The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy With Autism by Naoki Higashida Read Free Book Online

senses. We are outside the normal flow of time, we can’t express ourselves, and our bodies are hurtling us through life. If only we could go back to that distant, distant, watery past – then we’d all be able to live as contentedly and as freely as you lot!

Q40 D O YOU LIKE ADVERTS ON TV?
    This is a difficult one. I’m not quite sure what the answer is. If you figured that we must like TV adverts just because the slogans and catchphrases roll off our tongues so easily, that wouldn’t be the full story. We remember them as well as we do because they’re on so often, and sure, we dash to the TV when a familiar advert comes on. We enjoy watching the ones we know well. How come you people without autism aren’t that keen on TV commercials? They’re on again and again and again, after all – so isn’t seeing them a bit like being visited by old and dear friends?
    I’m not a big fan of TV adverts in and of themselves, but when a familiar ad comes on, I get quite excited about it. This is because when a familiar one comes on I already know what it’s talking about, and I feel sort of soothed knowing that they never last for long. The reason why we look happy to your eyes while we’re watching TV ads must be that at all other times we’re less stable and calm, and our faces are blanker. Perhaps what you’re getting when you look at us watching adverts on the telly is a brief glimpse of the Real Us.

Q41 W HAT KIND OF TV PROGRAMMES DO YOU ENJOY?
    Even at my age, I still enjoy this TV programme for kindergarten kids,
Watching with Mother
. Reading that, you must be thinking, ‘Ah, this guy’s just a big kid, after all!’ But that’s not the case, in my humble opinion. Sure, we may appear to resemble small children – our fondness for gentle, kind, beautiful things – but we tend to prefer simpler, more straightforward stories, not because of childishness, but because we can more easily guess what’s going to happen next. This allows us to stay more relaxed and more engaged. Plus the simpler stories tend to repeat themselves a lot, so when we get to a familiar scene we can get all excited and make a happy fuss.
    People with autism get quite a kick out of repetition. If I was asked how come, my reply would be this: ‘When you’re in a strange new place, aren’t
you
relieved too if you run into a friendly, familiar face?’
    What we just don’t do are disputes, bargaining or criticizing others. We’re totally helpless in these scenarios.



A STORY I HEARD SOMEWHERE
    There was once a girl who loved dancing and she wore red shoes. Everybody who knew her thought,
That girl will keep dancing until the day she dies
, and who knows, maybe the girl thought the same thing herself.
    One night, when the whole world was fast asleep, she began dancing. She went:
    A twirl and a whirl and a leaping curl,
    A-skippetty-skippetty skip-skip-skip,
    A-tappetty-tappetty tap-tap-tap,
    A-tra-lah-di-dah and a tim tam tom.
     
    The girl was in a state of sheer bliss.
How sublime it is to dance!
A whole week went by in this manner. Then she thought,
I wonder how much longer I can keep this up?
By this point she was almost dead on her feet, but all she wished for was to keep on dancing, dancing, dancing.
    Then, on the eighth day, this handsome young man appeared. He said to her, ‘Would you care to dance with me?’ With that, the girl stopped dancing. She said, ‘Thanks, but no. I’ve just discovered something more precious than dancing.’ Then, in a small house, they lived happily ever after.

Q42 W HY DO YOU MEMORIZE TRAIN TIMETABLES AND CALENDARS?
    Because it’s fun! We get a real kick out of numbers, us people with autism. Numbers are fixed, unchanging things. The number 1, for example, is only ever, ever the number 1. That simplicity, that clearness, it’s so comforting to us.
    Whoever reads any given timetable or calendar, it’s always, always the same. You can easily understand all of them by following the same set of