The language spoken by the Tamarians in the Damok episode of Star Trek the Next Generation consisted of metaphors related to their history. My late autistic son Larry often spoke in the same way, with references to his personal history. “Tennis” to him referred to computers, for example, and “ozmobile” referred to the green station wagon we had from 1993-2002. Piecing together his meaning was difficult and some of his sayings remained opaque, but it was a doorway into how his mind worked. This episode aired on September 30, 1991, a few weeks after the birth of my sons, and I have always regarded it as providential for my family.
