Rain Man

I can remember quite a lot of obscure facts and events in my life... but I often leave lights on...

I found Rain Man depressing because of the bullying so switched it off!

I have a Savant presentation. 

I memorise everything except conversations and people.   At one place I worked it was quicker to memorise the 55,000 item stores list than keep having to look it up.   If you give me a pile of magazines, I can memorise all the photos within them and if you show me one of the pictures, I can tell you which magazine it was from and where on the page it was - like I've mentally photographed each page sequentially in my head.

When watching techy programs, my wife says there's no need for a commentary - I know all the facts & details in more depth (and accuracy) than the presenters.

It was very useful in work - like memorising all the 74xx and 4xxx logic chip pin-outs so I could throw circuits together quickly.

I had a brain injury 6 years ago which has damaged my capabilities somewhat - but there are still moments when I surprise myself.

As if a working-class neighbourhood like that has existed in London in the last 30 years!

I don't suppose Rainman is any more a convincing research tool for autism than Mary Poppins is a research tool for the Suffragette movement or the banking system.

I think it is what it is - an entertainment, some iota of fact within (supposedly based on a true story, but exaggerated).  It was not meant to be a documentary and should not be viewed as such.

However, there are always those who will view such a film and think the contents are a true reflection. There are also those who watch Coronation Street or East Enders and think them as true to life of working classes in the North or London. 

What I think causes the main problem with having people think Rainman is 'real' Autism is that there is a lack of serious documentary for the masses as to what autism really is about.  And until there is, Rainman will always be how many view autism.

One of those popular representations that feeds into people's 'knowledge' of autism.  Likewise Sheldon Cooper and 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'.  I've had people who really ought to know better ask me what my special ability is.  In the info leaflet I produced for WAAW at work, I made a point of saying that 'savant' abilities are very rare, and that they can often be found in people with autism and LD... whereas the vast majority of autistic people without LD will have no special abilities at all. At least not in terms of eidetic memory, computer-like calculating ability, or musical or artistic genius.  We can be 'special' in other ways, of course 

'The Accountant' is an interesting film to watch - not because of the representation of high-functioning autism necessarily, but for what it has to say incidentally about autism.

The Accountant excerpt

I watched it a few rimes recently and the scene with the other people is where I see the variations.  Dustin Hoffman exaggerated many traits of a fully Savant autistic individual whereas that appears full on the spectrum and not how everyone has only certain traits/markers on the spectrum and at varying levels.

Can't stand watching Tom bullying Dustin. Have switched to the Dave channel.  

One of the first films I remember watching (must have been around 10 or so)

Its one of those media icons everyone refers to when they think of autism and because there was so little awareness of it in the UK, there was this perception that autistic people had these amazing superpowers like counting cocktail stick and memorizing phone books. I can barely remember what I did yesterday.

Very unconvincing brothers. Tom Cruise looks 15, Dustin looks 45.