- Not speaking?
- Who does? Yes, he does. Why is he talking?
- He hasn't said anything yet!
- Maybe because he doesn't want to say anything, have you thought?
- You said he's autistic!
- Yes, I did.
- But he's also non-verbal?
- Yes, he is.
- Why do you think he's been standing there for over an hour looking at the sea?
- Why do you think he's looking at the sea? Because he's facing it, of course.
- You're right. He is facing it, but not the sea, but himself.
- Well? He's looking for the words.
- But he's non-verbal.
- So what? When you're silent you have no words inside you?
- Yeah. That's right, yeah.
- And why do you think he comes to the beach to do that?
- Because it's the one place that seems to be more in struggle than he is inside himself.
- What do you mean?
- Because of the waves. We'd been to a lot of other places. Lookouts, bridges, mountains, canyons. But nothing seemed to work. That calm out there seemed out of place. But not in here.
- And how do you know that's why?
- Come on, because he told me! How? You've been paying attention to what I tell you? Because he talked to me!
- But you said he's non-verbal.
- When you're silent, you're quiet?
- I get it.
- And he talks a lot. Just like the waves. That's why he likes coming here so much. He says the sea is as rough or rougher than he is. The waves don't stop. So do their thoughts. And they overlap. The waves and the thoughts. And after a while they get calmer and disappear. The waves and their thoughts. And then another one comes. And another. And another.
- And he doesn't mind being there all that time?
- No. He bothers himself about a lot of other things. He bothers when others talk about him as if he doesn't listen.
- Do you think you know anything about the sea? I don't either. But if you look at it, you can see whether it's more agitated, agitated or calm. And the sea apparently doesn't speak either. Or it's non-verbal too.
- He says he is constantly fighting against his body. It's like when they put the stones on the beach to make a wall. The sea kept fighting. Doing what it has always done. No matter what people want. It's like that with him. Even though he thinks things, his body doesn't stop feeling other things.
- He hears people say he can't think, he gets angry. He gets angry a lot. Which coincides with the number of times people say he can't think. It's as if people think that the sea doesn't know how to do what it does every day. It learns too. So does the sea and so does he. But just as many people don't know how to know and evaluate the sea, they don't know how to do it with it either. Because it learns. If there's one thing he does, it's learn.
- He often says that every time he learns something new it's like a flood. It wasn't always like this. There used to be room for more and more learning to come in. Just like water. But when he started wanting to do things with his learnings it was harder. The others had put too many barriers in the sea. And the floods started. And people started to complain more, and more. And the floods increased. They even banned them from entering the beach. And also their entry to certain schools. That didn't seem to be the right sea.
As for it being unpredictable, so is the sea. And that's not why people keep looking at it and sometimes trying to get inside it.
- What does it usually do?
- What the sea does. What it likes or wants. Most of the time he tries to climb the walls that are put up. But he usually does the usual things, like the sea.
- But does he do everything that others of his age do?
No, but he wants to. Just like the sea.
- What do you mean?
- The sea would also like to be respected, not to be polluted or destroyed, not to put up barriers or dams. That's how he is. It tries to do everything it likes or wants to do and there seems to be no great constraints. But he does not stop fighting for his rights or those of the sea. He has taken part in some meetings and peaceful demonstrations.
- How did he react when he saw the sea for the first time?
- The same way he felt he was communicating with me and I understood him.
