Friday, February 17, 2006
Remember Rainman?
The movie starring Tom Cruise as a unscrupulous younger brother(Raymond) who takes advantages of his autistic but genius older brother, played by Dustin Hoffman, to make money in a casino. Raymond (or Rainman as Dustin Hoffman calls him) eventually learns how to appreciate his brother and love him for who he is.
I watched it when I was 14, and a friend asked me," Roujun, if you were pregnant and had an unborn child with autism, will you abort the baby?"
(Don't ask me why there are 14 year olds who think of such stuff)Anyway, I was stumped for an answer. Yes, I knew that abortion is wrong.
Thou shall not commit murder. But, in the words of my friend, would i "bring a child into this world to suffer?"
I always found the assurance that if i were to have a child with autism or down syndrome, God will give me the strength to care for him/her. But this book,
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time has really made me appreciate the autistic mind. Beautiful and poignant, everyone should read this story.
Extract from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark HaddonMy name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,507.
8 years ago, I met Siobhan, she showed me this picture.
:(
and i knew it meant 'sad', which is what i felt when i found the dead dog.
Then she showed me this picture
:)
and i knew it meant 'happy', like when i'm reading about Apollo space missions, or i am still awake at three or four in the morning and i walk up and down the street and pretend that i am the only person in the whole world.
Then she drew some pictures
;P (",) :O
but i was unable to tell what these meant.
I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to the, exactly what they meant. I kept a piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn't understand what someone was saying. But it was difficult to decide which of the diagrams was most like the face they were making because their faces move very quickly.
When I told Siobhan that I was doing this, she got out another piece of paper and said it probably made people feel very
:/
and then she laughed. So i tore the original piece of paper up and threw it away. And Siobhan apologised. And now if I don't know what someone is saying I ask them what they mean or walk away.
End of extractInsight into the brilliant mind of an emotionally dissociated child.
Heart-wrenching and yet bleakly funny.
A must-read.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Remember Rainman?
The movie starring Tom Cruise as a unscrupulous younger brother(Raymond) who takes advantages of his autistic but genius older brother, played by Dustin Hoffman, to make money in a casino. Raymond (or Rainman as Dustin Hoffman calls him) eventually learns how to appreciate his brother and love him for who he is.
I watched it when I was 14, and a friend asked me," Roujun, if you were pregnant and had an unborn child with autism, will you abort the baby?"
(Don't ask me why there are 14 year olds who think of such stuff)Anyway, I was stumped for an answer. Yes, I knew that abortion is wrong.
Thou shall not commit murder. But, in the words of my friend, would i "bring a child into this world to suffer?"
I always found the assurance that if i were to have a child with autism or down syndrome, God will give me the strength to care for him/her. But this book,
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time has really made me appreciate the autistic mind. Beautiful and poignant, everyone should read this story.
Extract from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark HaddonMy name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,507.
8 years ago, I met Siobhan, she showed me this picture.
:(
and i knew it meant 'sad', which is what i felt when i found the dead dog.
Then she showed me this picture
:)
and i knew it meant 'happy', like when i'm reading about Apollo space missions, or i am still awake at three or four in the morning and i walk up and down the street and pretend that i am the only person in the whole world.
Then she drew some pictures
;P (",) :O
but i was unable to tell what these meant.
I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to the, exactly what they meant. I kept a piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn't understand what someone was saying. But it was difficult to decide which of the diagrams was most like the face they were making because their faces move very quickly.
When I told Siobhan that I was doing this, she got out another piece of paper and said it probably made people feel very
:/
and then she laughed. So i tore the original piece of paper up and threw it away. And Siobhan apologised. And now if I don't know what someone is saying I ask them what they mean or walk away.
End of extractInsight into the brilliant mind of an emotionally dissociated child.
Heart-wrenching and yet bleakly funny.
A must-read.
