Dr. Ami Klin of the Marcus Autism Center in Georgia is on the stand now in Kleiman v. Wright, discussing his work in the autism field and his extensive evaluation of Craig Wright.
He said individuals with autism who also have high intellect often go undiagnosed, especially someone like Wright, who was in school 40 years ago, when people didn't know much about autism.
Klin said he was approached by Wright’s attorneys to evaluate Wright. He told them he doesn’t do expert witness work very frequently and that his opinion would go where the evidence went and would not just serve the case.
A valuation of an adult takes a lot of work, he said. It involved lengthy interviews with Wright as well as with others who know him, especially those who knew him as a kid. He and another professional did the evaluation.
In the case of Wright, Klin says he has the "ability to learn language and use language to acquire factual information" that is "higher than 99.99 percent of the population."
Klin: "His ability to navigate a social situation when we need common sense, when we need street smarts, is lower than 1 percent of the population."
Klin says Wright has a lifelong pattern of becoming obsessed with specific topics. He would become and expert in them. His peers never shared these interests, so he had few friends.
He alienated peers and was "mercilessly bullied" for this.
Klin said Wright gets obsessed with details and fails to see how the context can harm him. He’s “not good at seeing the global picture because of his obsession with little parts.”
Klin said that as a child, Wright learned language earlier than his peers and spoke articulately. Used fancy language when others did not. He isolated himself and was more likely to be learning about stuff that interested him on his own than hanging out with his peers.
Klin said Wright is very regimented, has a strict daily routine, and that his wife has over the years been able to make small dents in it. She has "relentlessly tried to understand him" and is flexible and patient with him.
Wright is the same way here or at work or at home. "This is who he is." He is overly literal and doesn't fully understand sarcasm and humor.
Klin says that while most of us seek validation from others in many ways -- we want to be seen as attractive or nice, etc. -- Wright has a one-track mind and seeks validation for his work, which defines his identity
On cross-examination, Kleiman's attorney asked about the scope of the consultation that Wright's attorneys hired him for. They asked if Wright met the criteria for ASD and if so, how this would impact his presentation in legal proceedings.
Kleiman's attorney noted that they didn't ask for a general evaluation of Wright, they asked specifically about autism. Klin says they had a "hint or feeling" that Wright had autism and wanted an autism expert to evaluate him.
Klin said he had never heard of Wright, so he Googled him and brought up a video on YouTube of Wright speaking at what looked like a conference. Said he seemed "very polished and looked like a Steve Jobs and sounded like a visionary."
For the evaluation, Klin and the other professional spoke with Wright, his mother, his wife, his sister, and his maternal uncle (Don Lynam, who testified in the case). Klin says he did not review medical records or school records.
Back to that YouTube video: Kleiman's attorney points to Klin's deposition earlier in the case in which he said what he saw in that video was inconsistent with the way Wright was in his interview.
Klin says it was a different context. (Though he testified earlier that Wright is the same despite the setting and that people with autism often ignore context clues and behave the same way regardless of the social setting.)
Plaintiffs harp on the fact that beyond the interview with Wright, the only other communications Klin saw of Wright were from the litigation: video and transcripts of depositions. He didn't look at other YouTube videos, etc. Klin says those aren't used in clinical evaluations.
We are adjourning early today. Klin will be back on the stand on Monday morning.
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