Naoki Higashida

As an autistic person myself, I was very interested in reading “Fall Down 7 times, Get Up 8”. I have read multiple books on autism, but this is one of the very best I’ve read. Most books on autism seem to be written by neurotypicals attempting to explain autistics. While I have found some of those books helpful, there are also very many times when I will read their explanation for why we autistics do something and then I will become very upset. I will feel agitated and upset by the show more insufficient and often demeaning explanation. Neurotypicals often mean well, but you can’t expect someone to always be able to figure out why another’s brain works a certain way, when their own brain is wired in a radically different fashion. Neurotypicals - humans. Autistics - humans. But with completely different brains that function in completely different ways.

This book was extremely freeing to me to read. Here is a young man who is basically nonverbal and would probably be termed “low-functioning” by many people. And yet as you read what he writes, you can see the person locked away inside his wordlessness. As humans created in the image of God, we each have worth and dignity; we are intrinsically valuable. But people fear what they do not understand. Autism has been largely misunderstood for a long time. And as such, people have feared it and tried to fix it. But Naoki’s book reveals the hardships and beauties of being autistic. He discusses his “behaviors” and tells us what is at the bottom of them, revealing that at the very bottom lie the same hopes, fears, and passions that all humans have: fears of rejection, searching for beauty and joy, a desire show love to your loved ones.

Naoki’s book brought a lot of relief for me. Reading about someone else who deals with the things that I do gave me the freedom to talk about my struggles more with my loved ones, to explain why I do certain things. There were so many things in the book I related to: how he bites himself when highly stressed, the constant frustration when I want to express deep love to my family, the difficulty to perform simple thought processes, the extreme fear when people are upset with me, the wanting to punish myself when I make mistakes.

ASD is a spectrum. Each person is unique. There were ways in which I am like Naoki Higashida, other ways in which I am radically different. But most of all, Naoki’s book is a book about a person - a person intentionally designed by God, a person with value and worth. I would recommend “Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8”. I would recommend that people read it and remember that each person you meet is just that, a person. Maybe their brain works differently, maybe they have a different skin color, maybe they speak a different language. But at the root of it, they’re a human created by God in His image, with all the same needs and desires that all humans have.

[Review on Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2763783439 ] show less

This book is a sort of sequel to The Reason I Jump, written when the author was a young teen. At the time of the writing of this book, he has become a young man, even more thoughtful and accomplished as a writer than he was as at 13. His first book was remarkable; I found this one even more so.

This is because, in addition to being a fine writer, Higashida also has severe, non-verbal autism. He writes using a keyboard. In the past, he wrote with assistance but he now writes show more independently.

Higashida writes movingly of his struggles as a non-verbal man with autism, often trapped by his "fixations", sometimes having embarrassing melt-downs, working slowly to master tasks that neurotypicals (people without autism) master easily, often at a young age. He gets discouraged but at the same time he is able to celebrate his progress.

In fact, although this book is full of the frustrations and limitations Higashida experiences because of his autism, it is far from depressing. Over and over again, he reiterates the need to remain optimistic, to enjoy life despite its limitations. He recognizes that everyone has struggles and experiences their own pain and is determined not to be overwhelmed by his own.

There is much that I learned as a teacher of students with autism, although Higashida is careful to emphasize that he is sharing his own experience and does not speak (in his own way) for others with autism. Nevertheless, the view he offers from the inside is enlightening and powerful. He speaks of the importance of family, of belonging, of experiencing the larger world no matter how overwhelming that may sometimes be. Above all, he writes of the need for acceptance and the opportunity to take a place in the larger society, to feel of value, to contribute in some way, however, small to the world around them.

I learned much about appreciating life and, as the title indicates, to keep persevering, "getting up" however many times a person feels knocked down by life, defeated by its challenges.

The writer David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, among many other fine works, as well as the father of a son with autism, contributes a valuable introduction, describing Higashida's efforts to be taken seriously by those challenging his ability to write such a fine book as well as sharing his own struggles as a parent of a child with special needs and the ways this book was helpful to him.

Altogether a fascinating, well-written work that provides both insight into a disorder that can seem mysterious to outsiders as well as sharing much that has come from his struggles that can be of value not only to those dealing in some way with this condition but also to the rest of us, with our own challenges and struggles. I found it inspirational without trying to be so and just an engaging and interesting read. show less

Naoki Higashida is a Japanese boy with autism, a boy who has real problems with spoken language, and therefore seemed completely shut in and non-communicative.

But due to his own determination and his parents', he learned to communicate using an alphabet grid and a computer. With tools he can use, he is anything but "non-communicative."

This book, written when he was thirteen, is one of the longer-term results. He talks about what autism is like from the inside, and what millions of parents show more would like to know: what things really help him master his own behavior, understand the rest of us, and what helps him communicate.

Inside that silent, often seemingly unresponsive exterior, is a smart, capable, well-spoken young man.

Autism isn't the same for every autistic person, and can look very different in different people. Naoki is open and clear about that, and tries to be clear about when he's talking about his own experiences, and when he's offering his best interpretation of why other autistic people do other kinds of seemingly common autistic behaviors.

He's intelligent, thoughtful, and kind, even if it isn't always obvious from the outside.

There's also an introduction by David Mitchell, about how this book helped him, his wife, and their autistic son, which led him to work to get it translated. The introduction as well as Naoki's book are well worth reading.

Highly recommended.

I borrowed this book from my local library. show less

Remarkable short book, consisting of short sections in which a thirteen year old boy with significant effects of autism -- he cannot speak -- describes his life, and what it is like for him to live with autism, and what he believes it is like for others with the condition. He cannot speak, but he can type, slowly, on a grid.

He provides answers to questions such as : why do you ask the same questions over and over? what is the worst thing about having autism? why do you jump? The book's show more powerful effect is to teach the reader not to confuse an autistic person's difficulty in communicating or processing information or displaying his or her self, with a lack of intelligence or thoughtfulness or a nuanced understanding of the world and his or her place in it. The author displays a far greater self-awareness than the thirteen year-olds I have known, and in doing so helpfully corrects many assumptions we might have of what autism is and what it means for the person with the condition. Naoki Higashida is remarkable. show less