Nobody Nowhere was written in 1992, just three years after receiving the diagnosis of Autism. There is an introduction by Lawrence Bartak, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Special Education from Monash University in Australia. The foreword is by Dr. Bernard Rimland, Director of the Autism Research Institute of San Diego, California. Dr. Rimland has been involved in Autism for over twenty-five years as well as being the parent of an adult son who is autistic.
The book mentions that Autism is diagnosed in 4 out of every 10,000 children but today it is estimated that one in 500 children are autistic. Since April is Autism Awareness Month and this week kicks off the National Library Week, how fitting that I am sitting at the library typing this book I borrowed from the library. I read Nobody Nowhere in three hours on Saturday morning.
The book is made up of many experiences throughout Donna's life starting at the pre-school level. It was not until page 58 that the reader learns that Donna lived in Australia, now residing in England. I was wondering why there were so many Italian families in the 1970s when reading Nobody Nowhere!
From the age of eleven Donna has been on painkillers for rheumatism. Donna danced until the age of seven although never learning left from right. A quote that seems to shed some light on the title for me was when she heard this, "You can't go Donna. There is nowhere to go." Then Donna wrote this, "If anything I'd ever heard summed up the nature of the trap I was in, those words captured it like Shakespeare."
Her grandmother smelled of camphor and to the time she wrote Nobody Nowhere, Donna was buying eucalyptus oil and spreading it around rooms and in corners to keep out everything else, except for that feeling that association with the smell gave her.
The way Donna saw things was bit by bit, a string of pieces strung together. Donna got her first job at the age of fifteen, sorting goods in a department store. Donna got a goat from a service station when she was twenty-one, naming it after her late grandfather.
For years Donna slept with her eyes open and her dreams would come true years later. Donna had brothers older and younger than her and a Mother that abused her, calling her a drug addict and slut. Donna was three people, Carol, Willie and Donna. She would escape into the characters and felt it was okay to feel only three years old.
It was confusing at times since Willie and Carol are described as personalities. Donna saw Mary from the Psychiatric outpatient department for several years, who thought Donna was Schizophrenic. As Donna explained, "Carol was always sent out to test the waters before Donna decided it was safe to jump in."
Donna went to the park as a six year old in a nightie with tons of makeup on her face, met a girl named Carol who took her home. Carol's mother did not know what to make of Donna and cleaned her up and had Carol take Donna back to the park to the swing. This was the first time another child had spoken to Donna and she added Carol to her personality. Willie was her younger brother and she reverted back to him often.
Donna shared her feelings about Mary and therapy, " Her efforts to get me to refer to the incidents in a personal manner overlooked the fact that my use of the word "you" captured the impersonal way in which I had experienced the incidents at the time they happened." Donna was referring to how she always stated you when in therapy with Mary, describing herself, although Mary would inquire if Donna was talking about Mary.
Donna wanted to work in a bank because the employees wore uniforms and people who wore uniforms were respected, so she thought. Donna traveled to England around the age of twenty-five and did some stand up comedy while in Holland. Donna had purchased a piano when still in Australia.
Donna was called "spastic" as a child by others and this term I have been called as well, thus understanding much of how she wrote the book in spurts of information as it seemed to enter her head. I often speak and change conversations when I think of something and confuse people with emails detailing lots of data. I would think a parent of two autistic children would have some autistic tendencies.
Donna referred back to friends she met throughout the book and moved every two months since it felt like two years to her. She had many male friends as well as female friends that came and went.
Nobody Nowhere does not touch upon the Special Education Laws or assessments that I have experienced with my two autistic children. Since her diagnosis was later in life that aspect of the disability is not mentioned since she did not experience it.
This was an interesting account of Donna's life and how she dealt with the outside world and intertwined her three personalities to cope. I feel this is a worthwhile read for any parent or relative of an autistic person. Teachers and psychologists as well as therapists would better understand how an autistic person sees themselves.
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