Is Jonny Greenwood autistic?

Does Jonny Greenwood have autism?

Jonny Greenwood is an English musician and composer best known as the lead guitarist and keyboardist for the band Radiohead.  He is a talented musician who plays multiple instruments, including the viola, harmonica, glockenspiel, banjo and drums.  He is also a computer programmer, and has written music software.  He also composed the soundtracks for several films, including There Will Be Blood and We Need to Talk about Kevin.  While he is clearly a talented musician and computer programmer, there is no evidence that he is on the autism spectrum.

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2 comments

  1. Is this how it works? Is everybody who is talented, gifted, thinks outside the box etc ‘disordered’?Even those who are dead in the ridiculous trend of retrospective diagnosis of the likes of Einstein and Morzart? What hope is there for the new breed of Einstein’s? Are they automatically to be branded being on the (ridiculous and hopelessly inadequate notion of a…) ‘spectrum’? Who benefits? Really? Who came up with all this? Why not just call it the ‘artistic spectrum’, or better still the ‘human spectrum’ becsause (apparently!) we are ALL on it (something’s just not adding up is it?!?!)
    Yes there are people who have conditions but ‘notion'(and that’s ALL it is!) of broad spectrum disorders is not based on sound science at all (regardless of what you’ve been told/sold) and is selling people short denying them of more appropriate treatments and interventions.
    Is Johnny Greenwood talented? Yes. Is he autistic? Depends who you ask, who they got their information from.
    I have an even better question:
    why are we so trusting of a profession as notoriously arrogant and career minded as psychiatry?!)

  2. It seems like you are speaking from personal experience, and a negative one at that. Unfortunately, a bad psychiatrist can be very damaging. While I understand your points, I think it’s important to let go of the label. Why does autism = disorder (which is partially your point as well)? Some people are off the bell curve. Clearly, the genius of Jonny Greenwood fits into that category. He is anything but average. It’s quite possible that he fits the criteria of autism. If that is the case, look at what he accomplished with that gift. One of my favorite artists has dyslexia, which he uses in his artwork. He cuts out thousands of letters and turns them into a beautiful piece of art. He says it’s the way in which he sees the world. Without a doubt, dyslexia, autism, depression, OCD, etc. exist. Rather than viewing these characteristics as disorders, we need to accept people and empower them. Denying will not led to empowerment. Autism does not have to mean we are “selling someone short.” Acceptance and knowing oneself leads to beautiful and amazing things.

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