This guest post is by Addyson Soderquist, a young woman on the autism spectrum who was diagnosed with ASD and is applying to Texas A&M University. Addyson 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.
My name is Addyson, but my friends call me Addy. I’m an only child, growing up in East Texas. My parents are both educators, and we’ve been blessed to be in the same high school (learning and working) for the last four years. Without them by my side, this certainly would have probably been a lot more difficult. Having them to lean on, at home and school, helped me to transition into my new thinking and label, quickly. You see, in September 2020, I was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum. And, what people might assume was terrifying, for me (with the help of my parents), just made things make sense. This is my story.
As a child, I was quiet (absolutely verbal, but choosing with my words and emotions). I played, but to me, that often meant sorting, lining up my animals by size, or having my Barbies repeat and relive what had happened during my day. At four years old, my mom took a bag of toys to my check-up at the pediatrician and told him she believed I was autistic. The criteria at that time didn’t differ much for girls and boys and were not as understood, and he dismissed her and said maybe OCD…Fast forward to my school years. My parents (remember, both educators), couldn’t put their finger on what it was, just that there was always a bit of a flag that something was different. I got good grades and was more than compliant. NEVER in trouble…rule follower by nature. I was always polite and quiet in class. Still, there were things like I would become exhausted as a middle schooler and need to stay home to recover for the day. I needed breaks from the noise and drama (I’ve never liked drama). It wasn’t social anxiety, it was just exhausting. I made friends easily, as I was accepting of all walks of life. My most stress came from mean girls, offering judgmental gossip…those that talk a lot about nothing in particular, just to stir things. I still don’t understand those people. Regardless, I moved along through middle school to begin my freshman year of high school. Then, enter the pandemic.
I had started my 9th-grade year as a member of the drill team. For spring break, we traveled as a team to Disney World in Florida. We returned to Texas, but not to school. That was the end of my freshman year in the building. All other learning was online. My whole world and routines changed overnight. Little did I know it at the time, but those routines were more important to me than I realized. At this point, strange things started happening to me. By mid-April, I was having bigger sensory issues (although we didn’t immediately recognize them as that). The feeling of damp hair on my shoulders after my shower would send me into a meltdown of sorts. I had previously struggled with things like brushing my ponytail and making sure there were absolutely no lumps, but this was different. Later, in June, my family decided we needed a break. We took a road trip to the beach. I LOVE the beach. I love the sunshine and water, and warm air. It has always been one of my favorite places. But, much to my surprise, I would find out that this time was different. This time, the coarse sand stuck to my damp leg and the feeling almost brought me to tears. It was that day that I told my dad something was wrong. I needed help figuring out what it was.
When we returned from the trip, we started looking into talking to the doctor. The pediatrician sent us for some testing and to a new clinic. I started talking to a counselor and psychologist. A few months later, as I sat in the visit, the new doctor handed my mom a page with indicators and descriptions on it for autism. She asked my mom if she had witnessed me experience any of the things on that page. With wide eyes, my mom answered yes to every single one of them, except for repetitive movements. When she said it out loud, not knowing what the paper was for that my mom had been handed, I asked if repetitive movements meant the urge to like an Instagram post an odd number of times repeatedly. Needless to say, that opened the door for conversation, and right there and then, I had the biggest ah-ha moment. Had it not been for getting so far off of my normal routines during the pandemic, this might not have surfaced until I moved away for college.
From there, I participated in an autism study for teens, including group therapy. I learned so much about myself. Of course, I knew some of the things I did were not common to others, but I didn’t know why. Now that I had the why though, I was able to predict feelings of anxiety, prevent social burnout, use my skills like masking to my advantage, and more. And, I want to note that here…not all of the qualities of autism are by any means bad. Most of them are pure and good and can be honed to use positively. That is the message I want to leave others with, especially teenage girls that might just be starting their journey on the spectrum. Embrace your superpowers and your uniqueness. Don’t be afraid of a label or what society thinks that label means. Learn for yourself and educate those around you. We all have individual gifts to offer this world. Maybe my gifts are packaged in a way I didn’t expect, but they are still gifts with a purpose.
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 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, 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 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.
