Reference-Famous Individuals Diagnosed with Autism
- Aykroyd, DanCanadian actor and screenwriter. A popular comic personality during the 1970s and 1980s, he first achieved fame for his deadpan impersonations in the US television comedy series Saturday Night Live (1975–79). This programme was also the origin of the Blues Brothers, played by Aykroyd and fellow comedian and writer John Belushi. Aykroyd and Belushi went on to make The Blues Brothers film (1980), which became a cult classic.
Aykroyd went on to achieve major commercial success with the Eddie Murphy comedy Trading Places (1983) and the family comedy Ghostbusters (1984), alongside fellow Saturday Night Live actor Bill Murray. He was critically acclaimed for his supporting role in Driving Miss Daising (1989; Academy Award nomination). - BOYLE, SUSANSusan Boyle attended Edinburgh Acting School and took singing lessons from a voice coach. Prior to her appearance on Britain's Got Talent, her main experience had come from singing in her local Catholic church, in local choirs, and in karaoke performances at pubs around her village. After she won several local singing competitions, her mother urged her to enter Britain's Got Talent and take the risk of singing in front of an audience larger than her parish church. Her performance on the show was the first time she had sung in public since her mother died.
Susan Boyle was born in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland, on April 1, 1961. She became a household name as she burst into stardom when she auditioned for a television show, Britain's Got Talent, in 2009. Boyle is the youngest of 10 children, including four brothers and five sisters. Her father was a miner and a veteran of World War II, and her mother was a shorthand typist, both immigrants from Ireland. Boyle was born when her mother was 47 years old, and during her difficult birth, she was briefly deprived of oxygen and suffered mild brain damage; later, she was diagnosed with learning difficulties. As both a child and an adult, Boyle was bullied for her learning disabilities as well as her appearance. The neighborhood children around her childhood home in Blackburn gave her the nickname “Susie Simple.” - Hopkins, Sir Anthony(born Dec. 31, 1937, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, Wales) British actor. He joined London’s National Theatre in 1965, where he starred in Shakespearean roles. A subtle actor able to convey volcanic emotion with a small gesture, he made an acclaimed Broadway debut in Equus (1974). Hopkins stayed on in the U.S. for films such as The Elephant Man (1980) and television productions such as The Bunker (1981, Emmy Award). At the National Theatre he triumphed in King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra. He won an Oscar for his chilling performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), a role he played in two sequels. He also starred in Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993), and Amistad (1997).
He composed scores for his films August (1996) and Slipstream (2007), and these and other original works were performed at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2008. He was knighted in 1993 and became a US citizen in 2000. - TEMPLE GRANDIN (b. 1947)U.S. scientist and industrial designer Temple Grandin created systems to counter stress in certain human and animal populations. Her professional work grew from her own experience with autism.
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Streaming Media
- Normal People Scare MeReleased in 2006, Normal People Scare Me has made its way around the world on a mother and son speaking and screening tour. The film was conceived by Taylor Cross -- an aspiring filmmaker with autism -- when he was 15. Co-created by Taylor and his mother, disabilities advocate and expert, Keri Bowers, the film has been a critical success throughout the world since its release.
- Spectrum - A Story of the MindTake a journey into the rich sensory experience of autism. Imagine a world where words taste and thoughts feel, where sounds swell with color and leaves on trees change tones visible to the naked eye, and where eye contact with another can cause physical pain.
- Unspoken14-year old Emma Zurcher-Long sees and hears the world, as she put it, in 'Hi-res, technicolor and surround sound'. While it may not always be easy for people to understand where Emma is coming from, it has become her mission to teach the world how potent, powerful and dynamic the life of a teenager with autism actually is.
Online Resources
- Official Website of Susan BoyleView singer Susan Boyle's official website and find more about her music and life.
- Official Website of Temple GrandinDr. Grandin did not talk until she was three and a half years old. She was fortunate to get early speech therapy. Her teachers also taught her how to wait and take turns when playing board games. She was mainstreamed into a normal kindergarten at age five. Oliver Sacks wrote in the forward of Thinking in Pictures that her first book Emergence: Labeled Autistic was “unprecedented because there had never before been an inside narrative of autism.” Dr. Sacks profiled Dr. Grandin in his best selling book Anthropologist on Mars.
- Sir Anthony Hopkins Official Art WebsiteView Sir Anthony Hopkins art and learn more about his life as an artist.
Memoirs
The Reason I Jump
"One of the most remarkable books I've ever read. It's truly moving, eye-opening, incredibly vivid."--Jon Stewart, The Daily Show NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR * The Wall Street Journal * Bloomberg Business * Bookish FINALIST FOR THE BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE FIRST BOOK AWARD * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER You've never read a book like The Reason I Jump. Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious, subtle, and complex life within. Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: "Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?" "Why do you line up your toy cars and blocks?" "Why don't you make eye contact when you're talking?" and "What's the reason you jump?" (Naoki's answer: "When I'm jumping, it's as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.") With disarming honesty and a generous heart, Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights--into the mystery of words, the wonders of laughter, and the elusiveness of memory--are so startling, so strange, and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again.
