Extraordinary People

Flo and Kay are the world’s only female autistic savant twins. Savantism is a rare condition in which sufferers of developmental disorders, often autism, are capable of acts of genius that far outstrip their expected levels of ability. In Flo and Kay’s case, they each have extraordinary memories for facts and dates. Flo and Kay can access their memories and make calculations more efficiently than computers. At 52 years of age, the twins are bubbly and sociable. They are passionate about music, enjoy going to gigs and love to laugh. This means that they do not fit the classic stereotype of autism sufferers.

The Rainman Twins

Among their many special talents is an ability to compute the day of the week for any date – past or future. For any given day of their lives, they can remember what the weather was like and even what they had for breakfast. An example of how this desire for order has manifested itself in the twins is their obsession with routinely watching television. In particular, they are big fans of Dick Clark. They even record the number of times the buzzer sounds in each episode. So when the programme was taken off the air, the sisters were devastated.

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La Flo i la Key són les úniques bessones autistes "sàvies" del món. La seva condició és excepcional tant pel fet de ser un cas inaudit a la disciplina mèdica com per les seves capacitats reals. El seu do consisteix a recordar tot allò que els ha passat a la vida fins al detall més petit: des de la roba que portaven un dia en concret de fa trenta anys al temps que feia, quin dia de la setmana era, què van menjar, quina roba portava el presentador de la televisió o quantes vegades van sentir cridar la veïna del costat. Són autèntics ordinadors humans.

No us deixeu intimidar pel mal gust de la careta i disposeu-vos a passar una bona estona amb la història d'aquestes ments excepcionals, a mig camí entre el privilegi i la maledicció. Un exemple de les capacitats reals del cervell i de les seves possibilitats d'evolució, expressada ja en alguns éssers únics que ens fan reflexionar sobre com serà la humanitat d'aquí a uns milers d'anys (o no).