The Peculiar Truth about Blind Autistic Musical Savants

• The average human adult has an IQ of 100. A score of 132 or higher gets you into Mensa. A score below 70, however, suggests an intellectual disability. That accounts for somewhere between 2-3% of the global population. Someone with an IQ in the range of 50 then is severely disabled.

• Derek Paravicini is said to possess a score of just 56. He has been blind since birth, rarely speaks, and finds it challenging to eat with standard dining utensils.

• Yet he is one of the most astonishing pianists in the world.

• Blind recording artists have been around for decades. They include Stevie Wonder, Art Tatum, Ray Charles, Jose Feliciano, Diane Schuur, Andrea Bocelli, and others. None of those gifted musicians, however, suffered from severe intellectual disabilities like Derek Paravicini.

• He possesses the uncanny ability to recreate any musical song on the piano after hearing it just once - even though he commonly mistakes his right hand from his left.

• At two years old, Derek’s nanny provided him with a child’s keyboard. He then took five years of lessons. At age seven, Derek gave his first concert before an audience. Two years later at nine, he performed with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

• He has been interviewed for television programs around the world, and he is the nephew of the current Queen of England, the former Camila Parker Bowles.

• Leslie Lemke was born in Milwaukee in 1952. He is autistic and blind and has an IQ said to be in the upper 50s. Yet he, too, developed the ability to play piano at an early age. Like Derek, he can hear a song once and then recreate it perfectly, sometimes improvising off of that tune. He can also sing despite rarely speaking.

• Tony DeBlois was born blind and autistic in 1974. He also began playing a keyboard at age two. Tony went on to master over 20 different instruments. He plays jazz and has recorded six albums. Tony also sings.

• Lucy Illiingworth was born blind in 2009 and is neurodivergent. She does not speak. But she is also an accomplished pianist.

• In 2023, the West Yorkshire girl, then 13, appeared on a British television program called The Piano. She flawlessly performed Debussy’s Arabesque.

• Like Derek and Tony, Lucy began playing on a child’s keyboard at age two and later was given piano lessons. She showed musical skills beyond her years, let alone for someone with her disabilities.

• Lucy has performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall among other top venues, and she played at the coronation of King Charles.

• Kodi Lee was born legally blind in 1996. He also has autism and Addison’s disease. His parents are of Korean and Indonesian descent, and they raised him in Southern California. Kodi not only plays piano but also sings.

• In May 2019, he wowed audiences on the TV show America’s Got Talent. He won that year. Kodi went on to play a limited engagement in Las Vegas.

• There are few studies of blind autistic musical savants, but findings suggest they often have perfect pitch. Beyond that, how people with intellectual disabilities and blindness can perform at such high levels is a wonderful mystery.

• Click on the links above to watch videos of each performer.