There was this 5 yo boy named Lionel. I've known him since he was about 2. He has autism, and he is non-verbal. His eczemas are pretty bad too.
I didn't normally pay attention to him. Simply because I didn't know what to do. It felt awkward. Im not good with kids, left alone one with special needs. All I did was keep my eyes on him karena dia suka lari keluar and I was worried for his safety.
So I got to spend more time to 'observe' him during the camp. He was in my mind almost the whole time.
I learnt that he actually understood commands.
I kept thinking, what's on his mind?
How does his world look like?
What if people stop trying to pull him out of his world, and just go IN his world instead?
What if we try to live in his world?
So on the last day, I gathered my courage.
I was alone on the deck, and I saw him.
I called out to him.
(I NEVER had any purposeful interaction with him before).
I thought he was just going to ignore me.
Coz really, im not the 'usual' adult he knew.
To my surprise, he came straight to me.
And I said "come sit on my lap".
And I was gobsmack when for a split second, he looked straight to my eyes.
He doesn't normally make ANY eye contact with ANYBODY.
But he did with me.
And he sat on my lap!
I was.... okay... let's pushed this further.
So I said "hey Lionel, let's take a photo. Look at my phone".
He looked at the camera and SMILED!!
Then he got up and walked away.
That brief 1-2 minutes interaction moved something in me.
I dont know what it was, but it’s like.... hati gw bergeter in a way I can’t explained.
Ah Lionel.... I really dont wanna start something I can’t finish.
I dont even know how or where to start even if I want to.
So God, You’re gonna need to do more than just give me a subtle nudge (like out of nowhere, yesterday was World Autism Awareness Day).
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