Hi my dearest Steemians, I hope you are well. For my daily video meet these two extraordinary friends who came to my spin class today. Being differently abled, they sometimes feel like outcasts and inspired me to write about this subject today.
This is my ex Ken’s nephew Simon, I am still friends with both of them and always make an effort to see Simon when he is travelling to Vancouver from the island. He is mildly autistic and knowing him opened up a whole world of possibilities, enlarging my definition of the human experience. The way he repeats lines out of his favorite Pixar movie for example is referred to as delayed echolalia. In recent years, the term was upgraded from a disorder to a way of communicating. It is understood that sentences are learned for those who find it difficult to assess the meaning of different individual words as well as the context in which they can and can’t be used. However, in Simon’s case, it has a lot to do with play and humour as well as understanding emotions. He goes from repeatedly cracking the same joke to enacting a scene of empathy, saying something like: “poor thing, he didn’t deserve it.” As seen in a video.
I had him start a piece on dada.nyc, kindly asking him not to delete it since he is very much into ephemeral art and tends to delete most of his work on Minecraft and other art apps. I explained to him that it was to be a visual conversation with the community and he really got into it.
Ideas are never completely new, they are recycled and his verbal collage of videos is creative in and of itself. On the other hand, it was refreshing for him to name the hazardous contraption of his volcano level. He kept naming the traps: spike, fire sharks, upside down volcanos.
I like to see his use of language evolve with art. It is a catalyst that gives his inner world weight and enables us, his loved ones, to take a peak at his intellect from a different perspective than language.
I think Dada has tremendous potential for people autism spectrum disorder to connect with the world. The fact the panels are called conversation goes a long way to show that it is an inclusive social media. To recognize the potential of digital arts as a means of communication is very ingenious. It takes a while to adjust to Simon’s cryptic use of English, you may need to spend time with him first but with Dada, you could communicate with him seamlessly in a flash.
Later, we went for Dim Sum, a veritable feast of shrimp it was. Here we are together, I’m all red and sweaty from playing with the Occulus Rift headset.
This is a book Ken made when Simon was little. He is so tall now, it is incredible to witness the spurt of the last two years let me tell you.
It is always a special trip to his uncle’s in Vancouver, they love each other very much and they have the other’s back.
I have the luxury of being fun and attractive, I can make as many friends as I like during one lifetime. For Simon, it may be more difficult and so I am very loyal to him. On the flip side, it took me a lot of time to get in his good graces, he doesn’t exactly open up to people easily and I feel very privileged by how friendly he is to me, including me in many of his games.
When he was a child, his family and I would all advocate for him in different ways. For me, it has always been around including him in conversations about him when he was in the room.
Except for some minor differences in opinion, I have always had a lot of admiration for his parents who found him countless subsidized tutors and schooling opportunities. They communicate with him very well.
I like the term differently abled because it is not placing neurotypical folks at the center of the universe. Just because we have to look harder to see what someone has to bring to the table it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Take my two friends from the video, the reason they show me such admiration is that I am patient with them and give them time of day. My life is richer for their lively energy and how they celebrate so many simple rituals most of us just pass by.
It is not always easy, sometimes I must be direct to set some boundaries like when the try to call me too much for example. They appreciate my honesty for understanding subtext is not their forte.
