Autism. The word alone can send a million stigmas surrounding it through your mind.

Autism is defined as a mental condition characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with people and language and abstract concepts. People with autism are not limited to or defined by their condition. There is a whole spectrum and forms of the disorder where the severity ranges and over 200,000 new cases of it in the US alone.

Usually people associate severe cases of autism as the most typical. But in fact, many people you know and talk to every day may have a form of autism and you would never even be able to tell. It is not a dirty disease or a taboo disorder. Autistic people are as capable of achieving great things as anyone else in the world. There are numerous world renowned geniuses and celebrities who have embraced their diagnosis and continued to inspire others worldwide with their work.

Diagnosed with mild autism at age two, singer Courtney Love was iconic in the Punk and Grunge scenes of the 90’s as the frontman of the band Hole. She became an influencer for other female artists with her controversial lyrics and rebellious style with a career spanning over four decades.

Dan Aykroyd, creator of Ghostbusters, was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. Autistic people typically have a very specific love for something and when he took his passion for ghosts and law enforcement, one of the greatest 80’s movies of all time was produced.

Perhaps the most inspiring woman is Temple Grandin. She is an American professor of Animal Science and one of the top scientists in the humane livestock industry. Diagnosed with autism, she has become a spokeswoman for the condition and continues to impact the world with her work.

Researchers say there is a very high chance that Mozart had autism, most likely Aspergers. He was sensitive to sound and was said to be anti social. Nonetheless he is still one of music’s most successful and decorated composers.

Albert Einstein is another name you have no doubt heard of. Someone we know as one of the highest achieving geniuses on the planet even now was said to also have Aspergers.

A condition is just a condition. While the way it is dealt with is different for everyone one thing remains clear, it does not define a person. To believe someone with autism is incapable of success is to be of complete ignorance.