Autism and autistic spectrum disorders are among the most heritable of mental disorders as demonstrated by twin studies and family histories. Some of the heritability may be related to super genetic traits like expanded number of repeats in certain segments of the chromosomes as opposed to inheriting a gene for autism. The Autism Genome Project has been investigating some of the genes involved in autism and has come up with a few according to this news article.
Prevalence
Recent studies have disputed the perceived prevalence of the disorder. Some believe thr increasing incidence can be explained by better measures, better reporting and the expansion of the definition of autism into the autistic spectrum.
Savants
Check out this amazing video (5 mins) in which an autistic man takes one helicopter ride over Rome and then accurately reproduces a huge swath of the city on paper (Originally hosted by the Wisconsin Medical Society.)
Besides having some autism in the family [[ UPDATE: Diagnosis changed!]], I've read a few great books on autism: Oliver Sacks' An Anthropologist on Mars and Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures. I have to admit, Sack's book is a collection of essays on different interesting neurology cases, one of which is Temple Grandin, so they are two closely related tomes. Sacks writes about autistic adults and children and Temple Grandin writes about her own experience with autism. Both focus on the special talents that come with the deficits of autism. Grandin believes her experience of the world is closer to that of animals, not that she lacks intelligence but that her emotions are more like those of species other than humans.
Finally, here's an article on a group show of works by autistic artists.
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1 comment:
What a great video! I can't believe he could draw the city completely from memory! I can barely find my way around town!
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