as a freshman and
school it’s not uncommon for me to walk
into a conversation and hear the words
that’s autistic followed by laughing and
a half-hearted apology after I flashed
them a dirty look a year ago
I may have done the same thing but after
a lot of research perspective and
personal experience I realized that
autism is not the handicapped disease
that people make it out to be
yes autism can bring along crippling
disabilities but it is so much more than
being a debilitating condition we need
to stop looking at autism as an insult
and start looking at it as a piece of
nature because that’s what autism is for
those of you who are unaware the autism
spectrum has two endpoints high
functioning and low functioning with the
area in between varying depending on
symptoms high-functioning autistic s–
are generally more accepted in public
and can pass off as being non-autistic
while low-functioning autistics may have
mental or physical handicaps making it
harder for them to lead a normal life
only a fraction of people on the
spectrum are low functioning but
everyone deals with the endless reign of
jokes by ignorant people I first learned
that I possessed most traits of
high-functioning autism in October of
2017 having no idea that the traits I’ve
been living with since I was born are
actually a part of something much bigger
and more complex the fact that I now had
a label took a while for me to get used
to but then I realized I don’t need the
label quite yet I just needed to learn
how to deal with it myself before I
moved forward and I did I spent weeks
reading every available article about
every aspect of autism I’ve learned
things about myself I had been
questioning for years such as why don’t
understand sarcasm why need weight on my
feet and body to fall asleep and why
I’ve struggled empathizing with others I
also learned about the side of autism
I don’t experience and realize that the
traits an average person may find
strange or weird or just the brains way
of working and that specific person
for example you may walk past a boy
flapping his arms wildly with the grin
on his face and think what’s wrong with
him he’s swimming a term used to
describe a repetitive movement that is
often seen as a distraction when someone
is experiencing sensory overload
this may be the best way to keep them
focused on the task at hand you may also
hear some incoherent babbling even
screaming but these noises are not being
made to give you the chance to mock them
this is just a verbal tic aware of
distraction when the world is too much
for them to handle because of these
challenges and more 63% of artistic
children are bullied that makes them
three times more likely to be bullied
than their average peers the point is I
never would have known these things six
months ago
simply because I didn’t care about
understanding them I thought I knew
exactly what made these people different
but after I began to break down my own
walls of judgment and stereotyping
I wondered why can’t others realizing
that the ones being bullied for their
challenges were never the ones
instigating it I found the source of the
problem lack of perspective in order to
test my theory I began to put myself in
the shoes of an outsider and now I
challenge you to do the same how would
you feel if all your surroundings came
rushing at you every single day fill
your head with white noise and all the
crushing thoughts you can’t begin to
comprehend what if I told you there were
a way for you to relieve yourself of the
enormous pressure if only for a moment
would you do it what if I told you that
you would be called a freak mental or
the difference between this exercise and
people with autism is that they usually
don’t have a choice in the matter it but
it makes their life better in that
moment autism has changed many lives for
the better much like it has mine without
my autistic tendencies
charity would be drastically different
and I definitely would not be the person
I am today when I was five years old and
barely speaking
I discovered a love of reading from a
teacher and a family who never gave up
on me when I first started wearing a big
fluffy – – every Valentine’s Day
I wasn’t self-conscious because I didn’t
know how to be I still wear that – –
every February 14th
I can become hyper focused and obsessed
with one little thing in a matter of
days but that obsession just turns to
dedication even if it’s a little bit
annoying at first without this I never
would have discovered one of my main
passions in life autism awareness I
would never have had the opportunity to
share my story with an audience or open
and willing to learn there’s no cure for
autism and it is not something you
cannot live but my heavy connection to
the disorder is not something I would
ever want to live without because autism isn’t an insult thank you
school it’s not uncommon for me to walk
into a conversation and hear the words
that’s autistic followed by laughing and
a half-hearted apology after I flashed
them a dirty look a year ago
I may have done the same thing but after
a lot of research perspective and
personal experience I realized that
autism is not the handicapped disease
that people make it out to be
yes autism can bring along crippling
disabilities but it is so much more than
being a debilitating condition we need
to stop looking at autism as an insult
and start looking at it as a piece of
nature because that’s what autism is for
those of you who are unaware the autism
spectrum has two endpoints high
functioning and low functioning with the
area in between varying depending on
symptoms high-functioning autistic s–
are generally more accepted in public
and can pass off as being non-autistic
while low-functioning autistics may have
mental or physical handicaps making it
harder for them to lead a normal life
only a fraction of people on the
spectrum are low functioning but
everyone deals with the endless reign of
jokes by ignorant people I first learned
that I possessed most traits of
high-functioning autism in October of
2017 having no idea that the traits I’ve
been living with since I was born are
actually a part of something much bigger
and more complex the fact that I now had
a label took a while for me to get used
to but then I realized I don’t need the
label quite yet I just needed to learn
how to deal with it myself before I
moved forward and I did I spent weeks
reading every available article about
every aspect of autism I’ve learned
things about myself I had been
questioning for years such as why don’t
understand sarcasm why need weight on my
feet and body to fall asleep and why
I’ve struggled empathizing with others I
also learned about the side of autism
I don’t experience and realize that the
traits an average person may find
strange or weird or just the brains way
of working and that specific person
for example you may walk past a boy
flapping his arms wildly with the grin
on his face and think what’s wrong with
him he’s swimming a term used to
describe a repetitive movement that is
often seen as a distraction when someone
is experiencing sensory overload
this may be the best way to keep them
focused on the task at hand you may also
hear some incoherent babbling even
screaming but these noises are not being
made to give you the chance to mock them
this is just a verbal tic aware of
distraction when the world is too much
for them to handle because of these
challenges and more 63% of artistic
children are bullied that makes them
three times more likely to be bullied
than their average peers the point is I
never would have known these things six
months ago
simply because I didn’t care about
understanding them I thought I knew
exactly what made these people different
but after I began to break down my own
walls of judgment and stereotyping
I wondered why can’t others realizing
that the ones being bullied for their
challenges were never the ones
instigating it I found the source of the
problem lack of perspective in order to
test my theory I began to put myself in
the shoes of an outsider and now I
challenge you to do the same how would
you feel if all your surroundings came
rushing at you every single day fill
your head with white noise and all the
crushing thoughts you can’t begin to
comprehend what if I told you there were
a way for you to relieve yourself of the
enormous pressure if only for a moment
would you do it what if I told you that
you would be called a freak mental or
the difference between this exercise and
people with autism is that they usually
don’t have a choice in the matter it but
it makes their life better in that
moment autism has changed many lives for
the better much like it has mine without
my autistic tendencies
charity would be drastically different
and I definitely would not be the person
I am today when I was five years old and
barely speaking
I discovered a love of reading from a
teacher and a family who never gave up
on me when I first started wearing a big
fluffy – – every Valentine’s Day
I wasn’t self-conscious because I didn’t
know how to be I still wear that – –
every February 14th
I can become hyper focused and obsessed
with one little thing in a matter of
days but that obsession just turns to
dedication even if it’s a little bit
annoying at first without this I never
would have discovered one of my main
passions in life autism awareness I
would never have had the opportunity to
share my story with an audience or open
and willing to learn there’s no cure for
autism and it is not something you
cannot live but my heavy connection to
the disorder is not something I would
ever want to live without because autism isn’t an insult thank you
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