Never underestimate
Discrimination, just one of the many things that I have experienced throughout my life. It was not because my race, or the way I looked or dress, it was due to the fact that I had autism. The worst part being, that it mainly came from my own family. I had never told any friends of mine (who BTW don't have autism) or any students at my school period, but since my school knows of course, they would always give me a hard time in terms of my so called "disability." In reality, I'm smarter than most of the freshman kids in my school as I came out 22 out of 623 in the class rank. I achieved a 4.0gpa this semester, and no I don't have any special ed classes, they're all regular ed ones. I'm even in a honors class which even then I was still able to achieve an A, and also about five others. In fact, I was the first special ed student to ever make it to that class, as you need quite a few requirements from junior high (intermediate in my school). Sure, you guys might be thinking right now, that's great news to hear, but I don't want it to be that way. Just because I have this "disability" doesn't mean I can't achieve the above and beyond.
Lots of things have occurred throughout my life, some which I enjoyed, others, not so much. Autism had played a huge factor in determining how my life would turn out in the future. When I first found out that I had this disability, my mom told me that I wouldn't be able to do many things as other kids. Lots of people who knew that I had autism would tell my mom "since your son has autism, he's either going to be in a autistic care facility or living with you for the rest of his life." I didn't understand this because at the age of 8, I only had one goal: to be the best I could. As time progressed, so did I. I mainstreamed out of the special ed program after 1st grade and despite it being great news on my education, I thought of it being a great way of making new friends (at my elementary school, the special ed classes were separated from the regular ones). When I entered the new class though, my joyful thoughts quickly ebbed away as I got frightened of the new kids. Academically, I did great in that class, but socially, it was the worst. The kids bullied me probably because back then, my autism was really high in the terms that I would scream and run around often. When the school year ended, I told my mom how the kids inside the classroom didn't like me so I ended up moving schools. I was even more excited for the third grade as I kept saying that this time I was going to make new friends, but when I overheard my mom talking with someone, she said "I'm worried about my son for his first day tomorrow. Academically, he did pretty well as his teacher told me that he would do well, but he got bullied before and that's the reason why he got switched to this school, and it's because he has autism." I quickly panicked and I slowly walked away from her. I sat down at the sofa and I began to cry because even though I didn't really know what autism did to me, I now knew that it was my number one enemy and that if I wanted to make new friends, I had to not show any signs of me being autistic.
My first day of third grade went better than the second grade. I had my sister with me who was in the fifth grade back then and despite her being with me, I told her that I wouldn't hang out with her as I wanted to make new friends of my own. Luckily, I don't remember how I made them but I finally found a group of friends that hanged out with me and I would always have fun with them, and they didn't know that I had autism. Around five months passed through third grade and I did great in every singe way, until my first IEP meeting came around. I sat down with my RSP teacher and my other regular teacher as well as my mom. I heard them talking about me and setting up goals, but I quickly became uninterested afterwards. The next day I told my friends about the meeting and since I thought every student had this yearly meeting, I asked them if they were going to have one soon. One of my friends responded "only students with bad grades have these meetings, but you have good grades." Another friend asked "what was it all about?" I couldn't respond to that as I wasn't exactly sure so I decided to leave that behind. When I came home and told my mom the news, she said "they don't have IEP meetings because they don't have autism." Again, I became furious at this news so I decided to make up a goal from there on being to prove everyone wrong.
Nothing relevant occurred during the rest of third grade or the fourth grade, but the same kind of doubt occurred again towards the end of fifth grade. My next IEP was right around the corner and she was a nervous wreck on letting me go to the middle school. When the IEP came along, the RSP teacher told my mom "your son does outstanding in school, and he has non-autistic friends, he's going to do well." So a while passed and middle school came along. When I first entered my classes, I instantly made new friends and I couldn't be any happier. A random teacher came one day to my first period class, told the teacher something, then instantly said "can I please see - - outside please." I stood and went outside along with the teacher. The teacher then told me "hi, I am your RSP teacher." I asked "what is that?" She answered "since your special ed, you're going to need extra help in your classes." I instantly got angry at that as they were discriminating me, again although I didn't show a sign of anger within me. I got home, cried again, and that same day my first report card came in. I opened it up and I received a 2.83GPA. I got two C's, three B's, and one A. I thought to myself, I did alright but I could've done better. So I made yet another goal and this time it was to improve the C's that I had to B's. The next two quarters I received something great, a 3.5GPA, without the RSP help. The last quarter of the 6th grade came along and I got a shocking 3.83GPA. Despite this being fantastic, I wanted to aim for a 4.0GPA, so I decided to give it all I could. When the 7th grade came, I worked my butt off turning in homework on time, making my projects better than what they are supposed to be, and all that hard work paid off when I saw my first 4.0GPA. After that, I didn't get another 4.0GPA throughout the seventh grade, but I still did pretty good nonetheless. Something game changing occurred during the 8th grade, but I'll save that for another blog.
So, that's just a little about me. Currently, I have another set of friends since I stopped talking to my other ones (they don't know I have autism either) but their also supportive and smart like me. I will dedicate this blog mainly on showing a life like mine. I will also tell how autism has affected me throughout my life, what I have done to fix the errors. I will also tell a little on autism, show some statistics, and tell my story with other autistic kids. My goal here is to spread awareness on autism and how it doesn't affect the individuals lifestyle if you really try hard enough. If you know someone who has autism, or if you have autism, just know that people on the sprdemun might seem different, but we can also be as good as other non-autistic kids, maybe even more superior. Sure, my autism is on the lowest scale possible, but that doesn't mean that people treat me unfairly cause of my "disability." I am here to help these kids and make sure that they never get underestimated, cause they will surprise you.
