History Main / TheRainman

* The Sewer Urchin from ''TheTick''. On ground level, he is generally considered ineffectual and unpopular (particularly because of his smell), but in his home territory of the sewers, he's one of The City's most effective superheroes. As an added bonus, he ''actually sounds and acts'' like Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man.

* UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla. Actually, it's not known what Tesla's problem was. Other than Edison, that is.
** Probably OCD, possibly NLD, definitely not autism or Aspergers. If you take it a bit farther, you could say that his visions were a result of synesthesia. He probably wasn't a savant, because he was quite good at social interaction.
** Tesla's problem was lack of understanding by other people, being too far ahead of his time to be appreciated as the genius he was, and lack of funding, which stopped him from accomplishing more.
* Henry Cavendish (at least according to Oliver Sacks again, not confirmed. Others regard him as simply being shy).
** Of course, posthumous diagnoses like these need to be taken with many grains of salt. While there has been for some time a fad for "diagnosing" famous dead (and even living) people with high-functioning autism, and other disorders, the grounds for this are often highly dubious, and may fail to take into account the wide range of "normal" personality.
** Many geniuses are minor inversions of this trope - having a high IQ tends to make it difficult to relate to regular people, and being a genius in a specific field often makes one ignore other aspects of their life. It's not uncommon for a great researcher, artist, or inventor to be inept at pretty much everything else they do, without it being a mental disorder.
** While it isn't clear that he was autistic Cavendish clearly wasn't "simply" shy. His acquaintances make it clear that he was barely able to interact with people at all.
* TruthInTelevision example: The Danish company 'Specialisterne' - and its American counterpart Aspiritech - has made a business out of hiring high-functioning 'Aspies' and taking advantage of their attention to detail and ability to instantly recognize any inconsistencies in a larger system - for software-testing purposes. Turns out that particular skill-set makes it a lot easier to hunt down bugs and glitches.
** Apparently the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's is the "magic skill", meaning all people with the disorder are at least mild savants.
** People with Asperger's Syndrome do not necessarily possess a 'magic skill' but they tend to actually enjoy actions other may consider dull what in conjunction with their flattened affect allows them to maintain high level of concentration for an extended periods of time and makes them less prone to frustration (unless with OCD and working in chaotic environment). This trait is not 'special' much simply less common among 'normal' people.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbASOcqc1Ss Daniel Tammet]], who unlike most savants "learned enough social skills to function in society" and (most intriguing for scientists) can actually describe his mental state. In the linked documentary ("The Boy With The Incredible Brain" in the UK and [[CulturalTranslation "Brain Man"]] in the US), he recites pi to 500 places and even meets the real Rainman and counts cards in Vegas. [[spoiler: He gets a ''[[UpToEleven triple Black Jack]]'' when he splits what would've been three 7s]]. Incredibly, he claims that when doing complex arithmetic all he's doing is describing the "landscapes" created by his synesthesia.

* Pick a DeanKoontz novel, any Dean Koontz novel... nine times out of ten there will be a mentally handicapped character of some sort who has extraordinary gifts, up to and including psychic powers...

** Michael himself may qualify as a mild version. He's been diagnosed with low latent inhibition, which apparently allows him to formulate [[GambitRoulette ridiculously complicated plans]].

* Haywire from ''PrisonBreak'', who supposedly has a "schizoaffective disorder with bipolar tendencies," not only has a perfect photographic memory, but has no need for sleep. A Television Without Pity recapper noted "I love it when being mentally disabled [[HollywoodPsych really means you have superpowers]]."

** [[TheStand M.O.O.N., that spells]] "Magic People With Mental Conditions"... The sort that ward off [[BigBad evil]] [[CosmicHorrorStory interdimensional]] [[TheAntichrist apocalyptic]] [[EvilOverlord overlords]]. They also tend to be [[TooDumbToFool secretly wise]] characters who have KarmicProtection against the villain.

* ''StElsewhere'': In the series finale, the entire series is revealed to be the figment of an autistic teenager's imagination; a tiny building set inside a snow globe served as the hospital where the main action was set.

* Blackwolf, the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' {{Expy}} from ''SoonIWillBeInvincible'', gets his [[HyperAwareness observational skills]] and [[BatmanGambit planning powers]] from a form of high-functioning autism.

-> ''"...Amy pulls her weight by having the power to heal [the player], create cones of silence and telekinetically blast things aside. Obviously. I'd be rather put out if she didn't. In horror circles, small, mute, autistic girls are second in power only to Jason Voorhees listening to people fucking."''

