Why I Donated My Cousin's Brain to Research on Autism
Gregory Blackstock had remarkable and mysterious talents that deserve to be examined
As his youngest cousin, and the one who had been the closest person to him for three decades, the enduring mystery to me had always been, "what is really going on inside Gregory Blackstock's brain?" His "islands of genius" (in the words of the late autism expert Darold Treffert) became evident in his adult life, but I always sensed that what he presented to the world was only a fraction of what he was capable of.
In his later years, it became apparent that he was developing some dementia, and in the three years before his death at age 77 on Jan. 10, 2023, he had suffered several strokes. I had long joked that "he should donate his brain to science," but I was astonished when, after he entered hospice and I reached out to Autism BrainNet, that the scientific community would be delighted to use his brain for research in spite of the physical damage. As my cousin's power of attorney, I was able to facilitate this donation in advance, and the process itself could not have been more compassionate and effortless.
Gregory Blackstock's story is a fascinating one. Born on this day in 1946, he was only 10 years old when he was sent far from home to an institutional school specializing in children with varied emotional and developmental difficulties. There he would spend five unhappy years, receiving little to no tailored therapy. At this time, the diagnosis of autism was scarcely known, and his newly single mother had no idea how to handle the special needs of someone like her son, whom she would sometimes tie to a clothesline or put in a closet when he became "unmanageable."
When he speaks of that time, it is clear that there were two things in his new life which gave him joy. The school was not far from a busy train yard, and he spent happy hours memorizing the trains and their sounds. A beloved aunt and uncle lived but an hour away, and they would take him to the airport to watch the planes land and take off. In short order, Blackstock knew the type of plane, the make of the engine, and could perfectly mimic its thunderous roar.
When he was particularly happy, he would "become" an airplane. Holding one hand centered over his nose for the propeller, the other arm angled back as a wing, he would rotate his finger faster and faster, complete with appropriate sound effects for the exact plane he was becoming. When ready, he gave a little happy skip and then "took off" down the sidewalk, grinning as he looked back to his wing to mark his progress. As a grizzled older man, this would elicit quite a few stares, but he was oblivious.
Astonishing Talents
Although autism is now better understood by most, Blackstock's life has not been easy. Even as a grown man he lacked "executive function" and had almost no ability to make decisions, choices or judgements based on logic. He could not generalize from one situation to the next to predict outcomes, he had difficulty visualizing the consequences of his actions. He was unable to "read" the faces of others for clues to the emotional moment. He loved repetition and loud noises, but was clueless about how offering the sound effects from a rabid dog ("Old Yeller") might be received in a crowded elevator.
For most of us, our behavior is fine-tuned over the years by the perceived reactions of others, but also by our ability to empathize with, incorporate and act on the feelings of those around us. Due to autism, Blackstock's actions and attitudes suffered from a true inability to see into the mind of another person. He was guided by what gave him immediate pleasure, and he had to learn by rote those behaviors society expected from him.
And yet, for all of his seeming limitations, the apparent capacity of his brain was nothing short of astonishing. Called a "prodigious savant" by Treffert after the two met in person, Blackstock played the accordion, piano and organ. For relaxation, he drew musical staffs freehand and then effortlessly wrote in the notes — in a new key — of entire songs he had heard decades earlier.
He could adequately communicate, with perfect accent and grammar, in nearly a dozen languages. He mimicked the sound of a variety of airplane engines, and would recite word perfect entire stretches of favorite films. Referencing images culled from books, photos and his own memory, Blackstock learned detailed information for whatever interested him, memorizing an astonishing range of geographical, anecdotal and scientific information that he never forgot. And then he began to draw it.
Drawings and Definitions
When he was 28, Blackstock became interested in the tools in the maintenance room where he worked as a janitor. With no formal art training, he began converting what he saw into his first list-like drawing, named simply, "The Tools."
He proudly showed it to his mother, a portrait artist, when she returned home from a long vacation. She praised him and then stated it was "too big." It would be another 24 years before he again attempted to catalog his world. And then he couldn't stop. The number of things that captured his attention were endless — animal, vegetable, mineral, music, language, film and sounds. It is interesting to note that not only was this artist self-taught, but because each new drawing involved a different subject, Blackstock was simultaneously teaching himself how to draw that plane, bird, plant, or heinous bug while rendering it on the final piece. He made no drafts and the work he began was invariably the work he completed.
A curious way Blackstock attempted to understand the mysteries of conversation was to study and reflect on the words themselves. Trying to crack the communication code, he regularly made large lists of words followed by definitions found in his battered thesaurus, augmented with his own guesses at what additional meanings might exist for that word. Because he lacked discernment, all words in the grouping had equal weight and value. He generally focused on words and phrases which convey strong emotion.
When in 2004 his art first came to the attention of a respected gallery and began to sell, Blackstock was thrilled that his drawings were soon finding homes throughout the world. He kept a running list of all the drawings sold and where in the world they went. Receiving praise and recognition for what he created gave him immense joy.
While he would not understand the magnitude of his post-mortem contribution to the future understanding of "the autistic brain," it gives me such satisfaction to know that legacy of his remarkable life lives on.
