J-Mac, the Book
January 26, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
“Four minutes of fame” came to teenager Jason McElwain when he scored 20 points in the final four minutes of a Greece Athena High School basketball game. That was almost two years ago—-a book by “J-Mac” and Daniel Paiser is out, The Game of My Life: a True Story of Struggle, Triumph and Growing Up Autistic. After those four minutes, McElwain became a national celebrity and his famous minutes on the court played and replayed on CNN, ESPN, and local newscasts across the country.
Well, last Wednesday night as Charlie and I were heading out the door for Special Olympics basketball, he ran back in to grab his ball and held onto it in the backseat of the car. He’s made one basket so far (Charlie is tall for his age, but McElwain has a few inches on him still). But there was just something about being there in the gym and on the court with other kids and the coaches and the parents on the sidelines. While the older kids were scrimmaging, Jim had Charlie practice shooting and Charlie held the ball over his head and threw (he has not yet made basket #2). Charlie gave his dad a lot of hugs and his eyes were bright, as was his whole face—–just from knowing that he was with the team, like McElwain, once upon a February night with the Greece Athena Trojans.
I was forwarded that video again just yesterday from that famous basketball game and just swelled with pride for this kid. I also thought of Charlie as I watched the video and was so grateful he was being given a chance to play and participate by you, his parents, at such a young age!
Wait, what? McElwain was an active participant in the telling of his own story? No! Who let that happen?
I think Autism Speaks had better get to shopping for a new lawfirm, pronto! What’s the minimum mandatory sentence for grand theft thunder?
:-p
And Dana noted a number of books by autistic authors: Temple Grandin, Liane Holliday Willey, Dawn Prince-Hughes, Donna Williams, Gunilla Gerland…
My NT daughter has basketball practice this afternoon. She’s honestly not that athletic, but she’s out there sweating, having a good time with her friends.
I look forward to the day that Jack, like Charlie, can be there too. Here’s to basket #2.
… Clare Sainsbury, Marc Segar, Wendy Lawson, Tito Mukhopadhyay, Sarah Stup, Jim Sinclair, Stephen Shore …
i’m so proud of charlie! i have a feeling basket # 2 is just around the corner, er, court!
and more with autism who’ve written about their experiences: John E. Robinson, DJ Savarese, Jasmine Lee O’Neill, Larry Bissonnette, Lucy Blackman, Jamie Burke, Susan Rubin and many more I know I’m omitting…
Keep adding!
Hooray for Charlie! That sounds like a lot of fun