This guest post is by Courtney Roberts, a young woman who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 16 and has been accepted into Spelman College. Courtney 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 have a stigmatism and autism. Although those two conditions are entirely unrelated, I often think about how my understanding of them has shaped my learning journey and life experiences so far. I have worn glasses since kindergarten. Before then, I had no idea that many people literally saw the world differently than me. As a young child, I was blissfully ignorant of any deficiency in my eyesight and took the world at face value. Although my parents have always done everything they could to support me, even they were unaware of my vision issues until I was first old enough to recognize letters and eventually, recognize that they were more blurry than they should have been. However, after my first eye test at around five years old, a pair of sparkly red glasses instantly fixed my problem. Now, vision is only an issue when I leave my glasses on my dresser or on top of my head. An optometry appointment once a year is all that’s required to stay ahead of any issues. Autism is different. Having been recently diagnosed with level 1 autism, I went most of my life unaware of what was different about me. From a young age, I was unaware that my social interaction, communication and cognitive functions were different because I only had my own frame of reference. Autism is difficult to diagnose because it truly is a spectrum and shows up in different ways, at different ages for different people, For those reasons, my social and education challenges were often ignored or attributed to other causes. Still, my parents, teachers and supporters tried their best to provide me with resources to succeed despite not fully understanding what I was going through. I made the best of the help I was given and used all the tools available to me to strive for success.
One of the most devastating obstacles I have had to overcome was intense bullying because of what I know understand is autism. Common autism signs like social awkwardness and communication issues too often make autistic people easy targets for bullying. Bullying for an autistic person is particularly difficult because many autistic people lack the necessary communication skills to stand up for themselves or to seek help. Well before my autism diagnosis, I realized that in order to overcome certain obstacles, I had to approach life more intentionally than others. For me, this meant putting significant effort into raising my level of self-awareness. It takes a lot of effort and tons of patience to slow down and recognize that the way I communicate and respond to situations may differ greatly from the way my communication and responses might be perceived by others. In addition, it takes a great deal of grace to understand the way I process information makes sense to me but might not to others. I’ve been able to overcome bullying because of my autism by making the very intentional decision to take the time to better understand myself. Understanding my uniqueness and the potential I have inside of me has been invaluable. Knowing my value hasn’t eliminated bullying but it has lessened the impact on me and helped me respond in positive ways. On the other hand, learning to speak up for myself requires a great deal of courage. As I learn more about my courageous self I can better relate to my peers, adults and community. Recognizing harassment and bigotry has had the unexpected effect of makes my voice even more confident.
Another obstacle I have overcome has been bridging the learning gaps attributed to my autism. Because I learn differently, I have had to fight stigmas and traditional learning paradigms to achieve my educational goals. Finding coaches, mentors and advocates who believe in me as much as I believe in myself has been a difficult but rewarding task. Often, I have had to teach my tutors and teachers how best to help me learn. Understanding and explaining how I learn has had the reciprocal effect of making me a better student. I may have needed a little extra time on assignments or something explained in a different way, but I have demonstrated an ability to perform to my maximum potential and did everything with an expectation of excellence. I am proud that in one of the most academically rigorous school districts in the nation, I have earned a 3.82 weighted cumulative G.P.A. and a top ACT score in the nation.
There is no simple fix for autism like a pair of glasses for bad eyesight. It has taken a lot of self-reflection and patience to understand what success looks like in social situations and in the classroom. I am proud of what I have accomplished and hopeful that I will continue to turn what some may see as weaknesses into amazing strengths.
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.
