This guest post is by Christian Walker, a young man on the autism spectrum who was diagnosed with a speech/language impairment at age 2 and has been accepted into Clemson University. Max is applying for the Spring 2022 Making a Difference Autism Scholarship via the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference started by me, Kerry Magro. I was nonverbal till 2.5 and diagnosed with autism at 4 and you can read more about my organization here. Autistics on Autism: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams, our nonprofit’s new book, has been released as of March 29, 2022 on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults.
I am an 18-year-old high school senior and I have autism. I have been very lucky to have my mom. She has always told me that I can do anything that I want to do if I planned and worked hard. And I believed her. However, not everyone believes that people with autism can do anything they set their minds to do. Therefore, I believe the biggest obstacle holding people with autism back is people who don’t believe that individuals with autism can have big dreams and then work to achieve them.
When I was a little boy, many people told my mom that I would not be able to do the things that other children did. That hurt my mom’s feelings. But, it made her determined to make sure that I had every opportunity to do everything that other children did. For example, I was extremely interested in music. So, my mom made sure that I had music lessons. Now, I am an accomplished pianist and was accepted to Clemson University’s music program. Also, I had the dream of playing in my high school band, my mom supported me, and together we did it. Then, when I told my mom that I wanted to be the Drum Major my senior year of high school, she just said, “Okay. You can do this. Let’s make a plan.” Then, we made a plan, I followed it, and I was the Drum Major of my high school band my senior year.
I started this essay by saying that I am very lucky to have my mom. She believed in me when other people didn’t. She protected me from people who thought I wasn’t going to be able to do much in life because I was on the autism spectrum. I always believed I could do anything, be anything, or go anywhere in life because my mom is always right there cheering for and protecting me. However, not all children on the autism spectrum have a mom like mine. So, some children hear and feel mean and limiting things that people can say and do to children on the autism spectrum. And just like I believed what my mom said about me, children can believe the unkind and limiting things said to them. Unfortunately, if a person believes that they cannot do something because that’s what they have been told, they may never do all the great things that they are really capable of doing.
In closing, I believe the greatest obstacle for people on the autism spectrum is people in our society, who don’t see the beauty, uniqueness, and capability that lives within people with autism. Although people may not mean to hurt or block individuals with autism, their words and actions can do exactly that. If more people understood that individuals on the spectrum are capable of great things, as well as everyday things, children with autism would have more opportunities to try different things and see how great and wonderful they really are. When you know that you are great and wonderful, you really can do anything you set your mind to do!
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My name is Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum that started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue post-secondary education. Help support me so I can continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
Autistics on Autism: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams, has been released as of March 29, 2022 on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults. 100% of the proceeds from this book will go back to our nonprofit to support initiatives like our autism scholarship program. In addition, this autistic adult’s essay you just read will be featured in a future volume of this book as we plan on making this into a series of books on autistic adults.
