One of their great strengths is their capacity throughout their life to see things through the eyes of a child. So you have a massive amount of information about him. Everybody was writing about Hans Christian Andersen, everyone was leaving descriptions about Hans Christian Andersen. I mean Hans Christian Andersen was the most famous writer in Europe at that time. Michael Fitzgerald: Well the reason we do it – there’s masses amounts of information on the people I have diagnosed. Stephen Ramsay: (to Michael Fitzgerald) How do we know enough about these traits in dead people to be able to make the kinds of diagnoses that you make in your books? Stephen Ramsay: Fitzgerald has now written three books about the great geniuses of history and he thinks many of them owe their gifts to Asperger’s syndrome. Michael Fitzgerald: Writing the book was a great pleasure, and the gentleman on our left here is Stephen Ramsey from Australia who’s making a film on autism and Asperger’s syndrome, and I was pleased that he was able to come for the launch. The book was co-written by Michael Fitzgerald, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin And that same day in Dublin a book was being launched diagnosing Beckett with Asperger’s syndrome, along with eight other Irish geniuses. Stephen Ramsay: Flying high above the crowds, banners are announcing the centenary of Samuel Beckett. My family are impossibly eccentric as well! Jane: What about your family? Have they ever told you? So I’ve gone through my whole life being not just eccentric – but impossibly eccentric! Most people are very polite, and don’t give you feedback. People don’t tell you if you’re a weirdo – they’re too polite. Jane: Do you think your life’s been stuffed up? I mean it’s a bit of a shock… it’s a real shock to your system to find out you’ve got Asperger’s syndrome because if you do have it there’s a lot of indications you can’t do anything about it. I want to meet some people, some other people who might help me understand if there’s a genius link, whether there’s… what’s it like to have Asperger’s syndrome? Can they get over it? Is it a problem for their lives? Am I like them? I want to find out exactly where I fit in this whole scheme of things. Stephen Ramsay: I’m going to Ireland and America… Is it just another plot by the pharmaceutical companies? Are these people being conned? I’m willing to admit I do have eccentricities, but I don’t feel disabled…. Stephen Ramsay: I discovered that autism is now called the autism spectrum – and this spectrum includes Asperger’s syndrome. Tony Attwood: When you appreciate the art of van Gogh and Mozart – be grateful to Asperger’s syndrome because that’s why they were such good artists and composers. The only consoling factor is that if I have it, I could be in the company of genius. Stephen Ramsay: The more I read about Aspergers the more worried I got. Tony Attwood: Asperger’s syndrome has always been of value. He called them little professors, but they were so bad at communicating they often ended up in institutions. They would obsess about a single narrow interest like trains. He had identified a group of high-functioning autistic children. Stephen Ramsay: The concept of Asperger’s syndrome started in the 1940s with an Austrian psychologist called Hans Asperger.
But your family – your children think you’re a complete weirdo. Jane: But I do think you’ve got eccentricities. All those things are describing me, but I’m not disabled. I can’t work out what other people are thinking very easily. Stephen Ramsay: (reading the list) I find social situations confusing. Jane: Let’s go through the list and see if we think you fit the profile. Now, how could they be successful like that if they’ve got a disabling condition like a mild form of autism? Then I find this little questionnaire that says “Are you an aspie?” Not only that but a whole lot of famous people like Einstein had it as well. It says Steven Spielberg has this condition called Asperger’s syndrome. “Are you an aspie?” That’s what it says there. It’s a checklist to see if you’ve got Asperger’s syndrome. Stephen Ramsay: No it’s not a personality profile. Jane: (watching her partner Stephen reading a newspaper liftout) It’s a personality profile is it? He’s called it Oops, Wrong Planet, for reasons that will soon be quite clear.
I now want you to watch a movie, about Asperger’s, with Stephen Ramsay. Hello Robyn Williams with another Science Show on ABC Radio National, where we like to be different all the time. Robyn Williams: This week, something completely different, as they used to say on Python. The ABC will eventually remove mp3 files of older episodes from their website so I have copied the transcript details below.
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