Autistic Savants, though disabled possess extraordinary abilities that leave questions to how the human brain truly works.
Here are 5 Extraordinary Autistic Savants that will leave you speechless.
5. Alonzo Clemons
Rather than being born with a neurological Alonzo suffered a traumatic head injury as a child. The experience has left him unable to read or write, or even do simple calculations. But where Alonzo has lost other abilities he gained the extraordinary gift of sculpting anatomically perfect sculptures of animals… from memory.
Most of the animals he sculpts have only been seen in books, but Alonzo is able to create 3D models from the 2D images he sees.
4. Kim Peek
Kim Peek is one of the worlds most famous savants. Kim is able to remember everything he’s ever read, seen or heard and is the inspiration for Dustin Hoffman’s character in the movie “Rain-Man”. Kim’s feats of memory was so mind boggling to the director that his ability was down played in the movie for fear of being too unbelievable. He remembers 2000 calendar dates, all the dialing codes and highway systems in the U.S.A, All the historical dates in the world, and every tune he has ever heard.
Not bad for someone whose parents were told by doctors that he would never be able to learn and should be put in an institution and forgotten about.
3. Daniel Tammet
When Daniel was four, terrible bouts of epilepsy, coupled with his Autism seem to have brought out his incredible savant abilities. Daniel is able to visualize and calculate massive numbers in his head. He first became famous when he recited Pi from memory down to 22,514 decimal places to raise money for the National Society of Epilepsy on International Pi Day (3/14).
But it doesn’t stop there!
Along with his mathematical capabilities, Daniel is able to learn different languages at incredible rates and is currently fluent in 11 languages. His extraordinary ability was put to the test in the documentary “The Boy with the Incredible Brain” where he was taken to Iceland where he was to learn the language in 7 days, which would end in an interview on Icelandic television. Icelandic is regarded as one of the hardest languages to learn, with it’s odd sounds and grammar, Icelandic is given a stigma as “Impossible to Learn.” To the surprise of the film makers, Daniel was able to pull off the entire interview in Icelandic, showing true comprehension by even spouting out a few jokes.
Daniels form of Autism is very rare even in the category of savants. Where others have trouble with every day tasks and simple language skills, Daniel is Self-Aware and able to articulate his thoughts clearly. This ability helps scientist to better understand the Phenomenon by simple being able to talk with him and learn what he sees.
2. Stephen Wiltshire
Up until age 9 Stephen Wiltshire was a mute, until he uttered his first word, “Paper.” A most fitting first word for a Savant with his amazing ability. Stephen is able to recreate unbelievably detailed drawings of cities after one seeing. Family and friends were astounded when by age five Stephen was able to draw complex landscapes all from memory.
Stephen is taken in helicopters over cities around the world by admirers who want to see his amazing ability. To date he has drawn Rome, New York City, London and many others. He is able to reproduce the cities down to detailed alleyways and cars, all after ONE helicopter ride.
1. Derek Paravicini
Derek Paravicini is completely blind and severely learning impaired, but his gift for music is incredible. Though he doesn’t know his left from his right, and can barely count to ten, Derek is able to play beautiful works of music after hearing it only once. For this, I’ll let Derek’s talent speak for itself.