Thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida describes his own personal feelings about having autism as follows:
"I feel a deep envy of people who can know what their own minds are saying, and who have the power to act accordingly. My brain is always sending me off on little missions, whether or not I want to do them. And if I don't obey, then I have to fight a feeling of horror. Really, it's like I'm being pushed over the brink into a kind of hell. For people with autism, living itself is a battle."
Naoki's book, "The Reason I Jump," was published in Japanese in 2007. The book, a memoir and personal insight into what life is like with autism, came to international attention when it was published in English in 2013, having been translated by Keiko Yoshida, the wife of English novelist David Mitchell.