Williams syndrome, Autism

[memegarden]

article on Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder that produces a distinctive, company-craving personality, in a person who can't comprehend social signals or spatial reasoning. Long article, but worth it. Includes the hypothesis that we evolved language in order to gossip--without it, we couldn't manage being in groups of larger than 50 or so. Thanks to wordweaverlynn for the link.

IQ tests underestimate autistics' intelligence, as compared with certain kinds of perceptual processing tests. I think that stands to reason--their resources are not less than standard, they are allocated unusually. Thanks to jehannamama for this one.