This guest post is by Avery Durbin, a young man who is diagnosed with autism and is planning on attending Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. Avery 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 Avery Durbin. I have been accepted to Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. I intend to study biology or Environmental Science. I was diagnosed with autism at the age of 12. Later, at the age of 14, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. My mom knew all along that I was autistic, but even professionals didn’t think I was because of how high-functioning and social I was. I was able to mimic my peers, so I didn’t stand out to doctors. Autism affected me starting as an infant because, overall, I was delayed in my developmental milestones. I army crawled instead of crawling normally, and it took me longer to walk and talk. My mom was a developmental therapist, so she knew that I was delayed. At 15 months, I was evaluated by First Steps, but my delays weren’t significant enough to receive services. However, my mom knew that I had some sensory issues, and I was evaluated by a private occupational therapist, who diagnosed me with Sensory Integration Dysfunction. I had trouble with transitions. It was frustrating when I had to leave an activity to do something else. I had trouble communicating, and I cried a lot.
At age 5, I was diagnosed Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, and they said I had an IQ of 78. Also, when I was 5, I sat really close to the TV, so my parents had my vision tested. I was diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency. This is a common diagnosis for people on the spectrum. It is where the eyes don’t move simultaneously to focus. I was in vision therapy for two years. Once I started vision therapy, I started doing better in school. When I was 6, I was in music class one day and the teacher brought in instruments for us to try out. One of the instruments she passed around was a violin. I knew that day that I wanted to learn to play the violin. I took private lessons which were really fun and then I started performing in front of people at recitals and in music class in elementary school. Playing the violin was life-changing because it helped connect the two hemispheres of my brain. In second grade, I was misdiagnosed with non-specified ADHD. Growing up, it was hard for me to understand body language. Sometimes those misunderstandings affected my friendships.
At the age of 11, I moved houses and began therapy with a psychologist. The changes in moving houses were so overwhelming that I became depressed and suicidal for the first time. I spent a week at a psychiatric hospital. Finally, at the age of 12, I was diagnosed with autism at a psychological services center.
Up until the second semester of 8th grade, I did not fit in with my peers. In elementary school, a time when everyone is more friendly to each other, I did have friends, but they probably felt like I was a burden. It was hard for me to express empathy and I always wanted to be in control. In middle school, they drifted off from me. There were still kids who would support me in middle school, but it did not feel like true friendships. Despite my awkwardness, I was still not fully ignored, and I am still grateful for that. I was always intelligent and talented growing up, but people couldn’t easily see that because of them judging me for my social anxiety and witnessing me being overstimulated. The only thing I was missing was the skills to manage my symptoms. This was easier than I expected, too. When I started therapy, I learned how to be self-aware, and I learned principles about how to interact with peers. I also moved to a school in Louisville Kentucky called Summit Academy. This school is a private school for students with learning differences. This school provided a calmer environment with far fewer students. The teachers there were able to understand me and accommodate me while still challenging me. At that school, I grew socially. I made a lot of friends and had girlfriends. I participated in many after school events. I even mustered the confidence to get my driver’s license and star in a play.
Having autism has influenced my career aspirations. It has influenced the environment I want to work in and my motivation to work. I want to be a biologist or an environmental scientist. I think that if I experience a quiet setting in a lab coupled with time in nature, it wouldn’t trigger my symptoms as easily. Autism has given me an appetite for change. I always think critically about what is going on in the world, but I might make assumptions or overgeneralizations. I will have more challenges in young adulthood, but I have come so far already, and nothing has stopped me. Nothing will stop me, because the challenges I will have to overcome can’t be any harder than what I’ve already done. I can’t measure how grateful I am for my parents and everyone who has supported me on my journey.
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.
