Lorenzo and his rebellious brain: “Being Aspie allowed me to develop a unique sensitivity”

Surprising logical skills, special and obsessive interests, hyperactivity, unusual memory but difficulties in organizing school study: these are just some of the distinctive features that, from the earliest years of age, have characterized the neuroatypical nature of Lorenzo Donnoli, twenty-nine years old from Bologna, who decided to tell about his existence as an Asperger in the book “Rebel Brain – Diary of an atypical sardine“, Published by Piemme.

“How easy my childhood and adolescence would have been, if teachers, relatives and maybe even peers had been more aware of my neuroatypical nature, but above all of how to deal with and enhance my hyperfunctioning brain which, from an early age, led me to visualize the numbers or letters that make up the words while I pronounce them, to use reason rather than intuition, not to grasp the sense of euphemisms and formalisms and to have a poor sense of time and orientation “, begins Lorenzo, now graduated in history with a master’s in arts and culture management, who only after adolescence became aware of being Aspie, as she prefers to define herself.

“Many define us as carriers of Asperger’s syndrome, but it is a mistake – he explains – it is not a disease or a psychiatric or personality disorder. It is a highly functioning form of autism: we have a brain that works in an atypical way and has a right to diversity ».

The acceptance process was long and littered with obstacles: as scientific studies attest, there is an association between Asperger’s and the development of mood or anxiety disorders, difficulty in managing anger and in the communication of affection, which make subjects tend towards social exclusion and, sometimes, depression. Just what happened to Lorenzo who, not even twenty years old, in desperation swallowed a cocktail of drugs, tired of pretending and living as he thought others wanted.

“The inability to recognize and verbally describe my emotional states certainly did not help, but the hypersensitivity to injustices and the boundless love for the truth allowed me to embark on a path of awareness that leads to acceptance, in which I discovered the thousand shades of my self, although we Aspies see everything black or white»He affirms opening the doors of his inner world, in which sounds, colors, noises, smells are much stronger and, at times, annoying.

Between the story of the repellent feeling he feels whenever he sees someone bite into ice cream or perform discriminatory acts, Lorenzo focuses his attention on how much Italy is backward in the diagnosis of Asperger’s, which often occurs in adulthood, and on the scarce tools of support it offers to families.. And, as a homosexual Asperger, he does not deny the difficulties encountered in a society that tends towards marginalization and violence towards the “different”.

“My family, although open and cultured, was the victim of an inevitable provincial cultural heritage and, initially, he did not simply deal with the prejudice of having an autistic and gay child. But all this is due to the denial of rights that rages in our society, far behind other European countries “adds Lorenzo with an irrepressible desire for knowledge to the point that, to confront himself with other cultures and social realities, years ago he left for Erasmus in Spain, experiencing a much more fervent humus, and for a period of “exploration” with backpackers in Australia.

Precisely these experiences convinced him to no longer feel like a minority, to make knowledge and passion available to attempt a political and social change.

“Until that moment I had not felt represented by an increasingly catastrophic socio-political scenario, but, upon my return to Italy, I realized that I had to seriously try to realize the utopia of a society more attentive to social and civil rights . The turning point came in 2018, when after witnessing a harsh and gratuitous attack by Beppe Grillo against Aspergers and autistics in general, I replied with a video message that went viral “so he remembers the baptism of his political commitment, with roots well founded in his past as a student activist, which later resulted in the role of spokesperson for the Sardine movement.

“In a society that overlooks the destruction of the planet and the spread of inequalities, it is necessary to trace a path to be taken together for a future in which we talk about freedom and not normality, paying attention to the care of the disabled but also of nature, through investments in home care, innovation, social justice. Following my friend’s teaching Fabrizio Acanfora, autistic scientific popularizer, I am fully convinced that we must self-represent ourselves and, especially in this period, I want to expose myself in support of the approval of the Zan bill against homotransphobia and the vaccination priority also for autistic people “continues Lorenzo, declaring that politics and love are the essential elements of his “care”, which makes the desire to escape and the fear of time disappear.

“Writing helps me to put my thoughts in order and, with this diary, I hope to be able to instill courage in all my peers, and not only, who feel they are victims of a label. Being Aspie, for me, has become a quality that has allowed me to develop a unique sensitivity, with which to accept my “superpowers”. On the other hand, I clean the kitchen in a quarter of the time it takes my boyfriend, I memorize the concepts immediately after reading them and I easily get in tune with the others »he concludes smiling, without filters. Without any more shame, above all.

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