I have lived in the dark as a poor little unfortunate. I could not express my feelings and the pain increased. Fortunately, I have my Donald Duck comics and game pieces. At home, they believed in me. They didn’t think the guy strange. They weren’t secretly ashamed of the unfortunate one. They had faith in the guy. Poor guy was taken along in life.

The old man brought the smart machine home. He started writing word letters from the book. We got started at home with the machine. My old man gently showed me how to do machine stuff. This is how we go out in the world.

Because of autism, I suffered a lot from wordlessness in my childhood. Often the pain comes out in a shout. A thought in the head is there, but I can’t get it out so it’s understood. That’s the worst pain for us unfortunates.

In my opinion, autism is a sign of a wound in the main motor. The thought can’t get the word out as a sound. It is an illness in the nerves, in my opinion. Cabling doesn’t work. Heredity isn’t the problem. Look, some have broken legs, others have broken words. You know now how to repair a leg, but not the poor broken-word unfortunates.

Listen, autistic people could be cured if you powered them up as enthusiastically as you power up machinery. An unfortunate is a thinking being. A machine is not. Why is a machine valued more than a poor unfortunate?

The cure for autism starts with belief and trust in the unfortunate, not shame and belittlement. An unfortunate is as good a child as any other and really not something to be ashamed of. Give us a normal life. We are not braying fanatics. I say, take us with you in life. Is the blind man left out when he can’t see your world? Is a deaf man a freak like an unfortunate? Why are the wordless strangers to you? They can think in the same way. The spoken word doesn’t come out, but intelligence is equal. Why don’t you get help from the smartest ones? Listen, a smart guy is on offer here.

I was always thought of as a standard. It has been my good luck to be at home. I was not rejected. Though an unfortunate, always a worthy person. It was lucky for me that I have been able to live normally. Out of the darkness with speech and speaking with a normal voice.

I am a nice guy to keep an eye on. I can be alone, but not for long. The thought is in the head, but I need help getting started. For this reason, Mom and Dad have to stay with me a lot. Brother Ville has been a booster for me. Big brother, my best friend. Now, brother has a blue-eyed girlfriend and a little dog. They are all dear to me.

There was a lot of fighting about my affairs, I remember. Mom spoke up a lot for me at that time.
Dad just looked up to the heavens and talked to me about the written word and kept up the talking. As a man and as a boy, I’ve always been a worry to you. See, I need a prodder, someone to get the guy started. Look, the thought is there, but my own push is still missing. I need a supporter.

After diagnosis of an ASD, there is often pain and sorrow about the unfortunate child. Why do we have an abnormal child? There is great distress in the family. What came wasn’t a new dog that needs training. The unfortunate takes time. But the family’s greatest pain must have been shame about the unfortunate. At home, the unfortunate one was part of the furniture, put in place and out of sight. Judged to be a freak and thought of as slow-witted. Look, they don’t realize that there even is a wit there. The worst is the talk about “pitiful” and “shame.” Unfortunate men will soon see their end. They will go into a dark well.

I think that when someone is judged to be abnormal, the parents have to be strong. Autism isn’t anyone’s fault. It just happens to some people.

A lot of mothers and fathers get divorced because of an abnormal child. Yes, there is great resentment toward the unfortunate. A grown-up cannot go on accepting the existence of a defective child. It’s a marvel how little human respect there is for such unfortunates among others.

To me, it would be good if a family would acknowledge the humanity of an abnormal child. Listen, the warmth of approval is the best thing. It is important always to consider the unfortunate equal when talking about him. Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it grates on a person. There is really a curse on the unfortunate.

I’m lucky to be able to produce the written word. But why shouldn’t everyone be able to engage in discourse using the machine? It could start when a person is small.

In my opinion, we [autistics] have always been there, but now the information is better. Autism isn’t a contagious disease. Information about autistics is garnered only from discourse with them. Everyone is looking for expertise about autistics from non-autistics.

Autism is not an epidemitus virtualis as you all believe. It is a defect in getting a word out of the babbling. There is no other basic problem in us. Truly, loud voices cause distress in the head of an unfortunate. I certainly have gotten used to hearing comments about autistics from nearby. We don’t get a lot of encouragement. Fear and disparagement of us is great.

Feeling should be assisted by someone who is a helper for an unfortunate. The assistants hover, coming and going often in school, and a new one is always running around. That drives unfortunates crazy to the point of screaming. In some way, I think I could be a helper to the unfortunates in the world. My experience comes from being an unfortunate. Now, the unfortunate’s thoughts are flying among the clouds.

It would be important to have autistics removed from the list of the insane now. Look, we are smart. There is aid.

I don’t think therapy for unfortunates is needed. It would be better for the non-autistics. They would learn the unfortunates’ behavior and would see our pain themselves. Only faith and acceptance are needed. Treat us like humans.

The most important thing is a person’s value as a human. Life will get easier for unfortunates if others could understand this. We shouldn’t always be belittled. I know a lot of unfortunates are put down as dummies. Word and writing are important. Talking takes time and commitment. Computers and word-writing helpers should be in the home for everyone.

Spokesman for unfortunates. The old man put stress on me very well by his faith in me. Mom always defended unfortunates in writing. Brother Ville and his blue-eyed girlfriend have always given me joy and really considered me equal. Not ashamed of the unfortunate. I only say “thanks” to them. I’ve gotten more enthusiasm for writing, with difficulty.

I’m an enthusiastic man on behalf of unfortunates. I have sight and hearing. Heard and seen many kinds of pain being around unfortunates. My visual memory and hearing are good. The thought runs in my head, only I can’t speak the word aloud to you. So I pack the word and smack the machine. As precise men we unfortunates could be helpful in many matters. Think about it. Artists on offer here. We could help you. Consider what special skills unfortunates have. Unfortunates clearly want to be helpful. Where is your desire to assign important matters to unfortunates? Unfortunates want to be people. Give us a fair shake and take us along with you in life.

It’s important for unfortunates to get trusting people to help them. Trust is an important thing to unfortunates. That’s what will enable us to get ahead. Believe in us unfortunates.

With regard to communication tools, I think the only sensible idea would be to get a computer as support. Pictures and machine writing for everyone from the beginning. Teach written discourse. Written discourse will make us equal in thought. The spoken word makes us clumsy. Keystrokes will make us equal if you will get machines for us. A text machine could be given to the world’s unfortunates. There you have a solution. Look, clever discourse would come from the unfortunates.

I like being able to express unfortunates’ ideas by writing out to the world. Many people don’t have that possibility yet, but I promise to try to get machines for everyone from the world. Well, it’s a crazy idea, but a good one.

Antti Lappalainen
2010

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The views expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the NLM Family Foundation.