Bill Gates believes he would have been diagnosed with autism if he were a kid today.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Friday, Jan. 24, ahead of the Feb. 4 release of his debut memoir, Source Code, Gates, 69, reflected on some of his childhood traits he believes would be diagnosed as autism today.
“This whole thing of Asperger’s or on the spectrum is a fairly new thing, you know? It used to be autism had a fairly narrow definition that was you know clearly identifiable,” said Gates.
“But this idea that if you’re slow socializing — you know, I have a behavior where I rock that bothers people, but that’s also common so-called self-esteeming type thing. So I realized, wow, there’s a bit of a pattern match there,” he continued.
According to the non-profit Autism Speaks, autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), “refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication.” Asperger’s is a previously used diagnosis on the autism spectrum.
Gates’ belief that he would have been diagnosed with autism at an early age is one of the many things he addresses about his childhood in Source Code, per The Wall Street Journal.
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The Microsoft co-founder and former CE0 told the newspaper that he now looks at those traits as something that helped get him to where he is today.
“Looking back on that, because I didn’t behave in a standard way, and yet, you know, that deep concentration that got applied to math and science and eventually to all those programming experiences I had, that became a strength,” he said.
When asked if his parents, Bill Sr. and Mary Maxwell, worried about him at a young age, Gates opened up about how they helped foster his special traits.
“They worried about would I fit in,” said Gates. “The two things they did, one, send me to a therapist who got me thinking about how I applied my energy and then sending me to a really great school. Those were great for me.”
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Source Code, which Gates previously referred to us “my origin story,” will arrive at bookstores on Feb. 4. and is available to preorder now.
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