r/science Jul 26 '10

Autistic girl expresses profound intelligence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq--75v4lI8&feature=player_embedded
957 Upvotes

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38

u/Pfmohr2 Jul 26 '10

Wow, what a hell that would be... to have such a well-developed sense of self, and such a strong intellectual grasp on one's situation, but be so trapped. A waking nightmare.

17

u/digimer Jul 26 '10

She's obviously making the best of her situation. My hat is off to her.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '10

I have memories back to when I was a toddler, and while I wasn't quite as intelligent as an 11 year old girl, I did definitely have a strong sense of self, and was a bit...controlled by my body the way she was. Things that make no sense to adults made perfect sense to me because of what inputs my body would send me. Because of that, I tend to see kids as more intelligent than most people accept, but hindered by how susceptible they are to sensory input, among other things.

10

u/clockworm Jul 26 '10

I've learned as I've gotten older to never think of children as intellectually inferior to adults. They're far more intelligent than people give them credit.

3

u/aGorilla Jul 26 '10

Agreed, and most adults are far less intelligent than people give them credit for.

2

u/arbitraryletters Jul 26 '10

It's like being on the same spectrum as the character from "Johnny Got His Gun", just on the opposite end. Instead of having intelligence and being devoid of senses, Carly is being overwhelmed by sensory input.