In The Reason I Jump, Naoki Higashida invites the reader to imagine a daily life in which your faculty of speech is taken away. Explaining that you’re hungry, or tired, or in pain, is now as beyond your powers as a chat with a friend. Naoki takes one on the inside of what someone with autism is thinking and how difficult it is to get across what they are trying to say. He wrote this story in the hope that it will help the reader to understand how painful it is when you can’t express yourself to the people you love, and that is exactly what he did. Through this book, Naoki answers the questions that one with autism can’t always find an answer to or explain why. He discusses why someone with autism is obsessed with swimming and organizing toys, or why they run away all the time. He also goes into some heart breaking topics on how disappointed they feel when they let someone down or can’t do what they are being asked. For example, Naoki states, “Whenever we’ve done something wrong, we get told off or laughed at, without even being able to apologize, and we end up hating ourselves and despairing about our own lives, again and again and again” (Higashida 93). This is one of the strengths of the book, being able to make the reader understand what one with autism is truly thinking in certain situations. The only weakness to the book is the crave the reader may get for more of a story than questions being answered. Overall, the book is amazing and touching. I would recommend it to someone that has the interest of learning about autism, has a relative that has autism, or one that wants to go into the field where they deal with people with autism. By reading this book, one will fully understand now why autistic people do what they do. The main take away from the is that no matter the situation, don’t back down. Naoki states, “we don’t want you to give up on us. Please, keep battling alongside us” (Higashida 176).
Through this book, Naoki answers the questions that one with autism can’t always find an answer to or explain why. He discusses why someone with autism is obsessed with swimming and organizing toys, or why they run away all the time. He also goes into some heart breaking topics on how disappointed they feel when they let someone down or can’t do what they are being asked. For example, Naoki states, “Whenever we’ve done something wrong, we get told off or laughed at, without even being able to apologize, and we end up hating ourselves and despairing about our own lives, again and again and again” (Higashida 93). This is one of the strengths of the book, being able to make the reader understand what one with autism is truly thinking in certain situations. The only weakness to the book is the crave the reader may get for more of a story than questions being answered.
Overall, the book is amazing and touching. I would recommend it to someone that has the interest of learning about autism, has a relative that has autism, or one that wants to go into the field where they deal with people with autism. By reading this book, one will fully understand now why autistic people do what they do. The main take away from the is that no matter the situation, don’t back down. Naoki states, “we don’t want you to give up on us. Please, keep battling alongside us” (Higashida 176).