So to get a little more personal, National Autism Day holds an extremely significant meaning in my life. In February 2007 as a 21 year old young adult, I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome which is on the autism spectrum. The tall and short of it is that I struggle with how I socially interact with people. I will not understand people's jokes, but make it look like I do. I can say things that don't go within the conversation. I miss the majority of social cues when interacting with people. Another things that I do that is categorized under the Asperger's Syndrome symptoms is talk in a really loud voice and not know it, only wear certain color patterns, eat my food a certain way all the time, don't mind playing by myself, put things in a certain order like having my music CDs and movie DVDs in alphabetical order, excel in mathematics and statistics, craved friendships and relationships to the point of obsession and done many other different things to the extreme with no balance. I was so glad when I found out I had Asperger's because I knew I was different then lots of other people, but didn't know their was an actually name to it until I was diagnosed. I was never in denial about it, just always knew I was unique. Like I said before Asperger's Syndrome is on the autism spectrum. There are people that can't function at all or those like me who are considered high functioning. Those considered high functioning can do lots of things independently like live on their own, hold down a job and so forth.
So it has now been just over 8 years since my diagnoses, so how has my life changed? My life has changed a lot. I have a whole knew perspective on how I relate to others. I was able to get some counseling which helped out a lot. Also I slow down on think about what I say before I say it or I take criticism better than I did before. I want people to hold me accountable for my actions. I still do the eating food weirdly, wearing the same color of clothes, having things alphabetized, still love numbers and statistics and try to keep my voice down, but the loudness does come back sometimes, and the most important thing is that I don't crave friendships or relationships that once wanted. I am grateful for the ones that I have and have learned to balance them out. Like anybody else, I still fail at the little things and try to learn new things every day.
So that is why April 2nd, National Autism Day is significant to me. I hope you all learned a little bit about what Autism is. I know this is really brief but hopefully it sparks some interest. Just remember that God makes everybody uniquely and has a plan and purpose for all.
T~Money
