The Invisible Wounds of War

As someone interested in international journalism, I was excited to find this article linked to on a favorite website. The story is about how citizens of Mogadishu, Somalia, are succumbing to mental illness as a result of civil strife that has wracked the country for more than16 years. It also brings up the broader issue of treatment of mental conditions in countries wracked by war.

This is the type of in-depth, humanizing story that we rarely see when reading about war, international affairs or disability. It’s neither over-exaggerated nor over-simplified. It’s a compelling mix of straight and feature reporting that ties into a larger issue. It also makes good use of a narrated photo slideshow.

Reporting on how residents of countries plagued by conflict develop mental health problems is interesting to me, especially since I want to be a foreign correspondent.

Reporters tend to get caught up in writing about the straight losses and victories of war. And the already marginalized members of society are forgotten in favor of the bigger picture.

This article paints a realistic picture of the “invisible wounds” created during war and the stereotypes of people with mental disorders in Somalia. It is especially relevant in light of news that Somalia is receiving less aid.

It’s the type of story David Finkel, who wrote the article I linked to in my previous post, is best known for. It’s also characteristic of articles by Ian Johnson, a former editor of The Independent Florida Alligator. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for a series about oppressed practitioners of Falun Gong in China.

These are the types of stories there should be more of. But they have to be told quickly or they will disappear.

Acceptance

I know I complain about my Asperger’s Syndrome often. But the truth is I wouldn’t choose to have the condition cured even if some miraculous medicine could make it disappear. My condition not only made me unique; it gave me a purpose.

Since childhood, I’ve felt compelled to seek out people who don’t blend into their surroundings or feel like they can’t fit in with the rest of the people in their community. The intense sense of isolation made me feel like I didn’t belong with my friends.

Even when I joined them in pretending to be Star Wars characters on the playground, I felt like they enjoyed being with each in a way I could not.

It made me seek out others who felt like me or were just different. And I found them in books about people who faced discrimination or who came from other countries.

I felt connected to characters in books like “Native Son,” the classic novel about a black man living in the segregated Chicago of the 1930s, and “When the Elephants Dance,” a novel about a family hiding from Japanese soldiers in the Philippines during the occupation of the country in World War II. I was inspired by the story of Nelson Mandela’s fight against apartheid in South Africa.

Though I had not faced the severe discrimination that confronted these people, I could at least empathize with their feelings of alienation.

These people felt more isolated and ostracized than I could ever imagine was and were, in most cases, fighting for the right to belong. I felt compelled to seek out people like these and learn more about them.

Journalism gave me the chance to do that. My autism made me sensitive to people who were fighting for the right to belong or be different. It helped me find stories and sources that other people might overlook.

As a student journalist, I’ve met and written about the man who led the college student movement to protest segregation in the civil rights era. I ate pizza with a Sudanese refugee and investigated the struggle to diversify the university’s faculty.

With every story I write about a subject like the ones above, I feel like I become more human. I’m forced to confront my fear of the unknown to find the people who make articles interesting.

And I hope that my stories help others understand what it’s like to be different or encourage them to care about something they might not normally think about. That’s the secret to the best articles. They make people care about something that might otherwise be alien to them.

Not Alone

Since I started this blog, I've been researching ways people with autism and their advocates use the internet to communicate. As someone who knows how empowering it can be to find a medium that allows you to communicate, I'm comforted that sites like Youtube and Blogger have provided autistic people with a forum where they can interact with others on their own terms.

The following video was made by Amanda Baggs, an autistic woman and self-advocate. The first part shows how she communicates, and the second part explains her behavior.



I think videos like Baggs' can get people talking about a condition that has largely been misunderstood. With the rise in autism diagnoses, it's becoming more and more important to have better conversations about the subject.

Resources for parents and other family members of people with autism are growing. A blogging community has popped up to help the people affected by autism. For parents who struggle with the stress of raising an autistic child, blogs like Autism Vox, which is maintained by the mother of an autistic child, are a valuable resource.