This guest post is by James Nemitoff, a young man who was diagnosed with autism around 10 years old and plans on attending Centenary University in Hackettstown. James is applying for the Spring 2024 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 refuse to let my ASD diagnosis define me. It is part of who I am and being able to share that usually helps people understand me, modify things for me and in general recognize that I am a little different from most people.
I have always struggled socially. From the age of 3 I was put into social skills classes and I have been in and out of them all of my life. It was easy for me to put these skills into practice with adults and in the social skills group but when I was out in my regular classroom, I would get frustrated and explode or withdraw. After continued struggles in preschool, my parents finally had me observed in the classroom setting by a developmental pediatrician who diagnosed me with ASD. Over the years I have been in general education classes with and without an aide, LLD classes, small group instruction and pull out classes. I’ve participated in OT and social skills classes most of my life. Unfortunately, my school and social struggles have led to depression. I have also been in personal therapy, on and off, with a social worker or psychologist ever since I was 5 years old. I know it is important to have someone to talk to and share my thoughts and feelings. When I was in middle school, I really struggled to get along with my peers. I participated in dialectical behavior therapy in a social group setting. Actually, my first experience with DBT was as a family with my parents. The therapist wanted me and my family to all be on the same page with the language and concepts. It helped a little but what finally made a huge difference was going to a therapeutic school in 6th grade until 12th grade.
In 6th grade, I began attending a therapeutic special education school. The school and staff is amazing! Each teacher knew just how to talk and work with me and all the kids around me had their struggles and I finally felt comfortable in school around my peers. In 2023, for 12th grade I began a shared time program with half day at my therapeutic high school and half day at my hometown high school where I participate in general education classes. I personally advocated that plan for myself and I am so glad that I spoke up at my IEP meeting about what I wanted. I have worked very hard in school and life and have come a long way. At the beginning of this essay I stated I would not let my ASD diagnosis define me, I am however extremely proud to be defined as an eagle scout. I started in Boy Scouts in September 2012 at the age of 6 and have been a registered member every year since then. I tried many different activities and sports as a kid but Boy Scouts became my one and only activity. I currently serve as the Senior Patrol Leader for my troop. I have camped over 50+ nights in every kind of weather you can imagine. I spent the summer of 2023 working at BSA Camp Turrell in Cuddebackville, NY as the STEM Director. I helped Scouts earn their technology-based merit badges.
I passed my Board of Review and earned the rank of Eagle Scout on December 7, 2023. My service project was building 2 Little Free Libraries in Goffle Brook Park in Hawthorne, Passaic County for the Passaic County Parks Department. The values instilled in me through Scouting, in the Boy Scout Law and the Boy Scout Oath have helped form the foundation for my ambition and who I am as a person. A common myth is that people with ASD will be obsessed with one specific subject. Obsessions happen to many people, regardless of whether or not they have an ASD diagnosis. For example, some men can’t leave the house on a Sunday during NFL football season because they must watch every single play of every single football game on TV. They might even have multiple TV’s going so they don’t miss one touchdown.
Ok, so for me I must admit I do have a slight obsession. Anything related to the topic of tabletop miniatures, specifically Warhammer 40K. Once I start reading, painting or playing Warhammer 40K I find it hard to stop and I lose track of time for hours. The stories and lore of the universe of my hobby Warhammer 40k are immense. Some of the visuals through the words are extremely powerful and make my hair stand on end while reading and picturing what is happening.
The visuals in the Warhammer 40K stories and lore that I read, set my mind ablaze with wonder and creativity. They inspire me to make my own miniature masterpieces and create my own battle scenes that I hope will cause the immense emotion I feel when reading to be conveyed to others. When I sit painting miniatures and reading or listening to the stories I get distracted for hours and do not worry about a single item that may have made me feel bad. I know many “nerds” who love this hobby. Thankfully, this hobby is very inclusive, all are welcome. My journey with this hobby began about 3 years ago in a small hobby shop in Vermont, to a local tabletop gaming club and presently I play in tournaments at conventions.
As I am about to graduate high school and head to college, I feel like I am on the verge of greatness. I have often been misunderstood or ignored by my peers and that has hurt me. Something about being on the Centenary University campus felt right to me from my very first open house visit. It is a small enough school to not get lost. They have the right support programs for someone who had an IEP with lots of support. I am excited to start this new chapter of my life.
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.
