The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

Higashida says in the Preface to The Reason I Jump that “many children with autism don’t have the means to express themselves, and often even their own parents don’t have a clue what they might be thinking” (16). One challenge of autism is that the inner life, or “inner self” (17), of a person with autism is opaque to others. There can be a disconnection between what a person with autism is feeling and the manifestation of this in facial expressions or behavior. For example, subtle shades of happiness or frustration in certain situations may be largely imperceptible to neurotypical individuals merely looking at changes in a person with autism’s body. The remedy for this opacity through speech is limited for some people with autism. A person with autism may find it difficult to talk about what they are feeling, and these difficulties can be exacerbated when the individual’s feelings are connected to behaviors and thoughts considered peculiar or even aberrant by others.

As such, Higashida’s first-person account of autism provides a crucial bridge. By describing why he behaves in certain ways, and the experiences and emotions underpinning this, he allows the reader to see beyond mere external appearances.