The Autistic Blogger

    Throughout the many discrimination comments that I have received in the past 14 years or so, their has been lots of comments that I still remember to this day. "He will never succeed", "what causes autism", "autism means retarded, right?" And the comment that I have personally received from my aunts and uncles in which you guys know I hate so much "you don't belong in this world" and "now I know what they mean by autism speaks" (fun fact about me, I don't like autism speaks, I feel like they aren't doing a good job of spreading awareness as they are in making money). Their is one comment in particular though that I have received from many people who have met me, some who are new to the autism community, and others, like regional center workers who have had training experience in the autism community, to my own family. That comment is "you don't look autistic." That comment surely doesn't make me feel mo...

    Meltdowns, struggles in communication, and various types of regressions are common among the autism community. Those are the type of areas that people tend to observe the most, since it's very common. However, their are many more traits out there. When I was younger, they only told my mom the main areas of autism, so many 'odd' things that I did that they didn't mention to her seemed like a bad thing to her, and I would be punished as a result. My cousin is in the same boat as well, as his mom would call these smaller traits 'oddities' and would tell him to stop them. I never knew that these uncommon traits were a part of me, so when I finally found out, I was relieved to know that I wasn't being "rude" or "disobedient" or "lazy" (basically any type of discrimination people would bash at someone autistic), it was a part of me. In today's blog, I'm going to disclose some autistic traits of mine that aren't very co...

    School is a very important aspect of my life in various ways. I met my best friends that I hang out with in the 9th grade. I'm excelling in every academic class I'm currently taking, not to mention I'm in the top of my class year. I've also been involved in various clubs, community service events, and other school activities that benefit me and the community since 6th grade. Of course, none of this wouldn't have happened without mainstreaming out of special education in 1st grade, 2nd grade being my first year in regular education. Since I didn't have any academic regressions (when the doctors found out about my disability and they tested me, they told me mom it wouldn't be surprising if I had to repeat a grade or two, or maybe even three, of course that was proven to be wrong by a long shot), I benefited greatly from regular education, since in special education (at least in my district), they would focus with both academics and other difficulties that ...

    "Having anxiety is no laughing matter" is what I say to people. This is one of my symptoms that I'm not actually ashamed of revealing to others, just because it's not as bad as telling others that I have autism or ADHD or a depression disorder. The panic attacks that I get sometimes (probably once a month or so, depends entirely on many factors, not on me (I'll explain later) are terrible, especially when their are people observing me breaking down. Feeling nervous about things I shouldn't be nervous about is also something I have to go through everyday, and these symptoms don't necessarily hinder my ability to continue my life, but rather it challenges that ability, as I have to make sure that certain things don't get me anxious or certain people push me through that limit (also more on that later). I'm going as far as saying that having anxiety is way worst than having autism (in my case) because I definitely rather go through thunderstorms (...

    For many people, it's hand-flapping, or repeated noises and sounds, or a certain thing that they desire to do often, for my cousin, it's creating clicking sounds with his mouth, for me it's fidgeting around with things in my fingers. Stimming is very common among the Autism community, as everyone is known to stim in some way. Stimming, or self-stimulatory behavior is basically repeating a certain action over and over for a very long time. People on the spectrum, like me, do it to concentrate on things that were supposed to be doing, such as paying attention in class or doing homework. Others do it without even knowing that they're doing it, like my cousin. A while back when I heard him doing some clicking sounds with his mouth in a fast-food restaurant, I asked him why he was doing it louder than normal (yes I notice the little details of many things), and he answered me like if he just came back like some sort of a different universe "what?" I asked again...

    For those of you that don't know, being on the spectrum really only affects me in two main areas: trying new foods and being afraid of certain sounds. I'm going to focus on the latter part for this blog. I'm only really afraid of one certain type of sound, thunder. It used to be fireworks as well, but you guys probably remember how I overcame that (read my previous blogs if you don't). I don't know why I'm afraid of thunder, because I know it won't harm me in any way, but whenever a thunderstorm pops out, I can't help it but covering my ears to mask the feeling of pain and torture. It isn't too bad only because there's rarely thunderstorms in my area (especially after California got into a drought), but whenever a thunderstorm does come, I like to plan ahead. If I have free time during the day of a thunderstorm, I like to head to a nearby mall (not too nearby but you get the point). It's really loud in there from many people talking so it...

    When you're out and about in the community, there's now a 15% higher chance of finding someone with autism. Last week, a graph was unveiled to the public which stated that the ratio of individuals with autism, versus the individuals that aren't is now standing at 1 to 59. This community is slowing growing, so it's really important now that more people play a role in learning more about the disability itself, at the very least. From experience, it would be way better for a community in which everyone understands why you're different, and being accepted. Society is not great at all currently, and with these rates increasing, now would be a good time to make a change, for my sake, and everyone else's. People say that being 1 in 59 is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. Hearing it from my family, kids, even parents of children with autism, I now understand that that's not the case. It simply means, we're going to experience the world a little diff...