Those with classic autism are believed to be MR, but their inability to communicate ect makes it impossible to tell. There are many, including parents of such children, who doubt the MR label and strongly believe it's more of an inability to interact with the world around them more than an actual intelligence thing. Think "trapped in their own version of the world" and imagine what that might be like.
Travis is Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) which is further down the scale than aspergers..........and he has a genius IQ. The ability to communicate and interact socially in my opinion has no relevance on intelligence.......which is the same attitude more and more docs who specialize in this area (talking neurologist, and some psychiatrists) are beginning to believe. I mean seriously, if you have someone incapable of communication, making eye contact.....how do you measure their intelligence? Standard testing won't work because they don't think/interact like others. So until they can come up with a way to help them communicate and interact.....they just don't really know.
And yeah, I get more than a bit peeved on this subject. One because people seem astounded Travis has a genius IQ, and two because I've known someone who's child was classically autistic and I can say first hand there were moments if you watched very closely that you were certain he was NOT MR.
As for the book? I'd write both the publisher AND the author and inform them that their character of the autistic man is not only horrifically flawed, but it feeds stereotypical ideas and reinforces them to the general public. This author should be smacked upside the head for failing to do his research. omg
Oh, and there are times when Travis will say things that have nothing to do with what he is doing or what is going on around him that comes off as silly or stupid or just plain weird. Taking the time to ask him where his statement came from......well, it could be something you asked him about a long time ago or something he just happened to be thinking about at that moment and just blurted out. Or better yet, he could have been trying to crack a joke (which he's never been able to manage successfully except by accident a couple of times). And then there are tics, both verbal and non verbal......and some of the verbal can range from bizarre statements to bizarre noises.........same with the non verbal ones.
Yup. That author needs to be reamed. How unprofessional.
Climbing down off my soapbox now. Sorry, touchy subject for me.