This guest post is by Oak Jarboe, a young individual who was diagnosed with autism at 17 and plans to attend the University of Southern Indiana. Oak 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.
I was diagnosed with ASD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, this past year. I struggle to make eye contact, being in groups, being alone, physical touch, emotions, and more, but especially communication. Nonverbal social cues like tone and body language are nearly impossible to decipher. When it comes to any form of social situation, I will struggle immensely, unless it is linked to something I am very passionate about – which isn’t very often.
My whole life, I have struggled with friendships, never really fitting in anywhere; I would think I had friends but they would leave in seconds. It seems I was dispensable to every one of my peers because I was not very accepted outside of an educational perspective. I found literature at a very young age, and simultaneously found my method of communicating. It was not a way to talk to actual people, but a way to talk to myself and release emotion in a way that wouldn’t get me in trouble.
So, I found my place in novels. I was a part of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire but also found home in District 12 with Katniss and Peeta. They taught me how systems weren’t meant to help people like me, and I had to help myself; they taught me how to mask my disorder so I wouldn’t get hurt. Tris and Four taught me how to use my differences to get ahead in life, I could find secret advantages and paths through my brain to function “normally”.
Flash forward a couple of years, when I read Percy Jackson and they made me accept myself as I am, it was a rude awakening. My whole life I had hidden myself from the world. Bottling up every little stim, tick, and autistic trait you can think of just because I was taught very young that different was bad, and I was different. These books taught me that what makes me different makes me strong. Demigods have ADHD because their brains were wired for battle and Dyslexia because they were meant to read ancient Greek. I was crafted the way I was for a reason, just like they were. I was never broken, my pieces didn’t need to be picked up. All because these books hold me together enough until I can find the glue (which I have yet to do).
I hope deep down that when I get out of high school I can somehow make a difference like this. I want to be able to help in some way, give some form of sign that someone is there for you, like these books did for me. I want to make sure no one feels alone on this planet with 8 billion people and even more animals. Everyone deserves a friend, even if they aren’t real, so I hope I can give them one. I found a home in the Reptile Room, Panem, Abnegation,and Camp Half-Blood. My book obsession has yet to die down, it continues to grow as we speak – finding homes in different worlds has become a part of my character (pun intended). I live vicariously through the characters and as a result, I gain a piece of them. A life lesson, a character development, whatever you want to consider it. I cope through flipping the page, as the words bleed together they paint a picture and I am in the literature. My life has been and will continue to be a novel.
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.
