On August 18th and August 19th, 2009, Daniel was gracious enough to let me peer into his world. I was aware of the great number of interviews with Daniel that already exist, but as a psychologist, I still had many lingering questions, which Daniel was very patient in answering for me. These two days, I left my prior expectations, biases, and ways of thinking at the door and transported myself into Daniel's mind. As a result, I was fortunate enough to be able to share his unique way of seeing the world. 

Daniel's insights changed my own way of thinking, not only with regards to Autism and Asperger's syndrome, but also in terms of the full extent to which personal change is possible, the nature and nurture of individual differences, intelligence, creativity, genius, fiction, art, poetry, math, love, relationships, the mind, brain, the future of humanity, and the appreciation of many different kinds of minds. A portion of my interview can be found in the November/December issue of Psychology Today (Numbers Guy: An autistic savant joins the wider world). 

In this sixth and final part of the series (see parts I, II, III, IV. V, postscript), Daniel talks about the extent to which personal change is possible, his own personal transformation, whether he would still be diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome if he was diagnosed today, fiction, "chick lit", his personal goals, his endeavors, lessons he's learned about life, love, and relationships, and the future of humanity. I hope throughout this entire series you have found Daniel's reflections, insights, and ongoing journey just as fascinating and thought-provoking as I have.

S. Can people change their personalities?

D. Yes, I'm a big believer in that. My own story demonstrates that very well. In a few years I have seen a very big change in my own life from the time that I wrote Born on a Blue Day to the time that wrote and promoted Embracing the Wide Sky. I'm now working on my third book, which will be a novel.

S. Wow, that's great!

D. It's very different from either of the two books that I've written to date. And a big challenge because up until several years ago, fiction didn't interest me very much. Or more specifically, most kinds of fiction- the kind of fiction that we see in shops today, Dan Brown or Stephen King kind of thrillers or Jackie Collins kinds of chick lit and so-on. And I think that holds true still. I don't understand the appeal of those books, I don't get them at all. People are more than welcome to buy them and to enjoy them.

But I think I am capable of understanding the bigger themes that fiction tries to tackle about love and purpose and meaning and triumph and sorrow and the themes that each of us lives with in our day to day lives in fact and which fiction through art attempts in a sense to elevate and explore in various ways. I do read a lot and I think in recent years the ratio between the amount of non-fiction and fiction has tipped quite considerably. I did read fiction as a teenager as well, mostly because I was forced to read fiction of course to go through high school.

S. What kind of fiction did you read?

D. Books like Animal Farm by George Orwell. Very good examples of stories that are relatively simple in one sense but profound in another. Today I'm reading more complex works- Dostoyevsky is one example. I find that the way that he describes characters and emotions and events is very dramatic and this appeals to me.

It makes it easier perhaps for me to understand those emotions and those impulses that drive people to certain situations and do certain acts because it's so exaggerated in a sense- it's so strong. And I can well imagine that fiction that is much more subtle would be harder for me perhaps to grasp in quite the same way or to appreciate in the same way. So I'll write the novel and we'll see how it goes. That's just one example of the progress, development, change, and evolution of my own mind in the past three years. So that's just one example of how transformation of our minds is definitely possible and neuro-plasticity is a very good explanation for that.

S. Well, I completely agree. Do you want to comment on any other ways you've changed in the past couple of years?

D. I'm certainly much more confident in my social interactions. I travel much more. From Embracing the Wide Sky, I went to the States, to Canada and to different parts of Europe as well. I gave interviews in several languages. I live today in the south of France in the beautiful city of Avignon, full of culture and history. And that suits me very well.

One of the things that I have mentioned in interviews before is that people with Asperger's often feel growing up that they are foreigners, that they feel so different, that they feel almost as though they were born in the wrong country or with the wrong language. And so they don't necessarily feel the affinity that most people do for where they're born and grew up.

I certainly feel today more comfortable in many respects speaking French, which is what I do on a day to day basis. I speak much more French nowadays then I do English, then I do speak in my native tongue. It's not to say that I don't find English a beautiful language, I do. I still read a great deal of it and I still write in English. But that's another example of taking a plunge. I have traveled before and I have lived overseas before, but only on a temporary basis. This isn't a temporary basis. This is a very definite break and I think it's definitely the right decision for me.