Autism In Daniel Tammet's Born On A Blue Day

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Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant (2006) is a memoir by British author Daniel Tammet about his life as one of the few people with a severe form of autism who are able to live a fully independent life. The book explores how Tammet sees the world. His unique symptoms involve seeing numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and the ability to perform complex calculations in his head and speak new languages fluently from scratch. He is considered a savant, a condition made famous by the Oscar-winning movie Rain Man. Exploring the diversity of the human mind and what links us all and makes us human, Born on a Blue Day was widely acclaimed as one of the best first-hand works on living with autism; it is frequently assigned reading for Born in the late 1970s in England, before savant syndrome was commonly known, he was the first-born son, initially adored and encouraged by his parents. He soon developed various idiosyncrasies unusual for a child his age. As an infant, he cried endlessly, and his parents had trouble calming him down. He developed the habit of banging his head against a specific wall in the living room until he was moved. As he got older, he was anti-social, preferring to stay in his room in solitude than join in the noisy, physical play with other local children. As he started his school years, he found comfort in the school routines, but the slightest deviance from an established routine caused him severe stress. In school, he discovered his lifelong fascination with numbers and the unique way he sees them in the form of shapes and colors. This is called a synesthetic experience; the association of a visual aid with a number allows Daniel to have an incredible talent for learning and solving math problems. He also has a natural gift for learning new languages fluently and

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