Autism: the elephant in the room
Autism is a type of neurodivergence. It is not a deadly disease but we do need more time to process every single situation. Sometimes, we suffer from mental stress leading to melt down or shot down. Most of time, it is very difficult to verbalise what happened in our mind.
Are you AUTISTIC?
The first time people mentioned autism to me outside of my pharmacist training was my English teacher, Pascal Andrea Pruvost. While having English courses with this tough teacher wasn't easy for me. He found that There was something very different in me comparing with other students, especially I obviously struggled with crowds and noise. Sometimes, I just melted down or shot down.
Pascal was a lovely teacher. He forced me to develop a good explanation even argumentation in a conversation. That was a crucial technique if I wanted to survive and be successful in the West.I told him that the definition of autism would be a patient with impaired intelligence and learning disability. He noticed me that the field of autism had been developed a lot. As a Neuroscientist, I should update my knowledge in the filed and think about it deeply.
It supposed to be Pascal's 68th Birthday. He passed away on 19th March 2020 during COVID in Taiwan. The night before he passed away, he messaged me and we had a wee chat on phone. I woke up in a shocking phone call from our friend Bruno in Taiwan. Bruno delivered this heartbreaking news to me. I cried a lot. Pascal helped me going through the grieving of my late sister in just 5 months after I moved to Edinburgh. It was very painful and hit me harshly in every way. However, Pascal texted me and phoned me to make sure I was alright even if there is 8 hours difference between Taipei City and Edinburgh. This time, I was on my own to deal with the sadness of his pass.
Dear Pascal, I missed you so much. At least, you are no longer in pain. Hopefully, you meet my sister and still gives her French lessons.
Happy Birthday!
Love you!