The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism

Paperback edition of Higashida's memoir, which was written when he was 13. He explains the world of an autistic teen to the reader. Translated from the Japanese by acclaimed British novelist David Mitchell and his wife K.A. Yoshida, who have an autistic son themselves. '...its dignity and stoicism are sometimes almost unbearably moving.' Marcus Berkmann, "Daily Mail"

Naoki Higashida was born in Kimitsu, Japan in 1992. He was diagnosed with severe autism in 1998 and subsequently attended a school for students with special needs, then (by correspondence) Atmark Cosmopolitan High School, graduating in 2011. Having learnt to use a method of communication based on an alphabet grid, Naoki wrote The Reason I Jump when he was thirteen and it was published in Japan in 2007. He has published several books since, from autobiographical accounts about living with autism to fairy tales, poems and illustrated books, and writes a regular blog. Despite his communication challenges, he also gives presentations about life on the autistic spectrum throughout Japan and works to raise awareness about autism. In 2011 he appeared in director Gerry Wurzburg's documentary on the subject, Wretches & Jabberers.