This guest post is by Giovanni Adu-Gyamfi, a young man on the autism spectrum who was diagnosed with autism at 4 years old and is attending The College of New Jersey. Giovanni 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. 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.
As someone with autism, specifically Asperger’s Syndrome, life has not always been easy for me. I have struggled with many different challenges, such as not being able to voice my opinions with a fear of always being wrong, having to rely on others to do simple tasks such as tying my shoes, and not asking for help when I know that I need it. But the biggest obstacle I have had as a person with autism that others without Asperger’s, or any form of autism, sometimes don’t have to face is my social aspect.
Now, someone with autism can at times find it hard to be socially aware of their surroundings, or even make and keep friends. They would usually veer off-topic from a conversation, not make any eye contact, and sometimes interrupt. I would constantly do this now and then, especially when I was younger. For example, if someone was talking to me about graduation, I would have said something completely different, like my favorite character from The Office. In addition, I would constantly isolate myself from a group and prefer to work alone, and then complain to my parents that I was not making any friends. They tried getting me different types of help; books, therapies, even telling me what was best. While I have now improved socially, it was a big problem in my youth.
I was diagnosed at age 4 with autism. It is barely noticeable now than it was at age 4. But at the time, I was very hyper, bouncing off the walls, talking to myself, repeating lines from TV shows, screaming, and running. Underneath the hyper four-year-old Giovanni was also a reserved and shy child. I would not want to talk to or play with other kids; I liked being alone. This was a concern among my parents and teachers, who knew I was not behaving normally.
The concern grew bigger as I moved from Old Bridge to Sayreville halfway into the fourth grade. This meant that I had to make new friends, get used to new customs, and go to a new school; everything was new to me. I did not like to change. Moving to a new town and school is a scary experience for just about anyone. You meet new people you have never seen; you get lost in your new school, but eventually, you get used to it and start making friends. That was exactly what I went through, but it took me much longer to settle in and have new friends. For starters, a lot of the students were not welcoming at all. They called me names and would always exclude me from their games and group projects. And I was afraid to speak up or get help, fearing that someone could get into trouble.
Despite facing these challenges earlier in my life, it doesn’t define me for who I am or put me down. Just because I have Asperger’s doesn’t mean I can’t do something. It just means I do it differently but get the same results. As a future researcher, I will not have whatever my challenges may be get in the way of my studies, or my career.
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.