Lastly, I will be doing weekly blogs so make sure to stay tuned once a week :)
Lots of things have occurred throughout my life, some which I enjoyed, others, not so much. Autism had played a huge factor in determining how my life would turn out in the future. When I first found out that I had this disability, my mom told me that I wouldn't be able to do many things as other kids. Lots of people who knew that I had autism would tell my mom "since your son has autism, he's either going to be in a autistic care facility or living with you for the rest of his life." I didn't understand this because at the age of 8, I only had one goal: to be the best I could. As time progressed, so did I. I mainstreamed out of the special ed program after 1st grade and despite it being great news on my education, I thought of it being a great way of making new friends (at my elementary school, the special ed classes were separated from the regular ones). When I entered the new class though, my joyful thoughts quickly ebbed away as I got frightened of the new kids. Academically, I did great in that class, but socially, it was the worst. The kids bullied me probably because back then, my autism was really high in the terms that I would scream and run around often. When the school year ended, I told my mom how the kids inside the classroom didn't like me so I ended up moving schools. I was even more excited for the third grade as I kept saying that this time I was going to make new friends, but when I overheard my mom talking with someone, she said "I'm worried about my son for his first day tomorrow. Academically, he did pretty well as his teacher told me that he would do well, but he got bullied before and that's the reason why he got switched to this school, and it's because he has autism." I quickly panicked and I slowly walked away from her. I sat down at the sofa and I began to cry because even though I didn't really know what autism did to me, I now knew that it was my number one enemy and that if I wanted to make new friends, I had to not show any signs of me being autistic.
My first day of third grade went better than the second grade. I had my sister with me who was in the fifth grade back then and despite her being with me, I told her that I wouldn't hang out with her as I wanted to make new friends of my own. Luckily, I don't remember how I made them but I finally found a group of friends that hanged out with me and I would always have fun with them, and they didn't know that I had autism. Around five months passed through third grade and I did great in every singe way, until my first IEP meeting came around. I sat down with my RSP teacher and my other regular teacher as well as my mom. I heard them talking about me and setting up goals, but I quickly became uninterested afterwards. The next day I told my friends about the meeting and since I thought every student had this yearly meeting, I asked them if they were going to have one soon. One of my friends responded "only students with bad grades have these meetings, but you have good grades." Another friend asked "what was it all about?" I couldn't respond to that as I wasn't exactly sure so I decided to leave that behind. When I came home and told my mom the news, she said "they don't have IEP meetings because they don't have autism." Again, I became furious at this news so I decided to make up a goal from there on being to prove everyone wrong.
Nothing relevant occurred during the rest of third grade or the fourth grade, but the same kind of doubt occurred again towards the end of fifth grade. My next IEP was right around the corner and she was a nervous wreck on letting me go to the middle school. When the IEP came along, the RSP teacher told my mom "your son does outstanding in school, and he has non-autistic friends, he's going to do well." So a while passed and middle school came along. When I first entered my classes, I instantly made new friends and I couldn't be any happier. A random teacher came one day to my first period class, told the teacher something, then instantly said "can I please see - - outside please." I stood and went outside along with the teacher. The teacher then told me "hi, I am your RSP teacher." I asked "what is that?" She answered "since your special ed, you're going to need extra help in your classes." I instantly got angry at that as they were discriminating me, again although I didn't show a sign of anger within me. I got home, cried again, and that same day my first report card came in. I opened it up and I received a 2.83GPA. I got two C's, three B's, and one A. I thought to myself, I did alright but I could've done better. So I made yet another goal and this time it was to improve the C's that I had to B's. The next two quarters I received something great, a 3.5GPA, without the RSP help. The last quarter of the 6th grade came along and I got a shocking 3.83GPA. Despite this being fantastic, I wanted to aim for a 4.0GPA, so I decided to give it all I could. When the 7th grade came, I worked my butt off turning in homework on time, making my projects better than what they are supposed to be, and all that hard work paid off when I saw my first 4.0GPA. After that, I didn't get another 4.0GPA throughout the seventh grade, but I still did pretty good nonetheless. Something game changing occurred during the 8th grade, but I'll save that for another blog.
So, that's just a little about me. Currently, I have another set of friends since I stopped talking to my other ones (they don't know I have autism either) but their also supportive and smart like me. I will dedicate this blog mainly on showing a life like mine. I will also tell how autism has affected me throughout my life, what I have done to fix the errors. I will also tell a little on autism, show some statistics, and tell my story with other autistic kids. My goal here is to spread awareness on autism and how it doesn't affect the individuals lifestyle if you really try hard enough. If you know someone who has autism, or if you have autism, just know that people on the sprdemun might seem different, but we can also be as good as other non-autistic kids, maybe even more superior. Sure, my autism is on the lowest scale possible, but that doesn't mean that people treat me unfairly cause of my "disability." I am here to help these kids and make sure that they never get underestimated, cause they will surprise you.
Lastly, I will be doing weekly blogs so make sure to stay tuned once a week :)
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