“The idea for the stencils to decorate your mask came to me on a walk.”

[CONFINEMENT DIARIES]

Interview with Javier Pastor. 23 years old. Graphic Design student

How did you come up with the idea of customizing your mask?

Actually the idea of custom masks is not a novelty. The mask I have was bought at the New & Retro Game Festival in Valladolid last December, a few months before the state of alarm was declared. In Japan and other Asian countries masks are used as an aesthetic complement, apart from those who use them to prevent contagious diseases or to protect themselves from pollution.

I eat otaku had wanted one for a long time, and as soon as I saw the design with the zipper I fell in love, my friend who went with me bought another one with an animal snout design.

The idea of making stencils so that other people could decorate their masks came to me a few days ago, while walking around.

Before you make a fuss, I am asperger’s, a recognized neurological disability on the autism spectrum, so I am allowed to take short therapeutic walks. I was uneasy, because I saw on the news cases of parents with autistic children, dog walkers or nurses returning from duty who had been physically and verbally assaulted by so-called “balcony vigilantes”.

Then I remembered other occasions when I had to leave the house to go shopping, I wore the mask of course, and when I was walking down the street people looked at me, a cashier told me how cool my mask was and asked me where I had bought it, which I told her.

A cashier told me how cool my mask was and asked me where I bought it.

Actually my mask was just a fortuitous purchase. Having to do my internship from home I really don’t have much to do, and I thought I needed to come up with ideas, because at Fundación Personas they give me a lot of freedom to work; that’s when I remembered my experience and came up with the idea of the templates, which can be a very good idea to distract yourself by decorating the masks at home and the children and other people with intellectual disabilities might love it, so it was very well received at the Foundation.

What does confinement mean for a person with aspergers?

In my case it is not too much of a change in routine. One of the things about being aspergers is that you tend to have a very set routine, and fortunately, or unfortunately for me, my routine tends to be very sedentary. However, I have had to give up certain things that were part of my routine, such as online classes at the university or having to give up driving practice, and of course the internship at Fundación Personas or meeting with my friends like every Saturday, and for a person with asperger’s, who does not usually deal well with changes without careful planning, it is a blow. Personally it does not affect me in itself to be locked up, I comply with the confinement to the letter and without any complaint, but the occasions that I have to go outside I notice the difference; I feel free and at ease, and I did not even know I needed it, it is a liberation.

What advice would you give to get along better than what has worked for you?

For me the key is to keep distracted. I’ve always been a person with a lot of inner world, and when I’m not busy with classes or internships I tend to distract myself by playing video games, reading comics or watching series on the computer. Recently I’ve started taking therapeutic walks, if I can, and writing. But I also try to get some exercise with a console game that forces me to move. Personally, I think that people go crazy because they are bored and have nothing else to do.

What will be the first thing you do when the state of alarm is over?

I will return to my previous routine. It will be a joy to be able to resume my driving lessons, walk back to class and take the bus to Envite to do my internship. Also, I recently had my 23rd birthday, and I’m looking forward to meeting up with my friends to celebrate it properly.