My Appreciation For Individuality

Sometimes I do things that might seem out-of-the ordinary for most. Sometimes I can be over-excited or loud. But I think (because I've heard this over and over), that one of the biggest reasons why I am well-liked and well-known is because I'm not afraid of what other people think of me and I'm open about what I pursue and when I want something, I pursue after it. I'm also an authentic individual- I'm normally not going to tip-toe around things or tell people what they want to hear if it's not the truth. I think sometimes people can't tell that I have autism unless they know what to look for, however, I think that because autism is so individualistic, everyone who has autism is an individualist. I've come to appreciate the various friends that I know with autism well for the things they have taught me- everything from true love and acceptance of all to having energy to having road-map like conversations to touching peoples lives to social cues being hard but doable in many different things. And people with autism have varying careers of varying degrees of difficulty. Not to discount Temple Grandin, but this is slowly becoming the exception for college-based people with autism rather than the norm. The majority I have met have dreams of helping their fellow people with autism and doing so by majoring in Psychology, Disability Studies, Communications, Art, Anthropology, and so on. These things were less possible ten years ago, now they are common. And I think that life would be so boring if there weren't individualism in the autism community. I am more than sure that someday more people with autism, even more than now, will be able to get a great education and go to college. And when that continues to happen, I will be yet another amazing advocate that can mentor even more of them and create a safe place for their parents and support system. That's one more reason why I'm looked up to and can look up to individualism, whether people have autism or not.