For years his intelligence had been misunderstood, and his ability to communicate was considered almost impossible. But Payam, a 24-year-old with autism, has managed to prove that the difficulties in speech do not mean lack of thought or understanding.
Diagnosed by autism at the age of three, Payam had no functional speech, and for a long time he could not express his thoughts through words.
He recalls that from the age of nine, he was afraid that he could remain permanently trapped in silence, without the possibility of others getting to know his inner world.
The situation began to change when, at the age of 14, it was introduced to the Rapid Prompting Method method ( RPM, which helped him communicate by forming words through letter signs.
Just two years after learning this way of communication, in 2018, Payam gave a speech about 250 people at Georgia’s Institute of Technology.
A year later, he presented an empathy talk in a symposium on autism in Australia and spoke about the rights of austics even in the United Nations on the World Autism Aware Day.
Already, at the age of 24, Payam has published his first book, entitled “Joy and the Moon,” a collection of four tales dealing with neurodiversity, the difficulties of communication, and the beauty of a world that often remains unprecedented.
He has dedicated the book to all who are misunderstood, as well as to his mother Parisa Khosravi, who never gave up trying to help him express his thoughts.
Dating is our common beauty, it’s one of Payham’s messages in his book.
His story brings to focus the importance of failing to judge people with autism by the way they communicate, since lack of speech does not mean a lack of intelligence or opinions.
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Source Layer: Signal
