Daniel Tammet

About two and a half years ago whilst living in New York i saw an amazing documentary about several people with autistic conditions, among these people were Daniel Tammet. Daniel has Savant Syndrome but the documentary itself was about a condition which set Daniel apart from many others with similar conditions, that being "Synaethesia". This is a condition in which a person's senses are mixed; they see number and words in colours, they see numbers within sounds and this condition has allowed Daniel to achieve some virtualy impossible mathematical feats. I became fascinated by this condition after seeing this documentary, the people who have this conditon said that it is, at times, the most frustrating thing in the world, but they wouldn't trade it in a million years.

I'm about two thirds of my way through his (Daniels) book "Born on a Blue Day." If you were thinking of reading this, don't be put off by the quote from Richard and Judy on the front cover, it is, in fact, an amazing read! It fluctuates from a rather personal account of his struggle to learn the social skills needed to join the rest of the world, to examples of his extraordinary mind.

The reason that i posted this is because the condition is linked so much with Daniel's use of the right side of his brain. Daniel had sevral epileptic attacks when he was younger which, in his opinion, may have caused his condition. I expect many of you will have heard of Daniel but thought i'd post this to see if anybody had anything else to share, particularly about "Synaethesia" which i find fascinating.

On a side note, i was reading last night and came across the word "Demonstrated" - Demon - st"ar"ted. I'm far too lazy to look up the origin of the word but i'm sure somebody can tell me why this little coincidence popped up! I've been up since 5.00am and can't sleep, have a greaaaaaaat day!