This guest post is by Jackson Fougeron, a young man on the autism spectrum who was diagnosed with autism at age 22 and has been accepted into Florida Atlantic University. Jackson 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, will be released on March 29, 2022 on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults.
When I was three and half years old, I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD). I was placed in the High-Functioning category. I have fleeting memories of goingthrough behavioral therapy, speech therapy, and sensory therapy that my doctor prescribed. Iremember going through many prescription medications with the constant puzzled thoughts asto why I had to swallow these little oval beads daily. Those puzzled thoughts wouldsoon become my greatest insecurity.
As I grew older, I noticed that my social skills weren’t on par with the other kids. I feltchained down from my own insecurity desiring normality, something impossible to seize. Theconstant blabbering and bullying towards autism from other kids was another intrusion I had tolive with, even though almost all were oblivious of my “condition”, and I kept quiet.Whenever I was overwhelmed by the guilt of failure in elementary school, I would run outof the classroom because I didn’t know how to cope with this dreadful downward spiral spawnedby expectations for perfection by my cognition. As I only focused on the insecurity and the cruelworldview side of autism, I lost confidence in myself. Needing an escape from reality I filled myfree time with fantasy books, drawings, and video games. Too often my insecurity would takecontrol of my mindset, viewing myself as a mistake; however, my parents would assure me thatI’m not a mistake and they will always love and support me.I soon established a determination towards improving myself. I worked vigorouslywanting to prove to myself that I could be someone that’s not just titled by the masses. The taskwas rigid as I had to realize my major flaw of giving up too easily with my constant self-doubt. Istarted to get comfortable being uncomfortable and embraced a level of discomfort in my life. Ibegan acknowledging the situation, embracing failure, building a network, recognizingaccomplishment, placing myself in many uncomfortable trials, slowly, but surely improving myoverall self to grow and learn. I began making the effort to talk to strangers morewithout being completely uncomfortable, making constant A’s and B’s, and even being openabout my ASD to my closest friends. I became more and more comfortable in my own skin andmore independent and confident with my choices in life.I joined the school band at the start of middle school to dip my toes in new experiences.It was one of the best decisions I made, even now in high school. Not only was it a way for meto pick up a love for music, but it helped me to be more expressive towards others and evenrelate to some students who had other disorders. I learned that nothing is normal, it’s just a wordpicturing what people are familiar with, meaning no one is normal. We are all abnormal. My experiences and determination opened my eyes to see that being normal would be boring and would stifle opinions, creativity, and growth.
As I entered my senior year, I found myself very nervous about entering the whole college experience. While part of me wasn’t ready to grow up, my biggest challenge was the fact that I wasn’t 100% certain of the career path I wanted to pursue. However, as I’ve learned to adapt to my condition over the last decade, I see now that my academic interests have been predated since my early days of seeing a child psychologist to cope with my disorder. While I was on the high functioning end of the spectrum, I often struggled in many social settings and my parents believed seeing a psychologist would be beneficial. As a young teen, I felt forced to get treatment and was not motivated in being probed by anyone. But that quickly changed after my first meeting with my psychologist. She was very positive and treated me more as an equal than a patient. She reassured me of my abilities to overcome any obstacle and helped me improve my confidence. Her approach was comforting, and this experience was the catalyst for me to follow in her footsteps and major in child psychology to help make a difference to other students with ASD.
With this newfound direction, I look to my college experience as more than simply obtaining a degree, but an opportunity to challenge myself and help me grow as a person. Ultimately, I’m ready for the opportunity to acquire new skills and more importantly, learn more about myself and what I can accomplish as an individual.In summary, I’ve realized that there are two ways to go through life; walk away from something or run towards it with the best of my ability. The discontent of my disability could have easily driven me off my path. I often look back at my childhood and early experience with autism not as sign of weakness or self-pity, but as a journey that has made me stronger and more prepared for the world. I have learned that only with confidence and a clear vision can we all find the inspiration to set ourselves on a path towards something greater. While the journey of life is filled with setbacks, disappointments, and uncertainty, these are the lessons that are needed to make us stronger. I’m confident that my perseverance will carry me through my journey, and I intend to run towards every challenge of life to be successful.
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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 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, will be 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.
