But when I’m jumping, it’s as if my feelings are going upward to the sky. Really, my urge to be swallowed up by the sky is enough to make my heart quiver. When I’m jumping, I can feel my body… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share Image
“What I, as a person with special needs, longed for was to be taught what role, what purpose, I could have in society, and… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share Image
But I ask you, those of you who are with us all day, not to stress yourselves out because of us. When you do this, it feels as if you're denying any value at all that our lives may have--and that saps the spirit we need to soldier on. The hardest ordeal for us is the idea that we are… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share
People with autism never, ever feel at ease, wherever we are. Because of this, we wander off - or run away - in search of some location where we do feel at ease. While we're on this search, it doesn't occur to us to consider how or where we're going to end up. We get swallowed up by the illusion… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share
The thought that our lives are the source of other people's unhappiness, that's plain unbearable. — Naoki Higashida Copy Share Image
“People can only understand their own pain. Even a genuine desire to help a person with a disability can become a burden or a discouragement for the person on the receiving end. It is important for helpers and therapists to ask themselves, If I was the person I’m helping … ? It would be useful also if they double-checked that… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share
“Traveling with people who have special needs might present difficulties, but please, let it happen. We all need a break and a change of… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share Image
When you see an object, it seems that you see it as an entire thing first, and only afterwards do its details follow on.… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share Image
True compassion is about not bruising the other person’s self-respect. — Naoki Higashida Copy Share Image
“Naoki is anticipating his audience’s emotions and manipulating them. That is empathy. The conclusion is that both emotional poverty and an aversion to company… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share Image
“I would like people to stop pressuring children to make friends. Friendships can’t be artificially created.” — Naoki Higashida Copy Share Image
“... for me the number one reason is that us people with autism love the greenness of nature. ... Our fondness for nature is, I think, a little bit different to everyone else's. I'm guessing that what touches you in nature is the beauty of the trees and the flowers and things. But to us people with special needs, nature… — Naoki Higashida Copy Share
