Yesterday I came across an article shared by Katherine May on twitter. It was from a New Zealand news website which I would normally never read, but this article was different. The article mentioned that the language of the indigenous peoples of New Zealand (The Māori) was including new words for fairly recent disabilities. The big difference with other languages was that The Māori didn’t want to focus on the negative aspects of those disabilities; something that I really love.

So The Māori created a new word for autistic people, which is also the title of this post: Takiwatanga. The best part for that word is it’s translation into english:

his or her own time and space

I love this term and it’s underlying meaning. Thank you Keri Opai, for introducing this gorgeous word and explaining so elloquently what autism seems like.

Read the article on other disability-names as well. You won’t be disappointed.