My Life with Autism

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just thought that it was a cool word and I wanted to say it so much that it literally made everyone around me crazy. Alright, as I touched upon a little when telling my story there are lot of myths surrounding Autism and there are a few I would like to bust. Firstly a common misconception that people have when they see autistic children alone is that we are too lazy to make friends and truthfully it is not that we don’t want friends it is that we don’t know how to approach them. When I was younger I would literally walk up to people in my school and then because I didn’t know what to say would just walk away. Eventually through learning how to interact better and developing confidence I obtained a small group of friends that I can hang out with and I love that. For some autistics though, they never get the opportunity to learn what to say or build their confidence even though we all badly (I assume) would like to have friends. Everyone does right? The second myth that I have heard (and I say this word because it was repeatedly said at me) that all autistics are retarded. Now not only is that offensive, it is also not true, studies show that between 10-20% of all people diagnosed with Autism show signs of intelligence beyond the average person, this is where you get people like (Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, even though it’s a TV show Sheldon Cooper) and the rest usually shown to be around regular levels of intelligence. The belief I think stems from people comparing an average person to a low functioning autistic who may not have the ability to speak properly and express what levels of intelligence they have. As I finish today, I want it known I am not up here saying a speech wanting sympathy. I am simply here because I want to start a conversation of change and of acceptance. I think this quote by Paul Collins (a writer with an autistic son) perfectly sums up my overall views “people with autism are the ultimate square peg, and the problem with trying to jam a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work but that it destroys the peg.” Yes we as autistics didn’t ask to be different but we are also not asking to be “fixed” because this quirk, it is what makes us who we are and I wouldn’t change it at all. Because of it I met the guy (a fellow autistic) who is now one of my best friends, because of it, I got to meet two of the most caring teachers in the world, and frankly it made me who I am, a square peg, that fits perfectly within his own square hole.