
You are most welcome 🙂 Sam
I think everyone is born “Normal” but it’s the Best people who grow out of it and we are the ones who will Change your world and make it better! Dare to exist outside the box! I love your video I dedicate this too everyone in it for they prove my point God Bless them! Where would we be without them!
Lovely comment. I did not make the video. But thank you for your inspiring words. 🙂
I’m not sure this is accurate.. I’ve seen a few videos/lists like this for multiple conditions like Bipolar, BPD, Depression…(and more)
I understand people wish to remove the stigma society gives them by linking their condition with famous and brilliant people. But sadly the lists often overlap, or just list brilliant, impressive sounding people, with no evidence that they have autism, bipolar, depression, BPD etc.
I am not meaning to be cruel, just honest. I’m sure some of these people really did have some autism.
That’s why it says “might” have Aspergers. No way to tell, unless we could time travel, but even then, there is no for sure test. Thanks for your insights. And you are right! 🙂
My son is Autistic. I appreciated the info.
thank you 🙂
I’m sure there are many amazing brilliant people with asd.
I was diagnosed with aspergers & could not wrap my mind around it,ended up havinga granmal seizure.three yrs later am just now understanding,yet do not know how to tell my husband.he does not want to return to the dr. who diagnosed me,for he had me o the wrong medication, ultimately caused the siezure.what should i do?
I am so sorry. I cannot tell you what to do. For me, I try to pray and follow my heart. I wish you clarity and strength, and thank you for sharing. xo Sam
It seems like without Asperger and Autism there would be no great writers, poetry or music. I think this video could be credible, since the love and focus on a single subject is what creates extraordinary results. There should be no embarrassment in to who we are, just because we are wired differently. Love who you are.
🙂
Thank you for sharing this. I found it really helpful. I come from a very gifted family who have had some outstanding achievements. I have always been struck by their insight and ability to grasp the “Big Picture”. My families ability is different from others – they go further, and dig deeper than anyone else I know or have heard about. We all seem to have a very high level of intensity and an insatiable need to understand. Most of my family have taken on positions of leadership where we have successfully lead others through completely unchartered waters. None of us have been arrogant. Integrity, truth and respect are an essential part of our make-up. I began to wonder about the nature vs nurture thing with regard to my family – because my observation was that there was something exceptional going on. When my son (who is also showing the kind of intelligence I described above) was diagnosed with ADD, I began to wonder about our education system, where he was being referred to as a “dummy”; he was “put-down” and ridiculed. I eventually moved him to a Montessori school, where they challenged him and engaged him in things like “Socratic Dialogue” (a forum for discussing a, sometimes controversial, topic). He thrived and is doing very well – and now other students go out of their way to ask Adam for his opinion on a topic! I had also been treated very badly at school. As a result, my self confidence was very low. All through university and when I was working and given extraordinary opportunities, I felt like a fraud (because all through elementary and high school I had not done very well and had been made to feel stupid) – I kept thinking that someone would realize that I wasn’t capable of doing the work required. I was so hard on myself (for no reason – because I excelled at almost everything I did, in part because I worked so much harder than those around me – not that I would ever have admitted it). I also did well because I could so clearly grasp the “big picture”. Once I was diagnosed with ADD (and now asbergers), things started to make sense for me – my struggle through school; my lack of self confidence; my feeling so overwhelmed when there were lots of balls to juggle; my extreme difficulty following through on boring tasks; difficulty with organization; anxiety etc. Anyway, I wanted to find some examples of others who had not been well nurtured through the education system, but who had excelled. Your post is very helpful. Thank you!
Jacob barnett quantum physics researcher age 14 now
thank you
Im asperger high evel autism .a hipereader learned different languajes by mi own. Piano player
I m mother of a nt girl for 3 years try to show the world the opposit way i see it
You can imagine how hard was that
. The only way I can show my deeper emotions is playing the piano
Is the way we comunicate each othe
your comment really meant a lot to me… I made some connections in my own life through your observation. Thanks much
I’m a very close relative of Emily Dickinson , she did not have Autism or Aspergers. She was very ill at an early age with an autoimmune kidney disease. Her poems were edited by her sister. Prior to this, she was her mother’s caretaker for many years. Emily was very ill. My own mother looks like her. Numerous GI problems and cancer are prevalent in the Dickinson family. Also there are immune deficiencies and autoimmune problems. No Autism or Aspergers. ADHD is in my family, but on my father’s side. My own mother, is very shy and writes poetry. She has numerous health problems, as do I. I was taught about my Dickinson relatives extensively by my grandfather. There are still family reunions yearly. I myself have health problems also. Many very intelligent relatives, with health problems. But, none with Autism or Aspergers. Simply not true.
thank you for letting me know. I will edit this.
