This guest post is by Angelo Cangero, a young man with autism who attends Adelphi University. Angelo 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.
There are many obstacles holding back people with Autism. However these obstacles change with the stages of life. In the beginning it is language and basic play skills. It can be sensory overload and picky eating. Currently as a teen in High School, I believe finding a place in the “Social World” is the biggest challenge. Many of us are self isolating. It’s not as if we want to, we just don’t fit in and we know it. It hurts and that is a hard pill to swallow. We want to be accepted. We want to be included. We want friends and connections.
This is a daily struggle. When attempts are made and all you get is rejection you become stressed and depressed. I myself continue to make these attempts and am still struggling. With help from counselors and other professionals there is hope. Hope of finally making true and lasting connections. Hope of finally not being rejected and hope of fitting in the “Social World”.
Obstacles faced during the teen years I believe are the most difficult. Facing the upcoming transition to college life is an obstacle that can also be overcome with help and hope. Neurodiverse individuals facing challenges with executive functioning skills need help. These skills are needed for all of us. Whether you are moving on to college or not, it is integral for us to have these skills. There are many aspects of executive function which include, planning, problem solving, working memory, attention, reasoning, initiation, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and monitoring.
I myself will become a college freshman this fall. My hope is to successfully obtain a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. The college I will be attending has a program for students on the autism spectrum. This program “Bridges to Adelphi” offers one-to-one academic, social and vocational support services. The Bridges program also promotes awareness and understanding of neurodivergence throughout the campus community, through education, training, and collaboration with University faculty, staff and students.
While college is supposed to be an exciting and transformative time, for students like us it is a scary step into the unknown.
With help from support staff in areas including academic coaching, learning assistance, problem solving guidance, peer mentoring and time management there is hope that this experience will not be overwhelming.
My hope is that with social coaching we can fine tune my interpersonal skills, strengthen social relationships and raise my social intelligence. After all, the goal is to make friends, right?
For many typical people, making friends is easy. For those of us lacking the necessary skills it is not. That is why we need help. I am tired of being alone. I don’t want to self isolate any longer. Life thus far has been hard enough.
I don’t know about you but I want to be successful in all aspects of life. So with help and hope there is nothing holding us back. So to sum it up where there is help there is hope for us all.
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.
