Subscribe Via RSS3 Aspies Who Changed The World
Thank an aspie for…
1. That computer you’re using today.
Bill Gates is widely rumored to be an aspie, and whether you love it or hate it, Microsoft and Windows had a lot to do with the rise of personal computing. According to Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, Gates was already spending many hours a week on programming by high school, at a time when no one else even knew what a computer was.
2. Jurassic Park. Schindler’s List. Indiana Jones. E.T. Jaws.
Steven Spielberg was diagnosed with AS as an adult, but his obsessive interest in making movies was already evident in childhood. (If you’ve ever seen “Dawson’s Creek”, it should be easy to imagine as Dawson was based somewhat on Spielberg.)
3. Pokemon
The creator, Satoshi Tajiri, had such an obsession with insects that his peers called him Dr. Bug. So it was no surprise that he created insect-like creatures for Nintendo! He didn’t bring world peace, but he did change the way American children consumed design.
14 Responses
Pokemon used to be so awesome…
Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman also fit the bill, although, to bill’s credit, nether of them released mosquitoes at a TED conference. I think we can all agree that bill is pretty badass for that.
Really, everything good comes from aspie behavior. Think about the perfect icecream. Someone right now, probably with as, is trying to create it. When they do, we will have perfect icecream. icecream is delicious, and wonderful.
And nothing bad comes from aspie behavior! IMO we don’t need a “cure”. Look at all the great things we’d miss out on if people wiped out our aspie tendencies. There are so so many people I didn’t include in this list, some of the greatest names of all time.
It all goes to show that it just might take some aspie aloofness to take the risks that many great inventors and thinkers took. If we all worried about fitting in, society might never get anywhere.
When your site becomes more popular, we should totally organize a “Nothing’s wrong with me” convention. We could have it at the Raleigh Convention Center: http://www.raleighconvention.com/index.php/homepage/photo-gallery/building-images
I believe the PC term is “Aspergers Pride”. Or “Aspergers Rights”!
Can it be soon? Because I need that vacation in the Outer Banks…
PC is BS, IMHO. I will write you an essay on it one day.
And that ball is in your court :p
We’d love to have you visit NC any time!
I like the “Aspergers Pride” phrase. So now you have to pick colors for this movement, the rainbow is already taken! Maybe the whole color wheel…
janny226’s last blog post..Does Your Child Know His/Her Dx?
Forget all about the gays, we can coopt the rainbow if we want. It’s supposed to mean diversity anyways, right?
Really? I’m disappointed…I thought you were going to suggest that we use black.
(off to find a palette on ColourLovers)
And not digging having to do math every time I comment. Who designed this site, a nerd?
Yes, yes they did. If you’re registered though, it shouldnt make you do that. Or, if i comment from my iphone, it doesnt.
First off, I vote for Pliny the Elder, the oldest known Aspie. If I could be anyone it would be him (except the death by volcano part). As for people wanting to “fix” us, I recite this poem (yah, I’m really popular with people):
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-dormouse-and-the-doctor/
I have a hard time believing it is possible to diagnose a guy that’s been dead that long as an aspie… Personally, i think somebody is running around slapping an aspie tag on any famous dead person or fictional badass they can find in an effort to rule the world… Honestly, I have to support that, but it doesnt mean I buy it.
I mean, come on now, spock didnt have AS, he wasnt even human, he was a vulcan! ALL vulcans act like that, except that strange group that… let me stop talking before someone assumes i know a lot about startrek…
Pliny the elder was brilliant, yes, but NTs can be brilliant as well. It’s just more difficult for them because they waste time on various inconsequential things.
Point well taken, no one can accurately diagnose the past people. I just spent my time in Grad school working on his Natural History for my masters (which I never finished) and felt quite a bond for him. Everbody in the department always thought him “loser who couldn’t write”.
agentwool’s last blog post..Syllogisms
xkvhleax…
xkvhleax…