“AUTISM from a DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE”
- Cesare’s Successful Story -
by Giovanni Tommasini & Maria Teresa De Donato
Review by Serena Derea Squanquerillo
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Takiwatanga: in its time, in its space.
The term used in the Maori language to indicate autism.
Compared to decades ago, much more is known about autism. Some organizations help families with children, who fall on the autistic spectrum, to no longer feel alone with their fears for the future, loneliness, and prejudices.
I recommend reading this book on the case of Cesare, written by Giovanni Tommasini, an educator for individuals with disabilities, and Maria Teresa De Donato, a doctor in naturopathy and coach. They both address this delicate topic with a language accessible to all and an approach focused on the human aspect and the abilities, some remarkable, of those who fall within this diagnosis and can be helped to express them.
To Tommasini's study is added the contribution of De Donato. She stresses the importance of considering autism, no longer focusing only on the difficulties but changing perspective to concentrate on how to help those with this condition have a better, more independent life and benefit from their talents, considering that they are often individuals with a high IQ.
What will become of him? How will he integrate into a homologous society from which he feels threatened? It is crucial to know to facilitate so that educators can better confront each other and parents can reduce the degree of concern for their child's future, who they will no longer be able to follow when they are gone.
What is normality? About the freedom to be oneself, having the opportunity to be facilitated in this, if compared to the "norm," one has an extra armor that puts a distance between the individual and external reality. Why not talk about uniqueness instead?
Cesare and Giovanni are two different worlds compared. First, the safety distance, then the contact until you enter "one into the other," thanks to a tuning allowed by a door: a silence that results from placing yourself in a state of acceptance, attention, and listening. I would add observation and imitation to communicate with a kindred language.
Giovanni is a key and a filter that helps Cesare to emerge in a world from which he feels separated and threatened. Cesare is a mirror that reflects his childhood demons to Giovanni: separation from his twin, the fragility of premature birth, and depending on the other to survive, one way or another.
In the moments in which they manage to see each other, Cesare goes out, and Giovanni enters himself. They proceed by meeting where osmosis takes place and allowing them to move hand in hand in this mutual knowledge towards what is not predictable and controllable.
Through mediation tools, Giovanni helped Cesare improve his ability to express himself without always resorting to anger and empowered him to take care of himself and others in his own way.
Before becoming an educator, Tommasini began this relationship with Cesare as a stranger to the world of autism supported by a team formed by the psychiatrist, psychologist, and social worker. Giovanni Tommasini could rely on his empathy and wait for signs of opening without being a physician or a technician and having no guidelines. He eventually managed to help Cesare put him among the "good items" and, therefore, to see the birth of an alliance, even in mischief!
This book tells us about a human story and a unique friendship. I invite you to read it because it creates identification, and there is undoubtedly a fragment of us that will be taken care of. The uniqueness of each of us makes us all worthy in the face of life.
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