Even now, when we operate with the more inclusive category of neurodivergence as opposed to pathology, savantism’s rarity and precocity invite interest. We marvel at Stephen Wiltshire’s ability to draw large cityscapes from memory, or at Leslie Lemke’s ability to play a complex piece of music after listening to it just once. But marvelling has itself been problematised as a form of othering.
For its part, the disability community has expressed frustration over the cultural over-representation of exceptionally talented autistic figures for creating harmful stereotypes that render invisible those people with disabilities who are not exceptionally talented. Turning a historical lens on savantism is telling in revealing precisely how at different times we conceive and police ideas about who can be creative in different ways. What becomes evident in the rear-view mirror is that the medical discourse around savantism was not primarily about health, or even the sciences of the mind, but rather about politics and power(lessness).
https://aeon.co/essays/historys-shaming-fascination-for-the-so-called-idiot-savant
Know Thyself 