Naoki Higashida
The Reason I Jump
Translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell
The book is organized as a set of questions and responses. These two are somehow connected for me. And I am grateful for their being side by side.
#23
What’s the worst thing about having autism?
[…]
We can put up with our own hardships okay, but the thought that our lives are the source of other people’s unhappiness, that’s plain unbearable.#24
Would you like to be “normal”?
[…]
To give the short version, I’ve learned that every human being, with or without disabilities, needs to strive to do their best, and by striving for happiness you will arrive at happiness. For us, you see, having autism is normal – so we can’t know for sure what your “normal” is even like. But so long as we can learn to love ourselves, I’m not sure how much it matters whether we’re normal or autistic.
And so for day 2695
30.04.2014