This guest post is by Alexa Penix, a young woman who was diagnosed with autism at 10 years old and has been accepted into Capital University. Alexa 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.
It was a warm August afternoon, I adjusted my wig, straightened my fit and gave one last glance in the side view mirror before stepping out of the car. I put one foot in front of the other and with eager anticipation I made my way to the Columbus Convention Center for Matsuricon 2022. Two years in the making, after a Covid hiatus, I am steps away from rejoining my tribe, my fellow Cosplayers. It’s the annual anime convention, the place where I, a 16-year-old autistic girl feel accepted and fit in among my peers.
Today 1 in 44 children in the United States is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), roughly 3.5 million Americans. I am one of them. I received speech therapy and accommodations throughout my school career. I not only have an ASD diagnosis, but I also with suffer anxiety and depression. I was bullied, ostracized for being different and sometimes questioned by teachers if my diagnosis was even valid. I tried public school, online school, private school and finally a career tech school just to survive my formal education years.
Since I’ve always been socially awkward, in my spare time, I gravitated towards anime books to escape my reality and that is where I found myself. These characters are unique like me, often misunderstood and just longing to fit in with those around them. My love of anime led me to others who shared my special interest and I finally developed true friendships. As time went on, those friends led me to cosplaying. As an artist and theatre kid who worked in a costume crew, the idea of creating my own costume to match the character I wanted to portray intrigued me and so it began.
I started designing my own cosplays through thrifting and frequent trips to Joann Fabrics, even scouring Amazon for hours to find cheap matching wigs and accessories. I plan my convention cosplays months in advance, sometimes even packing two for a mid-day costume and character change. I love it. Through these weekends, I get to not only portray my talents and gifts in costuming while being praised with accolades, but I get the chance to socialize with others just like me and make friends. I’ve learned through these conventions that it’s ok to be myself, quirkiness, and all. There are people out there who feel the same way as I, people just longing to find like-minded people to share life with. Anime and Cosplay conventions are those places for me, a place where my disability doesn’t matter.
Another way I want to prove my disability will not hold me back is in college. National statistics confirm that only 38.8% of college students with Autism will graduate . I want to be one of them. This spring, I will graduate a year early from high school, just weeks after my 17th birthday. In the fall, I plan to start taking college classes and majoring in audio, film, video, and animation. I want to take my love of anime to the next level and start creating my own originals for others to enjoy. I want people to know that my autism, anxiety and depression are not a limitation, but a springboard to success. It just means I’m differently abled. I want my future career to stand as an example to those like me, with or without disabilities, that have so much to offer this world, but have maybe been overlooked because our interests are a little bit different from the norm. I want folks to know that it’s ok to be different and you can still fit in with your peers, you just have to find your tribe.
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.
