L-R Jason Padgett, WFDL news director Greg Stensland, Dr. Darold Treffert
Jason Padgett says if he ran into the two men who savagely beat him in 2002, he would probably thank them. Padgett was attacked outside a karaoke bar in Tacoma Washington, leaving him with a severe concussion and post-traumatic stress disorder. But the incident also turned Padgett into a mathematical savant who sees the world through the lens of geometry. Padgett says he sees shapes and angles everywhere in real life from the geometry of a rainbow to the fractals in water. “Everything instead of looking smooth, its like little individual picture frames. Imagine you’re watching TV and and you hit pause, and cotninually hit pause . You can see each individual frame. Its like that but in real time,” Padgett told AM 1170 WFDL’s Between the Line program. So do abilities like Padgett’s lie dormant in everyone, waiting to be uncovered? Fond du Lac psychiatrist Dr. Darold Treffert is the world’s foremost expert on the Savant Syndrome. “…the dormant potential that lies within us all, to a greater or lesser degree, and the acquired savant, which is what Jason is, represents a documentation of that fact,” Treffert said. Padget is a furniture salesman who before the attack was a self-described jock and partyr with very little interest in academics, and cheating on tests on school. Today he is married with a daughter and a changed life forever. “So if I hadn’t been attacked I wouldn’t have met my wife and we wouldn’t have my little girl. So if I could meet those guys (attackers) now, if they’ve turned their lives around , I’d have to say hey thank you, I guess. Thank you for beating me up.”
