Michael Fitzgerald - Unstoppable Brilliance: Irish Geniuses and Aspergers Syndrome

We were reminded in a recent disABILITY campaign to focus on a persons ability, not his or her disability. This reminds us of the obvious fact that, for example, even though a man cannot walk, he may be able to read, write and talk. It also attempts to make us aware that a woman who has a visual impairment can not just hear but may hear better than a sighted person.

But there is a deeper meaning. Ability is not necessarily just what the person can do, apart from what he or she cannot do and apart from any compensating skills. For some people, the ability is the disability itself.

In Unstoppable Brilliance: Irish Geniuses and Aspergers Syndrome by Antoinette Walker and Michael Fitzgerald, we have the stories of gifted men and women whose ability and disability was Aspergers syndrome. They were gifted with the aspergic ability to, on the one hand, give themselves completely to the pursuit of their interests, and on the other to bypass the distractions and obstacles of life, not as hurdles to be jumped, but as irrelevancies to be ignored or not even noticed. They were men and a woman who were able to trail-blaze to the frontiers and to penetrate the centre, laying bare the heart of maths and science, Aboriginal and modern man, language and politics.

This is the uniqueness of their abled achievement. Many bright people travel the same paths but get sidetracked along the way. Consequently, when these geniuses with Aspergers syndrome arrived at their destination, they found it a solitary place. But here too the aspergic ability equipped these geniuses for survival in isolation and more productivity.

We who have benefited from their ability should be grateful because Aspergers syndrome, though an ability, is also a disability with a burden of pain. Their legacy, which we now enjoy, was achieved at a price of loneliness and social, emotional and physical struggle both for the person and those that loved them.

Many people in Ireland today have Aspergers syndrome. Not all are geniuse but, in my experience, all are gifted and have special areas of talent. It is my hope that the stories in this book will force us to ask ourselves some important questions. Why are children with Aspergers often diagnosed so late in Ireland? And why, when that diagnosis finally comes, does it seem to close instead of open doors. Why, given the very individual needs of people with Aspergers, are there so few specialised services to meet those needs? Where are the information and training services for teachers, parents and employers? What does our high-pressure exam-based education system do to the student with Aspergers? Why is there little outreach to young adults with Aspergers to help them establish themselves in work and in the community. Where is a policy of understanding support for a family of a child or a parent with Aspergers? Why are so many people with Aspergers misdiagnosed as having a mental illness? And why are so many of these misdiagnosed people medicated to the point of developing a mental illness?

Finally, why are Aspergers and other autistic spectrum disorders still seen as psychiatric or psychological conditions, with no recognition of the medical problems that cause them? It is no coincidence that most of the people in this book suffered poor health, especially gastrointestinal disease, poor immune protection and eye problems. Why, despite years of campaigning, is there still no medical treatment for autistic spectrum disorders in Ireland? And are we cherishing people with Aspergers syndrome, and their gifts?

It is my fervent hope that celebrating great Irish people who had Aspergers will somehow give all of us a greater awareness of the people in our midst who share this ability/disability. I hope too that Unstoppable Brilliance will inspire the political descendants of de Valera, Emmet and Pearse to take seriously both the potential and the plight of all people with Aspergers in Ireland today.

Kathy Sinnott MEP , March 2006