I'm giving myself a break after reading Mother Warriors, so I grabbed a book whose title I recognized from a few years back: The Reason I Jump, by Naoki Higashida (translated to English, because my Japanese is definitely not that good). It is a short book, but a good one.
One of the reviewers on the back claims it's a Rosetta Stone for autism, which made me wonder if reading it was going to introduce me to a kindred soul or just another different case of autism-made-alien. After finishing the book, I'm more inclined to claim the latter than the former, though the author is certainly thoughtful and imaginative.
The book itself is a series of questions about autism and specific behaviors autism can cause, and answers from the author, a nonverbal autistic 13 year old who has painstakingly learned to communicate by typing. His answers are everything from smile inducing to heartbreaking, and while they generally don't pertain to my situation, they are well worth reading. Particularly if you're a parent with a "runner" child, ie: a child that tends to just bolt off at any moment, wandering so far they get lost and have to be found by an organized search effort. From the sound of it, the author is a runner as well, and it's not because he's feeling contrary or wants to be difficult.
Interspersed with those Q&As are little stories, things the author found meaningful or wrote himself. I'm afraid the meanings were mostly lost on me, but perhaps you might do better. These are not simple stories, with a simple lesson and meaning, but complex and emotional stories, referencing everything from Japanese folklore to Aesop's fables.
One thing the author and I do agree on: familiar things are like old friends. For him, commercials he recognizes, nature, and questions he already knows the answers to. For me, music. My enjoyment is more societally acceptable than his, which is probably why he wrote about it in this book. He lights up over seeing commercials he knows, with a big grin and singular focus. I mainly just enjoy the music more deeply if I'm familiar with it, which doesn't necessarily have a lot of outward markers.
We also have something in common, which is that he seems to be pretty well aware that he upsets people by being himself, and makes efforts to minimize that upsetness. That is something I do as well, and by the number of references he makes to it, it's a major concern of his. That may be in part due to his culture: the Japanese as a rule are much more concerned with societal harmony and wellbeing than the more individualistic Americans.
I would tend to say the author, Naoki Higashida, was a happier person at the writing of this book than I am now. I don't have nearly so many things that make me happy as he does. I hope he's kept some of those things. The book was written in 2007, which is now almost ten years ago. A quick Google search tells me he hasn't stopped writing, and his last publication was two years ago. Hopefully that means he's doing well.
Read this book if: you're anyone. Seriously. Just because his life doesn't cross mine in many points does not make it any less valid, and in fact makes it much much more valid to parents with kids who have problems getting their bodies to respond, or do what they want. Even if you have no one in your life like that, read this book to understand another person's humanity. The author is a very different person than most you'll ever meet. Don't miss the opportunity to see things the way he sees them.
One of the reviewers on the back claims it's a Rosetta Stone for autism, which made me wonder if reading it was going to introduce me to a kindred soul or just another different case of autism-made-alien. After finishing the book, I'm more inclined to claim the latter than the former, though the author is certainly thoughtful and imaginative.
The book itself is a series of questions about autism and specific behaviors autism can cause, and answers from the author, a nonverbal autistic 13 year old who has painstakingly learned to communicate by typing. His answers are everything from smile inducing to heartbreaking, and while they generally don't pertain to my situation, they are well worth reading. Particularly if you're a parent with a "runner" child, ie: a child that tends to just bolt off at any moment, wandering so far they get lost and have to be found by an organized search effort. From the sound of it, the author is a runner as well, and it's not because he's feeling contrary or wants to be difficult.
Interspersed with those Q&As are little stories, things the author found meaningful or wrote himself. I'm afraid the meanings were mostly lost on me, but perhaps you might do better. These are not simple stories, with a simple lesson and meaning, but complex and emotional stories, referencing everything from Japanese folklore to Aesop's fables.
One thing the author and I do agree on: familiar things are like old friends. For him, commercials he recognizes, nature, and questions he already knows the answers to. For me, music. My enjoyment is more societally acceptable than his, which is probably why he wrote about it in this book. He lights up over seeing commercials he knows, with a big grin and singular focus. I mainly just enjoy the music more deeply if I'm familiar with it, which doesn't necessarily have a lot of outward markers.
We also have something in common, which is that he seems to be pretty well aware that he upsets people by being himself, and makes efforts to minimize that upsetness. That is something I do as well, and by the number of references he makes to it, it's a major concern of his. That may be in part due to his culture: the Japanese as a rule are much more concerned with societal harmony and wellbeing than the more individualistic Americans.
I would tend to say the author, Naoki Higashida, was a happier person at the writing of this book than I am now. I don't have nearly so many things that make me happy as he does. I hope he's kept some of those things. The book was written in 2007, which is now almost ten years ago. A quick Google search tells me he hasn't stopped writing, and his last publication was two years ago. Hopefully that means he's doing well.
Read this book if: you're anyone. Seriously. Just because his life doesn't cross mine in many points does not make it any less valid, and in fact makes it much much more valid to parents with kids who have problems getting their bodies to respond, or do what they want. Even if you have no one in your life like that, read this book to understand another person's humanity. The author is a very different person than most you'll ever meet. Don't miss the opportunity to see things the way he sees them.
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