> People with WS are empathetic, social, friendly and endearing but they tend to have a low IQ, making tasks such as counting money difficult.
> They can feel anxious over stimuli such as the buzzing of a bee, or the texture of food.
Plenty of autistic folks are empathetic, social, and friendly. And many experience stimuli that cause anxiety.
The whole "it's the opposite of autism" doesn't actually help anyone understand and, IMO, reinforces the incorrect idea that autistic people are asocial, emotionless automata.
Empathy, hypersensitivity, anxiety, difficulty understanding social nuance, nonstandard eye contact - it actually sounds quite similar to autism, rather than the opposite. (Not the stereotypical autistic traits that most people misunderstand but the actual traits.) The overlap is interesting. I wonder if in the future some related mechanisms/explanations will be discovered.
empressplay · 2h ago
Despite having almost all of the prerequisite conditions (heart murmur, lazy eye, left-dominant, hernia, poor motor skills etc.) this was ruled out for me when I was a child due to exhibiting a high-IQ (~130), and I was repeatedly diagnosed with autism, despite being outgoing and high-EQ (and horribly naive!).
When I got older I began to develop connective tissue disorders and spasticity, which were incapacitating until I found treatment. I was diagnosed with EDS but that may also have been not-quite-correct, since apparently these issues are also common in WS.
Also, it apparently _is_ possible for people with WS to also have higher-than-average IQs. God, life is so frustrating sometimes!
cjbgkagh · 1h ago
All your items on your list for WS is on my list for hEDS, add in the IQ and I’d say likely 2 TNXB SNPs, do a high quality WGS to be sure. Given the hEDS I highly doubt you have WS as well, just hEDS presents in a variety of depending on other co-occurring SNPs and you got a particular combo.
hEDS is far more common than currently thought because the medical diagnostics are not very sensitive, it’s a spectrum and what doctors tend to think of hEDS is the severe form of it.
iainctduncan · 1h ago
Williams Syndrome is discussed in the (fantastic!) book by Oliver Sacks, "Musicophelia". It is often associated with hypermusicality, and the chapter on it is super interesting.
type0 · 1h ago
I spoke with one person with WS recently, very musically minded. I haven't recognized what the syndrome was at the time, but I remembered that it was some textbook case of genetic disorder. As adults I think they're aware to be gullible and might take "too much precautions" when it comes to crime in a city so they might bother the police a bit too much.
ryandv · 3h ago
Are you a patient of this condition or something? Would you mind sharing your story?
learningmore · 3h ago
Published in 2014.
firefax · 1h ago
>Published in 2014.
Yes, that is in the article.
Anything you wish to add?
Developments since then the article lacks?
southwindcg · 1h ago
It's common practice here to point out the date of older articles so the year can be added to the post title.
type0 · 1h ago
it's not a blog article about outdated technical topics, so who cares
dang · 18m ago
It's just a convention. We (moderators) append the year of an article (in parens) when an article is from a previous year. Of course we miss many cases, and commenters often helpfully point those out. In this case colinprince added the year to the title (thanks!) but otherwise we would have.
It's not that anybody did anything wrong—historical material is welcome here! and it's nice for readers to know roughly what time an article dates from. That's all.
> They can feel anxious over stimuli such as the buzzing of a bee, or the texture of food.
Plenty of autistic folks are empathetic, social, and friendly. And many experience stimuli that cause anxiety.
The whole "it's the opposite of autism" doesn't actually help anyone understand and, IMO, reinforces the incorrect idea that autistic people are asocial, emotionless automata.
Williams Syndrome: The people who are too friendly - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44011380 - May 2025 (2 comments)
Williams Syndrome - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24536693 - Sept 2020 (2 comments)
Williams syndrome - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22082839 - Jan 2020 (7 comments)
Williams Syndrome: What World’s Most Sociable People Reveal About Friendliness - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20093646 - June 2019 (5 comments)
Living with Williams Syndrome, the 'opposite of autism' - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7583121 - April 2014 (65 comments)
When I got older I began to develop connective tissue disorders and spasticity, which were incapacitating until I found treatment. I was diagnosed with EDS but that may also have been not-quite-correct, since apparently these issues are also common in WS.
Also, it apparently _is_ possible for people with WS to also have higher-than-average IQs. God, life is so frustrating sometimes!
hEDS is far more common than currently thought because the medical diagnostics are not very sensitive, it’s a spectrum and what doctors tend to think of hEDS is the severe form of it.
Yes, that is in the article.
Anything you wish to add?
Developments since then the article lacks?
It's not that anybody did anything wrong—historical material is welcome here! and it's nice for readers to know roughly what time an article dates from. That's all.