Monday, August 9, 2010

The RAINMAN is beautiful....

Mr. Peek, Kim Peek, Kristy and Chad visiting with heroes
Kim Peek is the real life Rain Man whom the Dustin Hoffman character was based in the movie. Described as a confounding mixture of disability and brilliance, Kim is in love with knowledge. Kim Peek is probably the world's most famous savant. Kim was diagnosed as being mentally retarded at birth, but with father Fran's unflagging support he has developed a memory that is without equal.
Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kim has lived here all of his life. The local library is Kim's favourite place in the world. Kim devours books on anything and everything, as many as eight in a day. He reads at a phenomenal rate, a page that may take you or I three minutes will take Kim about 10 seconds. He reads the left page with his left eye and the right page with his right eye and will retain about 98% of it. He has 15 subject areas but about the only thing he can't do is, he can't reason out mathematical problems.
Kim Peek may be the greatest savant we have ever known, he is certainly the best known and more than entitled to be referred to as a mega-savant.
He can recall thousands of zip codes, phone codes, dates and countless facts and figures. He has a truly awesome memory. Is he autistic? Probably, but like Daniel Tammett, not in the conventional sense. He was originally diagnosed with autism but this was later changed.
Kim Peek's father shared his story with us today, before Kim passed on. We held his golden globe award that has been proudly tarnished and weathered by many who have held the great beast that he treasures. We enjoyed each others company and were grateful for the administering angels that kept him from being locked up in an institution somewhere. A love for Kim's father became a reality when he shared of the experiences he had for his son. The incredible sacrifices that was made, and the unconditional love he felt, in my eyes has won a greater reward for Kim. We wish him well in the new journey he has begun...