This guest post is by Sarah Lyn Renee Bellairs, a woman on the autism spectrum who was diagnosed with autism and has been accepted to the University of Nebraska Omaha. Sarah is applying for the Spring 2023 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, was released on March 29, 2022, on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults.
My name is Sarah Lyn Renee Bellairs. I live with my mother, my father, and my older brother Jordan in Joplin, MO. My mother works as an elementary school teacher in the Neosho School District, while my father works at Ducommun as a cable braider. My brother, who also has autism, has been utilizing staffing services to help him with his daily hygiene needs and to take him out into the community, but it has been hard to find assistance for him. He will need to live with my parents for a more significant portion of his life than I will.
I was born on June 18th, 1998. I was a relatively normal baby, except for the fact that I couldn’t talk. While most kids start talking at the age of two, I didn’t speak any words at that milestone. I could only communicate by pointing, screaming, or crying, and it was hard for me to get my opinions across when there weren’t any words to convey them. I didn’t start showing signs of speech until I was four, and even then, my speech was echolalic. Echolalia is when a child repeats words or phrases but doesn’t understand what they mean. For example, if an adult asked me, “Do you want a cookie?”, I wouldn’t be able to say “Yes” or “No.” I would only be able to echo what the adult said without adding anything to it.
School was even harder for me. I had frequent accidents as a child because my body couldn’t tell me when I had to go to the restroom. I would also fall to the ground because of my tight Achilles tendons. Doctors had suggested that my parents put me in a full-body cast to stretch them, but they didn’t want to limit me in that way.
Once I was able to start speech therapy, my world started to expand, and I soon discovered my love of music. I discovered I had perfect pitch, and could match any pitch I was given, especially if they were high in my range. I started singing in church, choosing praise songs to perform on Sunday mornings with the words on the inside on the tape case. I began singing at home, repeating the songs I had learned at school. I was an active participant in music time, and I enjoyed the concerts we would perform at school in the cafeteria on the risers.
I still have challenges sometimes for example when a sentence I type doesn’t come out the way I want it to or when a sentence I speak isn’t understood because the words are mixed up. Though I still struggle sometimes, I can be soothed by the music I listen to, the songs I sing, and the love of my family. As I pursue my Bachelor’s Degree, I hope that I will be able to help others on the autism spectrum and find something that pertains to their special interests. As a librarian, I can expand their worlds the way music expands my own. Maybe then, I will have put my own challenges to sleep for a very long time. In that, I will have accomplished my goals.
Follow my journey on Facebook, my Facebook Fan Page, Tiktok, Youtube & Instagram.
My name is Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum. I 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 was released on 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.