Temple Grandin
Since Temple Grandin's life story was told in the 15 x Emmy-nominated film Temple Grandin, and since her heartwarming speech at the award ceremony, she has become one of the world's most well-known members of its community. In this fascinating biography, Annette Wood delves deep into Grandin's life from childhood to adulthood. Wood tells of the trials and tribulations of the icon: What difficulties Grandin struggled with and how she's become a hero for the autistic community. She also tells what Temple has done since the movie came out, where she is today, what kind of difference she's made, and what her future holds. For the 22 million people worldwide afflicted by autism and the countless friends and family members who support them, this brilliant portrait presents an up-close look at the disorder and renewed hope for what the future could bring for those on all levels of the spectrum.
Look Me in the Eye
Look Me in the Eye is the moving, darkly funny story of growing up with Aspergers at a time when the diagnosis simply didnt exist. A born storyteller, Robison takes readers inside the head of a boy who teachers and other adults regarded as defective. Its a strange, sly, indelible account; sometimes alien yet always deeply human.
Thinking in Pictures
The captivating subject of Oliver Sack'sAnthropologist on Mars, here is Temple Grandin's personal account of living with autism extraordinary gift of animal empathy has transformed her world and ours. Temple Grandin is renowned throughout the world as a designer of livestock holding equipment. Her unique empathy for animals has her to create systems which are humane and cruel free, setting the highest standards for the industry the treatment and handling of animals. She also happens to be autistic. Here, in Temple Grandin's own words, is the story what it is like to live with autism. Temple is among the few people who have broken through many the neurological impairments associated with autism. Throughout her life, she has developed unique coping strategies, including her famous "squeeze machine," modeled after seeing the calming effect squeeze chutes on cattle. She describes her pain isolation growing up "different" and her discovery visual symbols to interpret the "ways of the natives"Thinking in Picturesalso gives information from the frontlines of autism, including treatme medication, and diagnosis, as well as Temple's insight into genius, savants, sensory phenomena, etc. Ultimately, it is Temple's unique ability describe the way her visual mind works and how she first made the connection between her impairment and animal temperament that is the basis of extraordinary gift and phenomenal success.
Born on a Blue Day
A journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today--guided by the owner himself. Bestselling author Daniel Tammet (Thinking in Numbers) is virtually unique among people who have severe autistic disorders in that he is capable of living a fully independent life and able to explain what is happening inside his head. He sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and he can perform extraordinary calculations in his head. He can learn to speak new languages fluently, from scratch, in a week. In 2004, he memorized and recited more than 22,000 digits of pi, setting a record. He has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that gives him the most unimaginable mental powers, much like those portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man. Fascinating and inspiring, Born on a Blue Day explores what it's like to be special and gives us an insight into what makes us all human--our minds.
Running with Walker: a Memoir
By the time he was three, Walker's parents were concerned enough about his delayed development to consult a paediatric neurologist. Doctors diagnosed autism and issued a grim prognosis: 'I hold out no hope for this child'. But they hadn't accounted for Walker's intelligence, affection, and sense of humour - or for the remarkable bonds that grew within his family. Walker's father, Robert Hughes, tells a touching and inspiring story of discovering that their 'perfect little boy had a problem'. With disarming honesty and humour, the book tells how a family copes and keeps hope alive despite the staggering difficulties autism presents.
Be Different
In Be Different, New York Times bestselling author of Look Me in the Eye shares a new batch of endearing stories about his childhood, adolescence, and young adult years, giving the reader a rare window into the Autistic mind. In his bestselling memoir, Look Me in the Eye, John Elder Robison described growing up with Autism Spectrum Disorder at a time when the diagnosis didn't exist. He was intelligent but socially isolated; his talents won him jobs with toy makers and rock bands but did little to endear him to authority figures and classmates, who were put off by his inclination to blurt out non sequiturs and avoid eye contact. By the time he was diagnosed at age forty, John had already developed a myriad of coping strategies that helped him achieve a seemingly normal, even highly successful, life. In each story, he offers practical advice for anyone who feels "different" on how to improve the weak communication and social skills that keep so many people from taking full advantage of their often remarkable gifts. With his trademark honesty and unapologetic eccentricity, Robison addresses questions like: * How to read others and follow their behaviors when in uncertain social situations * Why manners matter * How to harness your powers of concentration to master difficult skills * How to deal with bullies * When to make an effort to fit in, and when to embrace eccentricity * How to identify special gifts and use them to your advantage Every person has something unique to offer the world, and every person has the capacity to create strong, loving bonds with their friends and family. Be Different will help readers and those they love find their path to success.