Journeys with Autism

Yes, the title of this post is a very apt metaphor for my life at present, but my intention is to write about how to literally navigate when you literally do not have a sense of direction.

My ASL class begins next week, so I decided to walk the route to and from the school. I have learned the hard way that if I want to arrive at any new place on time, I must do a trial run and make sure that I know the route. So, before I made my way to the school for the first time, I looked up the route online. Since I can’t read a map very well at all, I simply printed out the written directions:

1:  Start out going SOUTH on JUNIPER ST toward ALDER ST.

2:  Turn RIGHT onto ALDER ST.

3:  Turn LEFT onto CATALPA ST.

4:  Turn RIGHT onto HOLLY ST.

5:  Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto WILLOW ST.

6:  Turn RIGHT onto QUINCE ST.

7:  Turn LEFT onto REDWOOD ST.

8:  Turn RIGHT onto HAZEL ST.

9:  Turn LEFT onto LILAC DR.

10:  100 LILAC DR is on the LEFT.

Yesterday, I set off for the 2 ½ mile round trip. Because my directions were clearly printed, I had no trouble finding the school at all, and I was delighted by what I saw: children playing soccer, a beautiful, green campus, and plenty of parking. I was able to locate the building in which I’d have to check in, but I decided that I didn’t want to venture too much further onto the campus. I wondered whether someone might ask me whether I needed help, and I was anxious that I wouldn’t know how to respond. I don’t know sign language yet, and since I was wearing my headset, I wouldn’t be able to speak to anyone, either.

All the same,  I was quite pleased to have found the campus without difficulty, so I turned around and headed for home. The key words here are turned around. Turn me in a direction different from the one in which I’ve started, and I’m lost. (And yes, I mean that literally as well as figuratively.) Unfortunately, I hadn’t printed out the directions in reverse, so I was left trying to figure out how to reverse them in real time. I always have a problem with this task, but most of the time, I deny that it’s an issue at all. This time, the denial resulted in my getting lost less than a mile from my house. I needed to stop and think very hard, several different times, about how to read my instructions backward so as to find my way home.

Since I cannot create a mental picture of any route I’ve ever taken, all I could do was to work with the printed text. By the time I was close to my house, I’d finally figured it out. I realized that all I had to do was to start from the bottom, reverse each direction (changing Left to Right and Right to Left), and apply it to the street name in the step above it. Here’s how it looks for the first two turns in a homeward direction (reading from the bottom up):

7:  Turn LEFT onto REDWOOD ST.

                 LEFT
8:  Turn RIGHT onto HAZEL ST REDWOOD ST.

                RIGHT
9:  Turn LEFT onto LILAC DR  HAZEL ST.

I was am kind of exceedingly proud of myself over this bit of magic.  I deeply envy admire those who can hold the image of a route in their minds, but for someone as directionally challenged as I am, another strategy is a necessity. Happening upon the logic of how to reverse course was an incredible relief.

© 2009 by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg