This guest post is by Andrew O’Donnell, a young man who was diagnosed with autism at 16 and who has been accepted to High Point University. Andrew 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.
I was born into a multigenerational Marine Corps family. I spent the first three years of my life living on base in Quantico, VA before moving to another base in San Diego, CA. Fast forward to today and at seventeen years old I am now living in our eighth house. I have lived in three different states and two countries, including having lived in Japan for two years. I have attended seven different schools. During these years my father was often deployed, once for twelve whole months in Afghanistan.
Since learning that I am autistic I can now look back on those years and see why I struggled so much. Many autistic people, including myself, thrive on structure, consistency and organization. I didn’t have any of those things a military kid. While my family was loving, our life was often chaotic. Our house was often cluttered with moving boxes and I was frequently having to say good-bye to my dad or friends from school who were also moving. Even having my dad return safely after many months, which is a blessing, for me meant changes in our daily routine as he tried to re-assimilate back into the lives of my mom and my sister and me.
Even though my parents suspected that I was autistic from an early age, I wasn’t officially diagnosed until I was sixteen years old. I believe that the military lifestyle can contribute to late diagnosis for some. One reason is that, due to our frequent moves, there isn’t the consistency of care with pediatricians or phycologists or therapists. We are always starting over with new doctors and new teachers who don’t know our backgrounds. It’s difficult to properly analyze or diagnosis someone you simply don’t know. I have ASD 1 (formally known as Asperger’s). Although I was struggling tremendously socially all through school, educators would attribute my lack of friends or being withdrawn or overwhelmed to me being the “new kid” and would recommend that my parents just give me time to adjust to the new school and make friends. I wasn’t struggling academically so many teachers failed to recognize the signs of ASD. It wasn’t until after my father retired from the USMC and we had some consistency of care and I was in the same school system long enough that it became more apparent to all that I am clearly neurodiverse.
On one hand, I look back on my military childhood and see many struggles. Having an earlier diagnosis would have afforded me an IEP and other services for example. However, on the other hand, I see how all of the moving and new schools and new houses forced me to be more flexible and opened minded. Having to always meet new people was probably the practice in social skills that I personally needed. Had we lived in the same place all of my life I wouldn’t have had to put myself out there again and again.
Since my diagnosis I have been happier than ever. I’ve learned to understand myself and appreciate my differences. I have been accepted to High Point University and I’m excited about my future in computer technologies.
There is a saying in the military that “Families serve too” and that is definitely true. What I would like people to know is that military kids with autism deserve extra special recognition.
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.
