Disability: A Journey with Christopher

When fellow blogger Sakshi Varma invited me join a blog-hop on the theme of disability, in connection with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities [IDPD, 3 Dec], the first person who came to my mind was Christopher Boone.

Before I come to Christopher, let me tell you about Augustin (not his real name), who was my classmate in high school. Augustin’s right leg had been rendered limp due to polio in childhood. But his greatest passion was football. During the games period, he would be there on the football ground, running around as much as he could, in passionate exuberance, shouting to others what they should do, though he hardly got an opportunity to touch the ball. Whenever there was a football match, Augustin would be there on the side of the ground, holding on to the branch of a tree firmly, watching the game, with his limp leg flying in the air as if he was kicking the ball. He was engrossed totally in the game. I loved watching him rather than the game. His passion for the game remains in my memory even after half a century that has passed by.

Disability needn’t strip anyone of the passion for life.

Physical disability is less hard to cope with – for both the victim and those who take care of them – than mental disability. If one’s mind is functioning ‘normally,’ all other problems can be taken in stride.

Christopher Boone had autism. Autism is not a disease. It is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how individuals communicate, interact socially, and process information. Autists find it difficult to understand social cues such as facial expressions or tone of voice. They cannot take hints. It is quite impossible for them to establish relationships. They don’t like changes. Certain sensory stimuli such as light, sound or smell may be unbearable to them.

But autists can be exceptionally gifted too. Did you know that Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton suffered from a certain degree of autism? Greta Thunberg and Elon Musk grapple with autism. So do Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokémon, and Donna William, author and artist.

Autism has no cure. As I said earlier, it is not a disease in the first place. Some people happen be born that way. Those who have to deal with them have to be very understanding, caring, and patient. As is Christopher’s father, Ed Boone.

Christopher is the protagonist as well as the narrator of Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The death of Wellington, his neighbour Eileen Shears’s dog, upsets the 15-year-old Christopher. Wellington was killed with a garden fork. Christopher wants to find out the murderer.

His investigation leads him to too many unpleasant truths, especially that his father is the murderer of Wellington, and that his father was also a liar. He had lied to Christopher that his mother was dead. She had left the family and was living in London with Mr Shears, Eileen’s former husband. The plot takes us to the intricacies of human relationships through the eyes of an intelligent but highly circumscribed autist.

Ed Boone turns out to be an exceptionally good human being though he did kill a dog in a moment of frustration and fury. His lie about his wife’s death was meant to make things easy for Christopher. His heart is in the right place. He loves Christopher more than anyone else in the world. Even his mother didn’t have the patience to deal with the idiosyncrasies of the extremely demanding and stubborn boy.

When certain unpleasant discoveries make Christopher sick and he vomits all over including on himself, Ed tells him that he has to be a little patient and understanding too. “I’m going to have to touch you,” he says. Christopher doesn’t like anyone touching him. This is one of the many behavioural differences of autists. They have very irrational and obstinate likes and dislikes. Ed knows each and every like and dislike of his son and he also knows how to deal with them patiently and gently.

Ed runs a bath for his 15-year-old son, takes off his clothes, bathes him, puts the soiled linen in the washing machine, dries the boy… And tells him that he had begun to love Eileen Shears after his wife had run away with her husband. Eileen loved Ed too, but she loved her dog more. “… maybe it is easier living on your own looking after some stupid mutt, than sharing your life with other actual human beings,” Ed confesses to his son.

Christopher cannot understand all that, however. He runs away from home making life unbearably challenging for Ed. But the novel moves on to a smoother ending than one would expect. Because autists are good at heart too.

Dealing with people who have certain disabilities like autism can be extremely demanding. You need a tremendous lot of patience and understanding. The simple truth: Treat people with disabilities with dignity, understanding, and respect—not as their limitations define them, but as their strengths empower them.

PS. This post is a part of “International Day of Persons with Disability” blog hop hosted by Sakshi Varma – Tripleamommy. #IDPD2024Bloghop. Access all posts of this bloghop at https://tripleamommy.com/2024/12/02/beyond-barriers-amplifying-voices-for-inclusion-marking-idpd-2024/