By Eleanor Gee

Tongan parents, and family members who never though they would be able to understand what goes on in the minds of their autistic loved ones, were given hope after watching a documentary on autism last night, 21 February, organised by the Embassy of Japan and the Autism Foundation of Tonga, at the Tanoa Hotel.

The NHK documentary ‘What you taught me about my son’ is based on a book titled The Reason I Jump written by a Japanese autistic author, Naoki Higashi, who gives a rare insight on what it is like to live with autism.

The show also features English author, David Mitchell, who reads and speaks Japanese, explaining how he found Naoki’s book when he was searching for more information to help him understand his autistic son.

David said when he read the book, it was like his autistic son was speaking to him. It gave him an insight to behaviours such as jumping, head banging, and uncontrolled speech and sounds.

Naoki was diagnosed with autism when he was five-years-old and struggles with verbal communication. However, with the help of his mother, he learned to communicate using alphabet grids and developed an interest in writing.

He wrote the book when he was just 13-years-old and it was published in 2013.

The book is written in a question and answer format where Naoki answers questions like “What’s the reason you jump?”

Naoki said he jumps when he is happy or when he is sad. “When I’m jumping, it’s as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.”

The book had such a huge impact on David that he decided to translate it to help people around the world who are going through the same experiences. It has since become an international best seller translated into over 20 languages.

Other families also feature in the documentary who have been helped immensely by Naoki’s book.

Tonga

The Japanese Embassy’s Counsellor, Yasuhiko Kamada said the show provides a new side of people with autism and he hoped new ideas would emerge to promote the welfare of autistic people in Tonga.

The screening was attended by members of the Autism Foundation, teachers from the ‘Ofa Tui ‘Amanaki Centre (OTA), Mango Tree Centre, and Education.

After the screening, Lady Lupe Fielakepa from Tonga’s Autism Parents Association said she was overwhelmed by the documentary and that it had given her hope as a parent of an autistic child. She said that she and every parent who watched it, would be looking to buy Naoki’s book straight away.

According to the Tapuaki Mei Langi Autism Foundation, there are more autistic boys than girls with around 26 autistic children (only 3 girls) diagnosed in Tonga although that number could be higher.

Parents with autistic children in Tonga can join the Autism Parents Association where they can reach out to one another for help when needed.  

MedicineNet.com [2] describes Autism as a spectrum of neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication, and unusual and repetitive behaviour. Some, but not all, people with autism are non-verbal.