In part two of my series, I will talk about Stephen Wiltshire, a 41-year-old autistic man who has a great talent for drawing different buildings and city landscapes directly from memory. Stephen often takes very short helicopter rides around a city and then is able to draw everything he sees from memory. Behind his talent for drawing lies a brain that is apt to count everything from the number of windows on a building to how many floors it has. This is how his drawings are able to be so accurate. From this amazing talent, Stephen has become an architect and has even been made a member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. (Wikipedia)
Stephen was born 24 April 1974. His parents soon found out that he was mute. When he was three, he was diagnosed with autism. At the young age of five, his parents enrolled him in the Queensmill School in London. It was there that Stephen, with the help of his instructors, found his passion and talent for drawing. It was also at Queensmill School that his instructors were finally able to make him speak, taking his sketching materials. By the age of nine, Stephen was speaking fluently. (Wikipedia)
In the beginning, he would draw animals and cars. His interest in cars, however, does not stop at drawing them. He also has exhaustive knowledge of American cars, which makes him similar to Derek Paravicini when it comes to retention and recollection of facts and in Derek’s case, music. At the age of seven Derek’s love of drawing took him a new direction – buildings of London. He then evolved his talents and began drawing fictional cities. Stephen has also had many documentaries made about him, many of which are also available on YouTube for viewing. (Wikipedia)
Once again, scientists are unable to come to a conclusion as to why there exist people with these kinds of talents. The complexity of the brain is probably the most restricting factor influencing their lack of information. I am curious to see if an answer will be found at some point as to how these peoples’ brains work and indeed it would be interesting to know exactly how they do work. I think it is safe to say that only time will tell.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wiltshire
I remember learning about this man in psych class in high school. I was absolutely astounded at the talent that this man had. His disorder is often referred to as Savant Syndrome. This is a person with a mental disability, such as an autism spectrum disorder, demonstrates profound and prodigious capacities or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal. There are many other cases like his. Like Derek that you mentioned in your blog, there are people who can listen to a brand new piece of piano music, and then just play it right back perfectly. It is insane. I know that these people have autism, but I too would like to know the exact cause of this syndrome. It is really fascinating to me. Thank you for sharing this! 🙂
This article is interesting especially after our class discussion today about the plausible correlations between vaccines and autism. This type of human capability is so astounding to me because scientists and researchers don’t have a definitive answer for why Stephen is able to draw everything he sees from memory. Here is an interesting article I found that is related this topic. Click Here