‘There are biomedical treatments for fatigue in autistic people, for example. Some people say it does not work, and some parents swear by these treatments. It works for me. But everyone is different.’
The King then told me how he had travelled a long and arduous way, painstakingly learning to change himself for the World around him. Growing up, it had been about three, four times more difficult for him to reach expected milestones and normal developmental levels.
For instance, it took him much longer than other children to understand the concept of “self”, and developing self-awareness.
‘I had to learn to be aware of my existence, to be aware of things that happened to me, or because of me,’ said he. ‘Like being ill – I had to learn to recognise the signs and symptoms which meant I was ill. And that being ill might make me more bad-tempered.’
The 17th Step
In the King’s younger days, he would not look people in the eye. He would instead, when speaking to someone, focus on a particular feature on his face. His speech consisted of technobabble.
The King said he possessed no decision-making abilities. He did not understand the idea of choice.
‘I could not be flexible,’ said he. ‘When my mind had set itself to see that things work a certain way, I could not see that there were other ways they could work. I have learned to be more flexible now.’
Take, for instance, his ideas about money.
‘I used to think that money had only to be kept away,’ he said. ‘So I would keep every single cent I received. My brain did not think about why. It just knew that I had to. And I never spent it on anything.’
As the King learned more about the World, he learned that sometimes, certain ways of doing things do not work. And when they do not work, we must change them. Now he has learned that money can be spent to buy the things he needs. He has learned how to budget, like setting aside money for his monthly Research.
The King also told me how he had not been able to ponder possibilities or think about probabilities.
‘To me,’ he said, ‘on a sunny day, an alien invasion was literally as likely as rain.’
‘The World in those years was a simple World of knowledge. Everything in it could be understood. Things that could not be understood were irrational, and had to be gotten rid of.
People, especially, were irrational things. And so I did not want to include them in my world.’
‘I am an honorary Earthling,’ he said, with a hint of pride. ‘I have earned the right to be one. There are many things in this World that I do not agree with. But I understand that they must happen that way, or that people must act in certain ways. I accept these. As an honorary Earthling, I do not feel lonely or rejected either.’
The King still has the dreams he had as a small boy. He always dreamt that he would open a Research & Development centre that would solve many problems. He thought about developing biofuel for Earth, new cures for illnesses and technology for disaster prediction and control. He said, maybe people could even find a way to divert the path of a hurricane.
He only understood much later in his life that everything needed money. A big and important Research & Development centre like that would cost billions of dollars. He learned to ask the question: “Where would I get money like that?” When he realised all this, his dreams evolved.
‘I found out about the notion of “long-term” solutions – the idea of sustainability,’ said the King. ‘How can an R&D centre like that, for example, be maintained for a good period of time, and not just eat up money and then itself? My dreams changed as I learned more and more about the rules of the World, but they did not disappear. They are still there.’
He then told me what his mother thought about it all. She said his interests were impractical, and was opposed to him advocating for the needs of people with autism. Things that the King delved in – books, building websites, having dreams – she did not approve of them at all.
How many children and youths have declared, ‘I’m going to be a millionaire when I grow up’? The grown-ups – rational, practical people – simply laugh and tease them, or scold them for being silly.
Is it the place of regular people, then, to point out all the possible problems with the King’s ambitions? To poke and prod and analyse like scientists, then shake our heads and deliver a sermon on how things simply could not work, oh, how they simply could and would not work.
I am truthfully not sure.
The 18th Step
I asked the King if he had any advice for regular people who live with special people like himself.
‘Especially mothers,’ said I. ‘What would you tell the mothers of special children?’
‘Respect the child and give him freedom,’ came his thoughtful reply. ‘The child will need more understanding on how the world works before anything else. Give him unconditional love; don’t expect anything in return. He may find it difficult to understand any love shown him, or he may show no response.’
‘I am not the same as before,’ the King went on. ‘If you had asked me this question when I was younger, I would have told you that people need to support our dreams. But I learned more about the World, and I understand now that sometimes dreams are not so simple. The World is not black and white. It has colours in it.’
I went on to ask the King about his family. Does he have any siblings?
‘I have a younger sister,’ he offered. ‘But
