Ido in Autismland Quotes

“The hardest part of autism is the communication challenge. I feel depressed often by my inability to speak. I talk in my mind, but my mind doesn’t talk to my mouth. It’s frustrating even though I can communicate by pointing now. Before I could, it was like a solitary confinement. It was terrible having experts talk to each other about me, and to hear them be wrong in their observations and interpretations, but to not be capable of telling them.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“I can’t stop my senses. No one can. But mine overwhelm me. I hear my dog bark like a gunshot. My ears ring and I lose focus on my task. Tiny sounds are like soft buzzes I hear long after they have stopped. My hearing has advantages too. Boring lectures roar into street sounds so I tune them out. I can overhear interesting stories because I hear through walls in other rooms. Whispering is no defense. I have supersonic ears to eavesdrop.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“The “experts” mostly never get it right. They assume we are some autistic, retarded stim-machine, not a trapped, thinking person who has a shitty neurological illness. They need to limit our behaviors and stop the impulsive acts, I know. Still, it would be so nice if they realized how intact our minds were.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“Apparently it is okay to drill normalcy into someone, but it is denial to believe that a normal boy lives trapped behind a wildly uncooperative body. These theories cost us dearly.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“Another approach advocates child-led play for a child who can’t lead and doesn’t play.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“His social impairment is not caused by an inability to read or understand human behavior, but rather by his body’s refusal to listen to his mind’s instructions.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“an educational approach that waited for him to achieve what his body would not allow him to before he could move on.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“Apparently it is okay to drill normalcy into someone, but it is denial to believe that a normal boy lives trapped behind a wildly uncooperative body.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“If I hear notes in music I see each note visually. This is called synesthesia. Each one is as visually distinct as it is auditorally. Bach is geometric. Beethoven is like very long leaps of fire and light. Prokofiev is intricate scenes of lights and movement. Mozart is curly bands of lights and rosy colors. Jazz is sharp angles of light. Opera is lots of really huge deep lightning bolts. Pop is short simple bands of light. Rap is not a pretty sight. It is like an angry visual mess. I don’t enjoy it, but I do like samba and Latin rhythms. Those have cool bouncy lights and colors.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“It’s a big leap to throw a basketball into a basket if I struggle to feel my arms’ positions, so I miss over and over. The expert tells my aide that I’m lazy and I feel so mad. He really has no clue.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“What I enjoy is music since it’s a rich world of story in sound. I love instrumental pieces, especially classical. I would love if others listened with me. I like to walk, or scooter, or ride my bike. I need to move and to release energy kinesthetically. I love swimming, to jump on a trampoline, and recently to work out. If someone played with me this way, I’d try to follow. I can’t explain why my senses prefer movement, but I’m resigned to it. I’m interested in cooking too, so I enjoy doing that.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“No amount of yelling at me will have an impact because the urge is without thought. If I think first, just for a moment, I might be able to resist. I find it hard to think first if what I desire is attractive to me.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“That was when my husband and I realized that we were facing an ideological rigidity that was unable to adapt to the real needs of our child.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“The experts,” Ido says, “have no clue.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison

“For parents of an autistic child this is a daunting experience, and often you feel as if you are at the mercy of charlatans promoting the latest miracle cure—you just don’t know what’s legitimate, what’s hype, and what deserves your time, money and hopes for your child.”
― Ido Kedar, Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison