J. Ralph, Wretches & Jabberers, and Autism

I was checking the web for any updates on a composer/musician I really like.  His goes by the name J. Ralph (site).  During that search, I found out he did the soundtrack for an Autism documentary called Wretches & Jabberers (site).  I haven't seen the movie yet, but I plan to.  On the movie site, there are bios of several of the autistic folks who appeared in the film, with writings by each.  I read all their words, never realizing before that autistic people had the capacity for such thinking, writing, and communicating.  The movie is targeted exactly for the uninformed like me, I suppose.  Well, this one guy, Naoki Higashida (bio), an author and poet with with  severe autism, wrote the most memorable passage on how an autistic person perceives rain.  It makes me feel like I treat so many things in life cheaply, trivial, or with utter disregard.  Things as simple as the rain.

I call this Raindrops,
Written by Naoki Higashida (excerpted from his full bio, which you must read as well):

I think that “the world of autism narrated by people with autism” is something to be revealed more and more in future. For instance, an example of how I experience the world may be different from how most people experience the world is my experience with rain. My first reaction to rain is to be surprised at its sounds. Though everyone seems to know it rain instantly from hearing its sounds, I first become anxious, unable to tell what sound it is and where it comes from until someone tells me it’s rain. That is why I stare at rain so I can connect the sounds to the rain. But then I become so absorbed in watching raindrops that I forget where I am now. The feeling of continuous raindrops coming down from the sky and falling through my body on the ground causes me to forget myself. Like this, in the world of autism, there are sensory perceptions and ways of thinking that only people with autism can explain.

by Naoki Higashida

Naoki, I'll probably never meet you.  But, thanks for writing that and helping me come a bit closer to capturing the real essence of life.