Aspergers Syndrome

How many famous people that  have had an impact on history and the world actually had Aspergers Syndrome?

I asked myself this question the other day as I sat discussing with my daughter about her condition with Aspergers and ADHD. We were discussing that with or without her medication she still has the ability to control some of her actions. Since one of her favorite shows is Extreme Make-Over Home Edition and I have heard that the host Ty Pennington has ADHD and is an ADHD Spokesperson I used him as an example of how someone who is wild and crazy with ADHD can pull it back and still control their actions when needed. I couldn’t believe how excited she got knowing that someone that famous and popular had her same condition. This made me decide to research famous people with Aspergers Syndrome.

Interestingly enough many of the sites I found mostly discussed deceased people who had an impact on history. Many leading Aspergers Researchers believe that after reviewing these peoples life impact, stories, traits and quirks, fields of interests and many other areas had found they would fit into the Aspergers Syndrome diagnosis. Obviously there is no way to prove this, however they were able to identify areas that had Aspergers traits even if they were not completely Aspergers.  Applying these characteristics associated with Aspergers to famous and historical figures we now can see a positive and significant impact that Aspergers could have played to our society and the world.

I sat my daughter down and went through this list and enjoyed seeing her reaction to several of the names on the list. Many of these people she has studied recently in school and even done book reports or projects on them. These are people from science, politics, artists, philosophers, inventors, actors, writers and even royalty. Helping her to see people who have made an impact on the world through their skills who used their Aspergers traits for good helped her to see she too can succeed and aspire to become great herself.  She loves math and science so maybe someday her name will be on that list too!

At http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_2086.shtml they give each name with a small explanation on why they might be Aspergers. Not everyone on the list is deceased but what an interesting list to think about!

Here are some of the famous people listed that are suspected to have Aspergers:

Albert Einstein

Isaac Newton

Benjamin Franklin

Napoleon Bonaparte

George Washington

John Quincy Adams

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Johnson

Abraham Lincoln

James Garfield

Teddy Roosevelt

William Taft

Harry Truman

Louis IV

Catherine the Great

Peter the Great

Alexander the Great

Leonardo da Vinci

Vincent van Gogh

Beethoven

Elvis

Socrates

Henry Ford

Bill Gates

Robin Williams

Tom Hanks

Marilyn Monroe

Clark Gable

Virginia Woolf

Shakespeare

Charles Dickenson