* In ''My Godawful Life'' by Michael Kelly, a parody of MiseryLit, Euphemia has Asperger's ''and'' [[TourettesSyndrome Tourette's]] Syndromes [[spoiler:although it's also implied that she fakes them as an excuse for her lack of empathy]] but also serves as a walking dictionary, thesaurus, A to Z, clock, calendar, episode guide for ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Franchise/StarTrek'', and is a prodigy in a variety of disciplines including maths, physics and Latin.

* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagicObscura'' has the "Idiot Savant" background, which gives you a huge boost to intelligence and gambling, at the expense of social abilities including the 'stupid' dialogue trees.

* ''Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura'' has the "Idiot Savant" background, which gives you a huge boost to intelligence and gambling, at the expense of social abilities including the 'stupid' dialogue trees.

* Jimmy, the titular Wizard in ''Film/TheWizard'', is an InstantExpert in every video game he plays. He's even able to locate the [[GuideDangIt World 1 Warp Whistle]] in VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 on his ''first try'' in the middle of an intense competition.

* NikolaTesla. Actually, it's not known what Tesla's problem was. Other than Edison, that is.

-> ''"...Amy pulls her weight by having the power to heal [the player], create cones of silence and telekinetically blast things aside. Obviously. I'd be rather put out if she didn't. In horror circles, small, mute, autistic girls are second in power only to [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] [[DeathBySex listening to people fucking]]."''

* An episode of ''InPlainSight'' had a bookie's accountant who had Aspergers. She was the perfect witness because she couldn't lie, but she was the worst [[WitnessProtection protected witness]] because it was impossible for her maintain a new identity. On top of that she still believed her boss was her friend and tried to visit him ''during the trial'', which nearly got her killed.

* The upcoming FOX series ''Series/{{Touch}}'' seems to be all about this, seeing as it focuses on the father of a severely autistic child (he's even nonverbal) who serves as a conduit for the patterns of the universe.

* Spinelli on ''GeneralHospital'' is so good with computers that the [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything Port Charles Mob]]...''convinces'' him to work for them. At one point, Matt Hunter wants to test him for autism, but he refuses, telling him [[ShapedLikeItself he is Spinelli]], and no further explanation is needed.

* ''FatAlbert'': The 1979 episode "The Mainstream," where a young boy named Dennis, with a "mild form of intellectual disablity" -- the depiction is consistent with autism-like characteristics -- shows off his talents at his school's art, and teaching the gang and his classmates that he can rise above his apparent disability.

* River Tam from ''{{Firefly}}'', though in her case she started out just fine ([[TeenGenius better than fine]]), until her fourteenth birthday, when she was convinced to go to [[SchoolForScheming the Academy.]] From there, [[MindRape things]] [[PsychicPowers got]] [[MadOracle worse]].
* ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' once featured a little girl with [[http://www.williams-syndrome.org/what-is-williams-syndrome Williams Syndrome]]. She made the perfect witness because 1) she literally had no concept of lying, and 2) she had really, really good hearing. (She was also completely adorable.)

* Friendly of ''Best Served Cold'' (followup novel to ''TheFirstLaw'') is a bit odd, taciturn, and, well, AxCrazy, but he's also ''excellent'' with numbers. He gets hung up on counting especially, such as the fact that there are eight letters in "counting," and that two times eight is sixteen which is the square root of two hundred fifty-six which...

* Jerry Espenson on ''BostonLegal''; he has Asperger's Syndrome and is also one of the most brilliant lawyers at the firm.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbASOcqc1Ss Daniel Tammet]], who unlike most savants "learned enough social skills to function in society" and (most intriguing for scientists) can actually describe his mental state. In the linked documentary ("The Boy With The Incredible Brain" in the UK and [[CulturalTranslation "Brain Man"]] in the US), he recites pi to 500 places and even meets the real Rainman and counts cards in Vegas [[spoiler: He gets a ''[[UpToEleven triple Black Jack]]'' when he splits what would've been three 7s]]. Incredibly, he claims that when doing complex arithmetic all he's doing is describing the "landscapes" created by his synesthesia.

* Marty Balin, a founding member of the rock group Music/JeffersonAirplane (later Jefferson Starship and still later, just Starship), has a mild form of autism. Despite this, he led the group through its first two successful incarnations, first as a psychadelic rock group (backing fellow member Grace Slick on songs like "Somebody to Love") and later as more of an easy-listening group (singing lead on "Miracles" and "Count on Me") before taking on a successful solo career (recall 1981's "Hearts"); he also married and had two children.