Thanks.
Emily Dickinson is one of my very favourite poets.
It is an honour to see the words of a descendant of such a genius written at proximity.
You must be very lucky (although I don’t really believe in luck)!
Emily absolutely is a classic example of female Aspergers, the colloquial term for high-functioning autism, which is woefully misunderstood and misdiagnosed in women. While it is true that there are hundreds of types of autism – Temple Grandin famously says, “if you’ve met a person with autism, you’ve met a person with autism” – Emily is a classic case if there ever was one: hyper sensitive (Intense World Theory); intelligent; self-directed and autodidactic: extremely direct and forthright in her thinking and speech; extremely creative; she has the classic Autism look; (wide set eyes); and she had depression, GI disorders, a sensitive immune system and convulsive disorders/epilepsy, and a higher predisposition to cancer, all highly correlated to and extremely common in the Aspergers community. Finally, ADHD is considered autism spectrum and it’s one of the indicators that a family has autism tendencies. Please contact me at mary@inventingearth.org if you’d like me to share a bibliography and what’s known about the genetic tendencies, which your family should know about and get tested for. You can do a genetic test for $99 at 23andme.com . Let’s talk.
Honestly how would you know whether she was Autistic or not. If Emily was autistic should would most likely have had Asperger’s which was not discovered until about the 1950s. We have come a long way in medicine and know a lot more than we did back then. If Emily had Aspergers she wouldn’t have been diagnosed with it. People even her own family would just think her peculiar but wouldn’t know the reason why. So truthfully you really cannot say that you know for a fact whether she was or was not Autistic. Also women who have Aspergers go undiagnosed more than men.
Maybe she got it from her mom’s side.
It is so reassuring to know that there are so many brilliant people out there like us that have made wonderful contributions to society and their fields of study. They give me hope for my future and prove to me that yes we can e successful no matter what others may say. Temple Grandin has always been one of my favorite people to study, I relate to her so well as both an aspie and aspiring agriculturalist or scientist.
EXCELLENT blog by the way!!! I stumbled upon it last night when researching brain imaging and AS and am enjoying reading your stories and info. I’ve spent 11 years or over half my life as an aspie and are just now beginning to realize what it is, why I am the way I am, and how I can embrace it as it isn’t the end of the world.
thank you for commenting and wishing you all the best life has to offer. 🙂
Hi!
I am not from english speaking country, so my english is bad enough and I hope you understand me:-). I am not Asp or autist, I am usual person. I have 9 years old son and he have diagnosed Asperger syndrom at 3 years old. Now he is 9. Whet it was diagnosed, I really was shocked, but our doctor is very good. She told me, that it is not deseas, it is some kind of type of thinking and I need to help him to understand this world. So I started… I teached him all emotions, mimic, all what he needed to understand other people. I was allways by his side, helping to understand situations, people, rules. Now he is 9. He is good in matematic and he have very good memory. In school we have no big problems. Of course I still help him a lot, and it is still a lot of things he do not understand yet. But I am proud of him! He is very good in swimming, reading, counting, creating lego models, he like an imals, trees, nature, insects… Yesterday a walked with him in the forest and he saw a lot of cu5ed trees and says
Why people do this, without trees we have no oxygen and we will die!
So I am very proud of him! I am happy that I have him!
I wanted to say so much, but my writing skills are too bad. So I’d like to tell you that your are not along! If somebody whants to ask from usual people who have expierens to live with asperger and likes this, to ask about some thing from usual people’s world what he still do not understand, I really will be happy to help you!
There is a book “All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome ” by Kathy Hoopman which I would recommend anyone to get and which I think is especially a great explanation for children. It has lovely pictures with linked aspects of behaviors that anyone with Aspergers, or close to someone with it, will recognise. To check it out before buying it several people have made youtube videos going through the pages, but it is a lovely book in itself too. I was diagnosed late in life, but still look through my copy often as it reminds me of how many ways there are where being an Aspie is a positive and makes me smile.
When my son got the diagnose of aspergers, we sat down and pinpointed out a bunch of relatives with possible aspects of autism, myself included. It felt good to know you’re not alone and it explains why you get along with some people better than others. Like my mother once said “Autism seems to be a magnetic field, you Always find eachother”.
Excellent site you have here but I was curious if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics
discussed here? I’d really like to be a part of online community where I can get responses from
other knowledgeable people that share the same interest.
If you have any recommendations, please let me know.
Many thanks!
check out the Facebook page listed on the left. We have discussions there.
For me , cannabis quells my racing thoughts , OCD , inability to start a project and finish it , and my anxziety takes a nose dive . It should be regulated like alcohol . It is not legal in Wisconsin so I self medicate with alcohol which just makes it worse .
legal in washington, too 🙂