This was passed on to me, I thought it worthy of a quick re-blog.
Swedish companies are recognizing the strengths of people with autism and bipolar disorder. The psychiatrist Simon Kyaga is leading the way with his groundbreaking research.
The suspicion that there is a connection between certain mental disorders and creative ability goes back to ancient Greece. Indeed, many towering figures in art, science and even business seem to have coupled their genius with bouts of mental illness. The eccentric behavior of painter Vincent van Gogh, mathematician John Forbes Nash and inventor Nikola Tesla are well-known.
More recently, Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin, has been vocal about struggling with ADHD.
This is great news that I look forward to hearing more about in the future.
Too many times you hear about brilliant and creative people that are almost housebound because others are not understanding or willing to go past the well established ‘normal’ of 9-5 job. (Just look in the comments section of this article for one typical example).
I fully understand that there has to be some ballance, some checks in place that don’t permit just an open abuse of ‘special’ allowances for ‘one’ person in the workforce, but at least it sounds like we are getting to the point of having the conversation now.
In the past it seems that there were hard limits for people like this, either take the pill and conform (and thus switch off or tone down the brilliance part of your personality), or stay at home and have a meaningless life because we don’t want to have to deal with your rather odd personality.
Lots more to say on this topic, but will drip feed it…. Your welcome.
