Life, Animated Page #2

What you don't want to do,

what you do want to do.

So a lot of those choices that maybe

you only had one or two choices here,

now you're gonna have

lots of choices.

I have some concerns

as far as safety.

Owen tends to walk with

his chin down and plow ahead,

like when he comes out

between cars in a parking lot

- or going to cross the street.

- Yeah.

Hey, Owen, what would you say is

your greatest concern about next year?

That I have to do stuff all on my own.

- That's a concern?

- Yeah.

- To change, right?

- To change.

But is it worth it not having

a staff live with you?

- A little bit.

- I bet.

How do you feel?

I would say a little nervous

'cause it's a new thing for me,

doing my own things on my own.

Yeah, well, this is the big step.

This is your step

through the adult door.

Now you're no different than me.

So you kind of...

All these decisions are gonna be you.

They're gonna be for me.

You got to remember,

even though it might seem

like you're kind of on your own,

and there's no dorm counselor...

Yep.

We're still just a call away, right?

Right.

Pretty excited of what's

gonna happen for you, bud.

Yeah.

You got a lot more chapters to write.

A lot more chapters to write.

- I'll be the tosser.

- Watch how I'm doing it.

If you hold it in your hand like this...

Yeah?

Gus, over there.

Good boy.

Good boy, come on.

- Good boy.

- Come on, boy.

- Come on, Gus.

- Come on, buddy.

- Fetch, Gus. Fetch, Gus.

- Where is it, Gus?

- There's Mommy and Owe.

- Having a little pizza.

Big bite.

We're about a year along

into his silence.

The only thing we seem

to be able to do as a family

is the one thing Owen and Walter liked

to do before the onset of the autism.

They loved to watch

the Disney animated movies.

We realized that was the only thing

that was keeping Owen calm

and making him happy, and so Owen

and his older brother Walter

would watch these together.

I didn't know what autism was.

I just knew that autism made

Owen the way he is.

So autism kind of just meant different...

Drastically different.

So Disney was my chance to have

Owen really light up around me

and was something

we can come together over.

So, one day,

we're up in the bedroom.

We're watching The Little Mermaid.

And, you know, Owen

would be speaking sort of gibberish,

and he had been saying,

"Juicervose, juicervose, juicervose."

He's murmuring something called...

He's saying, "Juicervose, juicervose."

Now, Cornelia thinks

he wants more juice.

She gives him the sippy cup.

He doesn't want it. He knocks it over.

It's gibberish.

Owen's watching the part

where Ariel, the mermaid,

has to trade something

to become human.

Go ahead.

Make your choice.

I'm a very busy woman,

and I haven't got all day

It won't cost much,

just your voice.

Owen rewinds. Weir's like,

"Owen, just watch the movie."

Owen rewinds a second time.

Third time,

Cornelia grabs me and says,

"It's not 'juice."' I said,

"What?" "It's not 'juice.' It's 'just."'

Just your voice.

I grab Owen,

and I say, "Just your voice."

And he says, "Juicervose,

juicervose, juice..."

It's the first time

he looks at me in a year.

Of course, we read

every possible meaning

into the fact he picks

those three words.

"Just your voice."

Silent child.

The first thing he says.

He's still in there.

He's still in there.

We go and see a doctor,

and we tell him about

our amazing "juicervose" moment,

and he's like, "Well,

let me explain this to you.

"This is... You better sit down.

I know you're very pumped up here,

but this is called echolalia."

This isn't like a breakthrough,

you know. It's... It's echolalia,

which is just the repeating

of language that they hear.

And I said, "Like a parrot?"

And he's like, "Well, kind of, yeah."

ls it possible he knows

what he's saying?

And the doctor says, "Maybe.

But there's no way of knowing,

and the thinking is, probably not."

At that point, Cornelia and I

were set on a rescue mission

to get inside this prison of autism

and pull him out.

Okay. Okay, listen up.

Soon as everyone gets here,

we will begin.

- Hey, Owen?

- Yeah?

Could I just recommend that

instead of saying, "Listen up,"

say, "May I have

your attention, please?"

May I have your attention, please?

When everyone gets here, we'll begin.

I started a Disney club so

I can get to know more people,

and they can be around me,

so I can be more popular.

It worked!

Tonight we're watching

some of The Lion King,

because this year

is the big 20th anniversary

of the original release

of The Lion King.

- Shall we?

- Of course.

Not only am I a big Disney fanatic,

but I also like to play magical

movie scores on this piano.

Yeah!

We watch parts

of Disney animated films

and discuss them and see what

they're really about in our lives.

That's not my father.

It's just my reflection.

No.

Look harder.

Look.

- You see?

- You see?

He lives in you.

I'm not who I used to be.

Remember who you are.

You are my son

and the one true king.

Remember who you are.

- No, please, don't leave me.

- Remember.

- Father.

- Remember.

- Don't leave me.

- Okay.

What was Mufasa teaching Simba?

Jessica?

They're teaching us that there's more

to you than you ever would see.

And there's more

than meets the eye, right?

More than meets the eye.

Their parents are teaching how,

when you grow up,

to... to be on your own and...

And how to learn how to,

like, live on your own.

Yeah. It's important

that when our parents

no longer can help us,

that we have to figure

things out by ourselves.

Yeah.

Four years have passed

since our "juicervose" moment.

Owen has said almost nothing

but gibberish since then.

We're beginning to give up hope.

So on Walt's ninth birthday,

he's in the backyard with his buddies.

Party ends, the kids leave,

and Walt gets a little weepy,

a little emotional,

and then Owen follows us

into the kitchen, looking expectant.

Like, he's looking at the two of us.

He stands there, stock still,

like something's bubbling up,

and he says,

"Walter doesn't want to grow up

like Mowgli or Peter Pan,"

and off he runs.

I was like,

"What the hell just happened?

"Did Owen just say,

'Walter doesn't want to grow up,

like Peter Pan or Mowgli'?"

Peter Pan doesn't

want to grow up

'cause he wants to stay

a boy and be in Neverland.

Once you're grown up,

you can never come back.

Never.

I felt the same way that Walter felt

when he was nine at teeny, tiny bits.

When you grow up,

you lose all your magical,

enchanted childhood times.

This wasn't just a sentence.

This was a complex sentence

of a complex thought,

of something that

we didn't even see,

and all the sudden

it became clear to us.

He's using these movies

to make sense of the world

he actually is living in: our world.

But I said to Ron, "You

know, we've got to try and figure out

if we can have him

talk to us at all."

So I go up to his room.

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