The Sky's the Limit: The Faces of Autism
When my sister was growing up, people were quick to tell us what she couldn't do. She'd never go to a normal school, never keep up with the other children, never read, never write an essay, never pass an Honors class, never pass an AP class, never get into university Honors, never be able to live away from home. In short, she'd never be where she is today, having done all of those things and more. Yet with each new hurdle passed, and each naysayer discredited, a new person steps up to take their place.
It is with this background that I write this today and tell you that not only can people with high functioning autism do all these things, some will even go on to do things you and I could never hope to. As evidence, I offer up a whole host of people who are the top performers in their fields - and also happen to have autism. Don't believe me? Click on their names and read up on them. Every last one of these people is on the autism spectrum and succeeded despite (or perhaps thanks to) their autism. For a person with high functioning autism, the sky's the limit.
It is with this background that I write this today and tell you that not only can people with high functioning autism do all these things, some will even go on to do things you and I could never hope to. As evidence, I offer up a whole host of people who are the top performers in their fields - and also happen to have autism. Don't believe me? Click on their names and read up on them. Every last one of these people is on the autism spectrum and succeeded despite (or perhaps thanks to) their autism. For a person with high functioning autism, the sky's the limit.
Actors
Dan Aykroyd
Field: Comedian, singer, actor, screenwriter
Details: Aykroyd is one of the original members of SNL, winning an Emmy for his writing. He went on to play Ray Stantz in Ghostbusters, a film which he also helped write, and Elwood Blues in The Blues Brothers. Another successful autistic person in this field is the actress Daryl Hannah, best known for acting in Splash, Blade Runner, Steel Magnolias, and Kill Bill.
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Musicians
Adam Young - Owl City
Field: Musician/singer-songwriter
Details: Created hit songs Fireflies, which was the iTunes single of the week and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and more recently, the song Good Time featuring Carly Rae Jepson. Other famous autistic musicians include Phillipa "Pip" Brown (aka Ladyhawke), indie rock musician and Craig Nicholls, frontman of the Australian alternative rock band, The Vines.
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Nobel Prize Laureates
Vernon Smith
Field: Economics
Details: A current professor at Chapman University, Smith 'has authored or co-authored over 200 articles and books on capital theory, finance, natural resource economics and experimental economics,' work which led him to win the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. In addition, perhaps the most famous Nobel Prize winner, Albert Einstein, is often thought to have had Asperger's, high functioning autism.
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Models
Heather Kuzmich
Field: Modeling
Details: Kuzmich was featured on the reality TV show, America's Next Top Model, where she placed fourth. In a similar field, Alexis Wineman, Miss Montana, is a current competitor for the Miss America beauty pageant, and the first with autism to enter.
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Athletes
Jessica-Jane Applegate
Field: Swimming
Details: Won gold at the 2012 Paralympics with a personal best swim of 2 minutes 12.63 seconds at age fifteen. Another accomplished autistic athlete is American surfer Clay Marzo, who won the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) Nationals competition at age 15.
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Game Designers
Satoshi Tajiri
Field: Video Game Designer
Details: Taijiri was the creator of the hugely popular video game Pokémon, 'the second-most successful and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the world.' Like many successful autistic people, he took his passions (in his case, for bug collecting) and turned it into a career. |
Business people
Michael Burry
Field: Finance
Details: A hedge fun manager and former physician, Burry made over $100 million for himself and $700 million for his hedge fund investors by successfully predicting the housing bubble collapse. He's been featured in the New York Times, and the book "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine." |
Advocates
Temple Grandin
Fields: Animal science and autism advocacy
Details: One of TIME's 2010 most influential people. Towards the goal of autism advocacy, she is both a successful speaker (including in the TED talk "The World Needs All Kinds of Minds") and a prolific, successful author. She was the subject of the Emmy-award winning film, Temple Grandin. She is also an animal welfare advocate, and recognized as an award winning visionary by PETA. |
Now, is every person with autism some sort of savant-like superman? Certainly not, although that is certainly a widespread myth on the other extreme. People with ASD are just as human as you or I are and generally subject to the same limitations, if not more in some areas. Just as most "normal" people won't go on to become multi-millionaires, famous actors, or Nobel Prize Laureates, it's the same with people on the autism spectrum. My point here, however, was to say that people with high functioning ASD can be, as many are, incredibly successful in life in many different fields.
