Dumbledore's family/Aberforth.

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 166512

Eggplant:
> I'm not sure it's facetious, perhaps Aberforth is Autistic, a wizard
> Rainman: he can't perform simple spells that any first year student at
> Hogwarts can, but he can do extraordinary spells that no other wizard
> on Earth can, not even his brother.

Ceridwen:
I would disagree with this.  Even a high-functioning Autistic 
like "Rainman", or like Christopher Boone of "The Curious Incident of 
the Dog in the Nighttime" by Mark Haddon, would not be able to be in 
full charge of a business.  An emergency (reference Raymond Babbit 
burning the toast) would render them useless.

Nor would either be able to be a spy.  One characteristic of Autism, 
even of Asperger's Syndrom, the name for the high end of the Autism 
spectrum, is an inability to read facial expressions and vocal 
inflection (various incidents in Curious Incident).  This would be 
detremental to the role of spy, spy-master, or any other job involving 
intrigue.

This reminds me of a long-ago discussion about whether or not Snape 
could be Autistic.  To be honest, I do wonder, and now that you've 
raised the question about Aberforth, I wonder about him, too.  However, 
if either of them are, they would have to be higher-functioning than 
Asperger's Syndrome, in my opinion.  Since Autism is a spectrum 
disorder, it might be possible for someone to have some Autistic 
tendencies without actually being classified as Autistic.  Too little 
is known about the disorder.

The one thing that keeps coming to mind, though, is that, on many 
occasions, the Autistic person I know will follow directions 
automatically when those directions are clearly understood.  I don't 
know how this might fit into any theories about Aberforth (or Snape), 
or how prevalent this might be on the higher end of the spectrum.

I'm not a therapist, I'm not a psychologits or psychiatrist.  Any 
opinion I give is based on personal interaction with an Autistic and 
with literature and other information about the disorder.

Ceridwen.