FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — At the Fond du Lac County Campus savants from across the world told shared their unique stories.
Dr. Jeremy Chapman is the medical director at SSM Health Treffert Studios and says savant syndrome is a unique neurodevelopmental disorder or brain injury which coincides with a extraordinary talent or ability.
Chapman says better understanding people with savant syndrome can help give all of us insight into better understand ourselves.
"We question our sense of what disability really is," Chapman said. "And we get to explore what might be lying dormant in all of us."
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Jacob Barnett is a savant who started taking college classes at the age of 8.
Barnett says having savant syndrome has allowed him to channel his interests like science and math and also incorporate it into different newfound interests like foosball.
"We could use foosball as a platform to hook people into physics and teach them physics concepts," Barnett said.
Barnett joked that while he has become very good at foosball, he can thank his work background and savant syndrome for his understanding of the game.
"I have some kind of mathematical understanding of this that a lot of people don't," Barnett said.
But Jacob isn't the only savant pushing boundaries.
Kanye Tagbo-Okeke is a teenage savant from Nigeria who is a renowned artist. And Kanye has channeled his determination into multiple Guinness World Records.
Including the largest ever canvas painting, which was over 12,000 square meters.
Kanye's father Tagbo-Okeke says the impact his son has had on spreading awareness for autism in Africa is truly staggering.
"I'm humbled by the impact, Okeke said. "I'm humbled to go to certain places and the door is flung open when they hear Kanye is here."
Organizers of the event say they hope to bring the event back next year and grow awareness for people with autism and savant syndrome.
