Ben X Review

Ben X: A Realistic Approach to Autism

Autism is not at all a new topic to us. I’ve watched several didactic movies about how we get along with a friend with autism in school. In those movies, attentive adults admonish bullying students saying that “autism is not wrong but special.” Watching those movies, children learn that people with autism or with any other disorder are the same human beings. However, Ben X conveys more than an obvious message. Contrary to the adults in the general movies about autism, Ben’s parents and teachers are rather indifferent to Ben, assuming that he is not different from ordinary boys. Even when Ben is bullied in front of the class, no adult finds out what exactly has happened to him. Autistic people are actually different from non-autistic people; if not, they would not have been diagnosed as autism. Of course, an autistic child should be instructed to become independent, as other children are, but it does not mean that he can be independent with the same amount of care and attention others receive. A naive hope that her son is fine and normal must be hindering Ben’s mother from facing this reality. I wish she had tried harder to communicate more with her son when he was younger. He seems to have escaped from abysmal isolation in reality and established his haven in the cyber world long time ago. Albert Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” It must be ignorance not bullying that isolates Ben from his family and school.