Autism Information

So whilst I was searching for information on Rain Man on the internet, I stumbled across this site

http://www.awares.org/static_docs/about_autism.asp?docSection=1

1.1 What is Autism?

Throughout this presentation we will use the term autism - although it is well known that autism occurs in differing degrees of severity and in a variety of forms. The term's Spectrum and/or Continuum of disorders are commonly used to group people together that have a shared difficulty in making sense of the world.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them. Children and adults with autism are unable to relate to others in a socially meaningful way.
Their ability to develop friendships is impaired, as is their capacity to understand other people's feelings. People with autism can often have accompanying learning disabilities.
There is also a condition called Asperger's syndrome, which many experts - but by no means all - believe falls at the higher-functioning end of the autistic spectrum.

All people with autism have impairments in social interaction, social communication and imagination. This is referred to as the triad of impairments:

Social interaction (difficulty with social relationships, for example appearing aloof and indifferent to other people);

Social communication (difficulty with verbal and non-verbal communication, for example not really under-standing the meaning of gestures, facial expressions or tone of voice);

and
Flexibility in thinking and behaving (difficulty in the development of play and imagination, for example having a limited range of imaginative activities, possibly copied and pursued rigidly and repetitively).

There is a section on the Reality of Rain Man, and how common these savant abilities are in people with Autism, apparently it is fairly rare, and it's estimated that only 10% of people with Autism have these abilities, compared to 1% of non-autistic people.

The whole website is well worth a read.