Brain Connections

When I was a substitute teacher I noticed kids in special education classes often had siblings in gifted classes, and we know some geniuses also had learning disabilities. Einstein is a well known example. Obviously there's some sort of relationship between how their brains work.

I've wondered for years about how other neurological problems might be linked. Are personality disorders similar to learning disabilities? Might OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) be caused by a variation of whatever causes autism? What about Antisocial Personality Disorder and all the others?

According to Temple Grandin, autistic people tend to think in colors instead of words. I think in both and have no symptoms of autism so I'm not sure what Grandin says is necessarily true. But if it is, what does that mean for people with achromatopsia? Are rods and cones in the eyes connected or related to parts of the brain that operate differently in autistic people?

How is narcolepsy related to epilepsy in terms of neurological connections. And, do either or both of those conditions relate to learning disabilities, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or mental illness?

Our brains are incredibly complex and I doubt that anyone has studied the possible relationships between all these things, but I'd sure like to understand more about how they work.