This guest post is by Riley Moffat a young woman on the autism spectrum who was diagnosed with ASD at age 4 and will be attending Houghton University. Riley 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 born with Persuasive Developmental Disorder – not otherwise specified. I have often been alone, with small exceptions of small talk or hanging out with friends. I went from being unable to button up or snap together my clothes to doing it as a joke, and I went from parrot talk (“Do you wanna drink?” would mean “Can I have a drink?) to talking like a normal person. I also went from a girl struggling with a bad cognitive mindset to a really smart girl who has the ability to succeed. I went from a girl who cried a lot to a girl who most often doesn’t cry.
One thing I struggled with growing up autistic was talking to people and classmates. When I was in high school, I often kept to myself. I still struggle with this. I like to be on my phone (except at meals) and talk to myself, repeating what other people or characters say. I mostly like to hang out in my dorm at college. I often don’t like calling people or texting them. I sit with people during meals, and I say a couple of words to them. When I was in school, I would often play by myself, whether it is blocks or toys in elementary, or Yahtzee in high school. My mom has been telling me that I need friends instead of loneliness. “The Lord God said. ‘It is not good for the man to be alone.’” (Genesis 2:18a NIRV)
Another thing that I struggled with was melting down, which diminished in the eighth grade. I would melt down in whenever nothing went my way. The seventh grade was when I started getting in trouble for it. My parents told me it was babyish. And it was because I was crying about ridiculous things. I would lose my phone that I got for my 13th birthday because of it. When I got it, my dad said that I could get it taken away as quickly as I got it. His biggest rule that connects to this is that “the age goes up, the stakes go up,” meaning I had to earn my right to keep my phone. Of course, I wasn’t grounded the day I got it or on my birthday. My dad told me one of the lessons I have learned and still need to learn: When in doubt, don’t melt out.
My greatest accomplishment comes from my junior and senior years of high school. When I was a junior, I took two college courses in Math and History. In my senior year, I also took two college courses in English and Public Speaking. My school gave me the opportunity to do so. Last semester, I was a freshman in college, and I didn’t expect to become a sophomore in the spring if I passed all of my former classes, as I did. From my junior and senior years of high school, I got enough credits to be bumped up a grade after the New Year. I thank God for my success, and I know it wasn’t me alone. It was with the help of God who gave me a great mind to store plenty of knowledge. “‘For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 AMP)
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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, 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.
