An autistic child writes an autobiography

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"Say it out loud, I'm an autist and I'm proud," said Oscar Yura Dompas, last Tuesday at a book launching of his own autobiography titled Autistic Journey at QB World Book Plaza Semanggi, Central Jakarta.

The 25-year-old shared his darkest and brightest moments in his life after he was diagnosed with brain damage, which later on was identified as autism, at the age of four.

Oscar, a student at the English Education Department in Atmajaya Catholic University, said writing a book helped him ease his mind when expressing his thoughts, which is often difficult for an autistic person to do.

"I love writing and as long as I have a "healthy" way of thinking, no matter what my minuses are, I should be proud to show my skills," Oscar said.

Autism is a severely incapacitating lifelong developmental "disability" that typically appears during the first three years of life.

There is no data available on the number of autistic people in Indonesia, but it is assumed that for every 10,000 births there are 15 to 20 autistic children born.

However, the word "disability" seemed somehow inappropriate to describe the achievements that Oscar has made throughout his life.

He mastered guitar and bass, joined a basket ball team at his high school, learned Australian football, when he was enrolled at the English Language Center at the Sydney University of Technology in 1997.

"That's why I wrote the book in English, because I am used to writing in English, thanks to piles of assignments that I had to do while I was in Aussie," the young man said.

Oscar colored his book with stories of romance, the moments when he felt love, and heartbreaks during his teens.

"I fell in love for the first time in 1992 ... I knew nothing about how to have a relationship with her so I kissed her in front of my friends after school. She was very upset and told her mother," he wrote in his book, which was published earlier this month.

Born on April 11, 1980, he has earned praise from psychologists and those who observe autistic behavior.

"There was nothing different about Oscar. His academic performance was perfect. The only thing lacking was the lack of eye contact between himself and the people speaking to him," said Gerda Wanei, Oscar's lecturer at the Atmajaya University.

Tika Bisono, a psychologist who observes autistic behavior, said that Oscar's book would not only inspire other autistic persons to keep improving their capacities, but also would promote awareness among families of autistic patients to organize an ideal companion.

"His parents are wonderful. They did a great thing by distributing duties among themselves and their three children to accompany Oscar. So no one would become too exhausted looking after him," Tika said at the launching. (006)