AUTISM AND SAVANTISM

An autistic savant is someone with autism who has an extraordinary area of knowledge or ability.

Savantism is often common among autistic individuals.

I had researched about savantism in university for my project and I read somewhere that savants may have experienced an injury in the left part of their brain which somehow lets them exhibit unusual abilities.

I also read about Stephen Wiltshire, a British artist who was diagnosed with autism at a very young age. He was referred to as a "human camera'' because of his ability to draw landscapes from memory after just seeing them once.

Mind-blowing.

Most savants have abilities in musical, artistic or mathematical domains. Some others possess the skill of ‘calendar calculating’, quickly computing the day of the week of any date in the past or future. I have seen this before. During Patrick's speech center's Christmas concert, there was a boy who could mention any day of the week a date falls on.

For example, if you ask him ''what day does the 18th of February 2021 fall on?''. He would reply "Thursday''. Trust me, I was in awe.

The reality, however, is that few people with autism are savants; It has been estimated that one out of every ten autistic people are savants.

Although, there is a misconception that all autistic individuals are savants. Some people EXPECT all autistic individuals to showcase signs of savantism, which is very damaging.

Now you meet a person with autism and expect him/her to show memory feats, musical skills and artistic abilities. NOT ALL ARE SAVANTS.

Every autistic individual is gifted in different ways, just like every human being is.

Let's try to accept people the way they are, okay?

DO YOU KNOW?

Kim Peek, an American savant was the inspiration of the rain man. He had a photographic memory and possessed the ability to read with his left eye and his right eye simultaneously, while retaining most of the information.

Beyond cool. Rain Man stars Tom cruise and Dustin Hoffman.

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