QUOTES

3 " During the 24/7 grind of being a carer, it's all to easy to forget the fact that the person you're doing so much for is, and is obliged to be, more resourceful than you in many respects. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

4 " autism is more like retina patterns than measles "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

5 " We get swallowed up by the illusion that unless we can find a place to belong, we are going to be all alone in the world. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

6 " Criticizing people, winding them up, making idiots of them or fooling them doesn't make people with autism laugh. What makes us smile from the inside is seeing something beautiful, or a memory makes us laugh. This generally happens when there's nobody watching us. And at night, on our own, we might burst out laughing underneath the duvet, or roar with later in an empty room ... When we don't need to think about other people or anything else, that's when we wear our aural expressions. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

7 " [When explaining over reactions to small mistakes] I get swallowed up in the moment, and I can't tell the right response from the wrong response. All I know is that I have to get out of the situation as soon as I can, so I don't drown. To get away, I'll do anything. Crying, screaming and throwing things, hitting out even... Finally, finally, I'll calm down and come back to myself. Then I see no sign of the tsunami attack--only the wreckage I've made. And when I see that, I hate myself. I just hate myself. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

8 " When you see an object, it seems that you see it as an entire thing first, and only afterwards do its details follow on. But for people with autism, the details jump straight out at us first of all, and then only gradually, detail by detail, does the whole image float up into focus. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

9 " Не могу понять, почему разговоры на религиозную тему должны быть такими утомительными. Я знаю: быть верующим трудно. Воскресение из мертвых, вечное блаженство... Мария часто читала мне из Библии. Трудно, должно быть, верить во все это. Позже я взялся за Кьеркегора (весьма полезное чтение для начинающего клоуна), и это тоже было трудно, но не так утомительно. "

― , Ansichten eines Clowns. Interpretationen. Inhalt, Hintergrund, Interpretationen. (Lernmaterialien): Böll: Ansichten Eines Clowns

10 " Мария тоже слегка побледнела, но ей импонируют интеллектуалы - от этого я так и не смог ее отучить; интеллект Кинкеля импонировал также будущей госпоже Фредебейль: словесную обработку, которой ее подвергли, она сопровождала вздохами, на мой взгляд почти неприличными. Поистине, на бедняжку обрушился целый интеллектуальный смерч, в ход было пущено все - от отцов церкви до Брехта, и, когда я, отдышавшись немного, пришел с балкона, они впали в состояние полной прострации и пили крюшон... и все это только потому, что бедная простушка похвалила "неплохие рассказики" Бенна.

Сейчас у нее уже двое детей от Фредебейля, хотя ей еще нет двадцати двух; телефонные звонки все еще раздавались в их квартире, и я представил себе, что в эту минуту она возится с молочными бутылочками, детскими присыпками, пеленками и вазелином, донельзя беспомощная и сконфуженная, и еще я подумал о ворохе грязного детского белья и о груде жирной немытой посуды на кухне. Однажды, когда они доконали меня своими разговорами, я вызвался помочь ей по хозяйству - подсушивать хлеб, делать бутерброды и варить кофе; исполнять такую работу мне куда менее противно, чем участвовать в беседах определенного свойства. "

― , Ansichten eines Clowns. Interpretationen. Inhalt, Hintergrund, Interpretationen. (Lernmaterialien): Böll: Ansichten Eines Clowns

11 " Everybody has a heart that can be touched by something. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

12 " True compassion is about not bruising the other person’s self-respect. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

13 " On our own we simply don't know how to get things done the same way you do things. But, like everyone else, we want to do the best we possibly can. When we sense you've given up on us, it makes us feel miserable. So please keep helping us, through to the end. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

14 " To give the short version, I've learnt 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 austitic. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

15 " But I ask you, those of you who are with us all day, not to stress yourselves out because of us. When you do this, it feels as if you're denying any value at all that our lives may have--and that saps the spirit we need to soldier on. The hardest ordeal for us is the idea that we are causing grief for other people. 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. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

16 " Q25 What's the reason you jump?
When I'm jumping it's as if my feelings are going upward to the sky. Really, my urge to be swallowed up by the sky is enough to make my heart quiver. When I'm jumping, I can feel my body parts really well, too--my bounding legs and my clapping hands--and that makes me feel so, so good. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

17 " I think that people with autism are born outside the regime of civilization. Sure, this is just my own made-up theory, but I think that, as a result of all the killings in the world and the selfish planet-wrecking that humanity has committed, a deep sense of crisis exists. Autism has somehow arisen out of this. Although people with autism look like other people physically, we are in fact very different in many ways. We are more like travelers from the distant, distant past. And if, by our being here, we could help the people of the world remember what truly matters for the Earth, that would give us a quiet pleasure. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

18 " So how do people with autism see the world, exactly? We, only we, can ever know the answer to that one! Sometimes I actually pity you for not being able to see the beauty of the world in the same way we do. Really, our vision of the world can be incredible, just incredible ...

When you see an object, it seems that you see it as an entire thing first, and only afterwards do its details follow on.... But for people with autism, the details jump straight out at us first of all, and then only gradually, detail by detail, does the whole image sort of float up into focus.

Every single thing has its own unique beauty. People with autism get to cherish this beauty, as if it's a kind of blessing given to us. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

19 " Normal people think we're highly dependent and can't live without ongoing support, but in fact there are times when we're stoic heroes. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

20 " This said, we couldn’t get by without light. Light wipes away our tears, and when we’re bathed in light, we’re happy. Perhaps we just love how its particles pour down on us. Light particles somehow console us. I admit this is something I can’t quite explain using logic. "

― , The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism