a tiny space (ePub)

"I stand and face the sea,
as the waves come crashing to the shore,
the music of the sea is thunderous and loud.
Yet I am unafraid, I chase the waves, I run about,
excited but calm, I want to explore, I only want more."
-fifi coo, 11 June 2016

After eight years of quiet, fifi coo found his voice through the collective love of a family, the patience and resourcefulness of a mother, and a simple alphabet board. The board became the interface between fifi's thoughts and the public world beyond him. With it, he speaks poetry.

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How open are we to specialness in our lives? Open the door to the tiny spaces within you, and let in fifi coo's inner light.

A note from fifi

For parents whose hearts are in deep sorrow, I only wish my poems will offer them hope and encouragement for themselves and for their child to one day find his/her voice.

For teachers, therapists and those who have a duty or a job to help special needs individuals lead a more fulfilling life, I hope my book will encourage them to explore new ways of teaching and to not label us as low functioning if we are non-verbal. I hope my book will also help them see that understanding autism cannot be based on theories and experiences with other non-verbal autistics. I hope my book makes them rethink what autism is about and that whatever questions they have about autism, the only person that can give them real answers will be the individual that they are trying to help.

For anyone else who might read my book, I hope they will hear inside my heart and hear my loneliness and experience what it is like to be a human person frequently misunderstood and trapped in a body that is not very functional. I hope I can be a lonely voice for all my non-verbal friends. We experience loneliness in a way that no one can ever understand unless they too lose their voices and have special needs.