I am sure members in the UK are aware that the homosexual autistic genius Alan Turing was given a posthumous apology last Thursday by the PM Gordon Brown, following a campaign that included a large petition.

Alan Turing's memory obviously has a large following of people who revere and celebrate his interesting life and very important achievements. A committee has been set up to organize "THE ALAN TURING YEAR A Centenary Celebration of the Life and Work of Alan Turing" in 2012. After reading an unconnected web page on the internet that was set up as a tribute to Turing, "Turing Memorial", I am concerned that the 2012 celebrations could possibly also depict autism/AS in a negative and pitiful manner. I've noted that the committee for the Alan Turing Year and the committe for the Turing Memorial (which has the web site that I object to) have no members in common, so perhaps the Alan Turing Year will not be as objectionable as the web site for the Turing Memorial. But who can be sure of that?

I think it would be a good idea if members of our community got involved in the Alan Turing Year, just to make sure something hideous doesn't come of it. I personally object to dead autistic people being referred to as "sufferers" of Asperger syndrome or "sufferers" of autism when there is no record of what they thought of their condition. These people are no longer able to tell anyone whether they regard their experience of AS as one of suffering because of it. The word "sufferer" is an assumption that a dead person cannot correct or object to.

I do not live in the UK, so I think it is best to leave this matter to UK-based members.

I have recently written a post with many links about Alan Turing at my blog.

Link to "The Alan Turing Year"
http://www.cs.swan.ac.uk/turing2012/

Link to "Turing Memorial"
http://www.dramahouse.co.uk/page7.html

If they suffered from anything, it was the ignorance of society towards them and their condition and not the condition itself.

I think Alan Turing is a classic example of an autistic special interest being of incredible use to society. Turing made massive contributions to modern computer science and mathematics, and I think that is what the year of turing should draw attention to - perhaps we should also point out the total hypocrisy if people shout "cure autism" while also shouting "celebrate this autistic's skills".

Also, yes - this is a bump. I saw someone reading it.....

If not for Turing, we might not be having these conversations here.

Exactly. And the likes of the fascists at FAAAS and Autism Squeaks certainly don't help, either. My son has always appreciated the uniqueness he feels his AS gives him, as do I, and deeply resents the negative connotations and misperceptions that surround it. He doesn't "suffer" from it, and doesn't even consider it a "disorder" or anything like that, and neither do I.

I recently read the Feb. issue of Ladies Home Journal; they have a long-running feature called "Can this marriage be saved?" The Feb. one involved a long-married couple where the woman suspected her husband of having AS and, sure enough, he was officially diagnosed. What really infuriated me was the counselor's comment, in explaining AS, that "unfortunately, there is currently no known cure yet for this" (meaning AS). First of all, the man was NOT "diseased". And, second, there is no need or reason for a freaking "cure" for AS, as if there's something wrong with thinking and perceiving a bit differently than what is currently considered the "norm", or it's somehow a "curse" to not be socially adept. God help us if there ever is a "cure"; we will lose a lot of the unique contributions of AS to this world.

I agree with what you said, about the hypocrisy.

The link above for The Alan Turing Year is out of date. See below for a list of stuff and links about Turing.

AlanTuring.net
http://www.alanturing.net/

BBC News "PM apology after Turing petition"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8249792.stm

Breaking the Code (1996)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115749/
[TV dramatization of Turing's life directed by Herbert Wise with Derek Jacobi in the lead role]

Brown, Gordon (2009) Treatment of Alan Turing was “appalling” - PM. Number10.gov.uk September 10th 2009.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571
[an official posthumous apology from the Prime Minister of the UK]

Cowen, Tyler & Dawson, Michelle (2009) What does the Turing test really mean? And how many human beings (including Turing) could pass? June 3, 2009.
http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/...gfinal.pdf
[a paper by a professor of economics and an autistic member of a university autism research team in which Turing's possible AS and homosexuality are discussed with reference to the notion of imitation or "passing"]

Elder, Jennifer and Thomas, Marc (Illustrator) (2005) Different like me: my book of autism heroes. Jessica Kingsley, 2005.
[Turing and many other famous people are profiled in this book for a junior readership which was written by the mother of an autist]

Gelonesi, Joe (2007) David Leavitt on Alan Turing. The Book Show. ABC Radio National. August 30th 2007.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/storie...014538.htm
[an interesting interview in which the biographer said he believed Turing possibly would be diagnosed as AS if he were around today]

Gray, Paul (1999) Alan Turing: the Time 100: the most important people of the century. Time. March 29th 1999.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...24,00.html

Hodges, Andrew (1983) Alan Turing: the enigma. Burnett Books with Hutchinson, 1983.
http://www.turing.org.uk/book/
[a highly regarded biography]

James, Ioan (2005) Asperger syndrome and high achievement: some very remarkable people. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
[includes a chapter about Turing]

Leavitt, David (2006) The man who knew too much: Alan Turing and the invention of the computer. W. W. Norton, 2006.

O’Connell H., Fitzgerald M. (2003). Did Alan Turing have Asperger’s syndrome? Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine. 20, 1, 28 – 31.
http://www.ijpm.org/index.html?level=2&isid=30&var=past
[a particularly well-written paper about a very interesting man]

The Alan Turing Year: A Centenary Celebration of the Life and Work of Alan Turing.
http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/

A referenced list of 155 famous or important people diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition or subject of published speculation about whether they are or were on the autistic spectrum
http://incorrectpleasures.blogspot.com/2...rtant.html
[Alan Turing is included in this list]

I think THIS is something we can focus on.

Thanks for the bump.

Bumped.

Presumably Turing didn't have a diagnosis. What's the evidence of his status as an autistic. Having an intense interest in maths doesn't, in and of itself, mean you're autistic. Not denying he could have been - just curious as to the other signs.

The moronic society around him labeled him crazy, drove him crazy, and set Computer Science back decades.

This post was last modified: 05-11-2012 09:17 PM by Permanio.

He's on the list of famous people throughout history who are believed to have been on the spectrum.  It's not proven.

If alan turing were alive he'd be my aspie gay best friend...

Yayyyyy alan turing