Through the Eyes of Aliens: A Book About Autistic People

159 Pages·1998·0.91 MB·English

by  Jasmine Lee O’Neill

Through the Eyes of Aliens
A Book about Autistic People
Jasmine Lee O’Neill
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First published in the United Kingdom in 1999 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd 73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com
Copyright © 1999 Jasmine Lee O’Neill All rights reserved. No paragraph of this publication may be
reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended), or
under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorised act in
relation to this publication may be liable to prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The right of Jasmine Lee O’Neill to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available from
the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data O’Neill, Jasmine Lee
Through the eyes of aliens
1. Autism
I. Title
616.8’982
ISBN 978 1 85302 710 9
eISBN 978 0 85700 098 9
For my very wonderful, dear friend,
who breathed air into my dreams so they could take
wing;
Whose honest friendship sustained me through aching
days;
Whose gentle love coaxed me to bloom like an iris in his
garden;
Whose welcoming heart cherishes misfits,
kind and wise like a peaceful lion: Bertram A.
Ruttenberg, M.D.
You are most beloved.
Contents
1. Introducing Autism
2. The Autistic World
3. Autism and Sense Organs
4. Autism and Emotions
5. Communication and Language
6. Intelligence, Autism, and Savant Skills
7. Discrimination
8. Rhythms and Self-Stimulations
9. Relationships
10. Health and Allergies
11. Autism and Teenage Years
12. Recreation
13. Idiosyncrasies and Special Traits
Epilogue – For Autistic People
Poems
Further Reading
Index
§
For an Autistic Child
To you in your world, Locked inside yourself, An island,
Isolated winds in your mind, To you, locked inside beauty, Inside anguish, inside
joy, You live
Breathe
Die
Emotions
too profound to understand, Little one curled up rocking, Your floor your world,
Safe,
Just you,
Your little expressive hands, Like tiny birds,
talking in flutters, your little angry snarls repel a monstrous outside realm, your
beloved treasures: Buttons
Diminutive faery animals Smooth wooden beads Dots of sunlight on your wall
Humming your songs to calm your anxious hands,
Safe,
Just you,
At one with rhythm, Your world
only bits of those others who come and go like currents of air, barely ruffling
your forelock, Your face a delicate empty mask to those who see only with eyes,
Those who don’t understand your world,
To me,
watching you,
I see myself,
I sing songs for you, little one, to tell you You don’t have to forsake your world
to be free.
§
ONE