'Difference' is good

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, December 2019; written by Michelle Lampton.

A friend of mine has autism. We became acquainted through her fiction writing; I’d reached out to compliment after becoming a fan of her work. Since then, I’ve enjoyed reading not just her fiction, but keeping up with essays and insights she writes on topics like entertainment, childhood trauma, and mental health. Her ability to write about complex inter-personal relationships and self-analysis amazes me.

We have things in common: We’re both in our thirties. Our sense of humor is compatible. We both enjoy the rush of getting excitable about similar passions. We even both live in the Pacific Northwest, though we communicate by writing since we don’t live in the same city. All things considered, we are ‘equals’ as the saying goes; she is no ‘different’ than me. In digesting intermittent discussions of autism on her blog, for a long time I’d simply assumed she had an autistic family member, not that she was on the spectrum herself. But over time, it became clear she was referencing her own experiences.

Since I’ve found autism interesting for years, if anything, it only made me think of her as ‘cooler.’

If you’re like me and look for easy ways to learn more on the topic, here are three real finds, all of which are in our collection at the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library.

“The Reason I Jump” is a short, heartfelt read written by thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida, a boy with autism so severe he is essentially non-verbal. His personal testimony shares what happens inside a person with autism when behaviors that society usually sees as “disruptive” occur. It’s not what you’d expect at all. Using real life examples, he shows that he thinks and feels much the same as ‘neurotypicals,’ those our society calls ‘normal.’ He believes it is in the communication of those thoughts and feelings where the impairment dwells, and he shares multiple real-life situations where even though he meant, felt, or knew one thing, his body and voice often did not cooperate, even conveying the exact opposite.

While that book is fairly new to us, being translated from Japanese only a few years ago, in reality, time continued to move on for Mr. Higashida. Now at the age of twenty-four, he’s written a new book called, “Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8,” another easy-to-read eye opener.

Here, the testimony is even more profound. As a child, he’d wished he didn’t have autism. Now, he does not. “[T]he ‘Myself’ I’d be wouldn’t be the same Myself that I am now. A Me Without Autism, even one who looked exactly the same, would have an entirely different set of ideas and way of looking at the world…” He states that if the things he finds value in “are rooted in my autistically wired brain and if neurotypical people are unable to access these wonders, then I have to say that the immutable beauties of autism are such that I count myself lucky to be born with the condition.”

Also in our collection is the bestselling “NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity,” by Steve Silberman. “NeuroTribes” examines whether autism is truly a “disability,” or if instead is a cognitive “difference.” He seeks to alter the conversation towards a wider concept of “neurodiversity,” taking the position that conditions such as autism, dyslexia, and ADHD may be normal variations on the way our genomes develop. He echoes Naoki’s words: Rather than viewing autism as a disability, neuro-divergence is a positive part of the human experience, and by learning to embrace all types of neuro-diversity, humanity might just obtain something greater than the sum of its parts.

These titles can be checked out using your First City Library account. The Ketchikan UAS Campus Library will be closed December 21 through January 6 for Winter Break, but you can still request books be forwarded to the Public Library during that time for checkout.