Naoki Higashida Quotes

• 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  Inspiring, Long, Autism

  Naoki Higashida (2013). “The Reason I Jump: one boy's voice from the silence of autism: one boy's voice from the silence of autism”, Hachette UK

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• When I was small, I didn't even know that I was a kid
  with special needs. How did I find out? By other people telling me that I was
  different from everyone else, and that this was a problem.

  Naoki Higashida

  Kids, People, Special

  Naoki Higashida (2013). “The Reason I Jump: one boy's voice from the silence of autism: one boy's voice from the silence of autism”, p.2, Hachette UK

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• People with autism never, ever feel at ease, wherever we are. Because of this, we wander off - or run away - in search of some location where we do feel at ease. While we're on this search, it doesn't occur to us to consider how or where we're going to end up. 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  Running, People, Autism

  Naoki Higashida (2013). “The Reason I Jump: one boy's voice from the silence of autism: one boy's voice from the silence of autism”, Hachette UK

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• But 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  Heart, Jumping, Hands

  16 Copy quote

• Everybody has a heart that can be touched by something.

  Naoki Higashida

  Heart, Touched

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• 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  People, Autism, Focus

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• 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  Stress, Grief, Ideas

  13 Copy quote

• 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  Hero, Thinking, People

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• 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  Beautiful, Memories, Night

  20 Copy quote

• 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  Done, Want, Way

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

  Naoki Higashida

  Compassion, Self, Self Respect

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• The thought that our lives are the source of other people's unhappiness, that's plain unbearable.

  Naoki Higashida

  People, Unbearable, Unhappiness

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Naoki Higashida

  World, Illusion, All Alone

  Naoki Higashida (2013). “The Reason I Jump: one boy's voice from the silence of autism: one boy's voice from the silence of autism”, Hachette UK

  9 Copy quote

• Can you imagine how your life would be if you couldn't talk?

  Naoki Higashida

  Would Be, Imagine, Ifs

  7 Copy quote

• Just by looking at nature, I feel as if I'm being swallowed up into it, and in that moment I get the sensation that my body's now a speck, a speck from long before I was born, a speck that is melting into nature herself.

  Naoki Higashida

  Long, Melting, Body

  7 Copy quote

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