This guest post is by James Russell Phillips, a young man on the autism spectrum who was accepted into Texas State University. James 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.
I hope you can support my nonprofit like I’m trying to support these students with scholarship aid for college. Learn more on how you can help our cause with a small donation (just asking for $3 today, equal to your daily cup of coffee) here.
Autism and ADHD are two of the most unique and misunderstood disabilities on planet Earth. Autism is different in everybody who has it — it can range wildly from mild social awkwardness to extreme intellectual disabilities. ADHD, while remaining fairly standard in its effects, varies in severity from person to person. This pertains to me, because I am a person with both autism and ADHD. But despite all of the challenges caused by these two conditions, I have become a prominent figure in my high school community and an accomplished academic student.
People on the autism spectrum often have a great deal of trouble engaging in social interaction with “neurotypicals” (people without autism, ADHD, or associated conditions). Even though there is no perfect human representation of a stereotype in the real world, many autistics would still most likely fit under the archetype of an “introverted socially awkward nerd.” I too would fall under this archetype if it were not for an extremely ironic and unusual twist: I am a socially awkward extrovert. Unfortunately, this combination marked me as an early target for bullying. The bullying got so bad that my parents nearly considered pulling me from school, and I was half-convinced that I would never have any friends. Thankfully, I am not the type to give in when I face a challenge.
One of my defining traits is my immense determination, and that was what allowed me to break free of the bullying cycle. I started to make mental notes of people and social encounters; I broke down my conversations to figure out what things I said triggered a bad reaction, and what things triggered a good reaction. Every single conversation I had helped train me in social awareness. By the end of junior high, I had become much more socially adept than ever before, and I had met two of my closest lifelong friends.
Then high school came, and to my complete shock, my popularity skyrocketed. I had, without knowing, developed my own unique charm that combined intelligence and dry wit. This charm combined with my extroverted nature resulted in me becoming known throughout my entire school. The best part, however, is that my autism has become accepted by everyone around me. My relentless determination to improve myself allowed me to overcome my natural social awkwardness and become an accepted and major part of my high school community.
My ADHD also caused great challenges for me but in the realm of academics. ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which is exactly what it sounds like. I can very quickly lose focus on schoolwork or other things that bore me and spend hours procrastinating my work. During my freshman year of high school, my lack of focus caused me to regularly turn in homework late, start studying for quizzes only a few minutes before they started, and eventually go from a straight-A student to making B’s. There was, thankfully, one class that held my attention: AP Human Geography. That class helped me understand my great passion for social studies and the humanities, which provided me with the motivation to overcome my ADHD.
I soon applied the work ethic I had in social studies to my other classes, and by sophomore year I was once again getting A’s in nearly everything. History soon became the subject in which I achieved some of my greatest success in spite of my hyper-activity; I was able to overcome my ADHD by buckling down and focusing on the subjects that are my true passion.
Autism and ADHD have caused me to face great challenges in my life. However, my autism and ADHD have made me into a stronger person—the challenges I overcame gave me the strength to do incredible things. There are still struggles I face; I don’t like being touched randomly, and sometimes if there is too much noise I start to panic, but I know I can overcome those problems just like I have overcome so much else in my life.
Autism and ADHD have made me into a person who can both survive and thrive, no matter what life throws my way.
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 that started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue a 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.
