I apologize for being away for a while. You know about that desired change I wrote about. Well, a lot has happened during the past few months. It all started in February when a best friend called me about a job opportunity as a day porter paying $24 an hour with a corporate office company. Instead of working a scattered schedule and fighting to get more hours, I now work full-time with full benefits and a steady schedule. All I do is make coffee for scheduled conferences and all the break rooms, along with keeping track of the supplies. I work Monday through Friday 7-4 and having that as part of my routine feels great. The people that I work with are great too. Everyone talks to me and not to me. I also have the freedom to work on whatever task I need to without people asking me what I am doing unless they are being social with me. No one is pestering me. Also, my boss is great and easy to talk to. I no longer feel uneasy whenever my boss calls upon me. When she does it's mainly
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The Power of Acceptance
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First
of all, it's not easy for me to talk about autism. I feel vulnerable
whenever I talk about it, and I never know how someone may react to
it. Writing this blog, or my book even intimidates the hell out of
me. It took me a long time to get comfortable in my own skin. It's
not just learning that you have another disability up your butt, but
the biggest thing is excepting it for yourself, and doing the
research while dealing with discrimination, stereotypes, and overall
ignorance.
It's
kind of ironic since I lived with, and grew out of some health
conditions that can become life-threatening, and yet when I get
diagnosed with a social disorder is when people start telling me what
I am incapable of doing such as graduating high school with a
diploma or getting married. One thing that I have learned in life is
that for whatever reason people love to make people feel like crap
just because they most likely feel like crap themselves or they're
just that closed-minded, and I have a feeling that I would have to
face people like this regardless of my autism.
My
point is that if you do not accept it and learn about it and
yourself then you lose control of your life and give control to
people that want to hurt you, and have power over you. You won't be
able to live a full happy life.
Parents,
I know I'm poking the bear right now, but every parent wants their kid to be perfect, healthy, and able. I know this from watching my
parents raising me and my sister. It's clear that every parent wants
this for their kids, and it can be heartbreaking when they get diagnosed with a social disability. It becomes easy to believe those
who tell you what your kid is incapable of doing. Yes, it's true that
your kid wont be able to do certain things but that is for you and
your child to find out what that is, and how to work around it or
with it. Besides, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses in
general and It's just that when you are on the spectrum it's more
noticeable. I for one am not great at math, it's my kryptonite, but
I'm great at the arts, and have always been great at creating through
arts and crafts, and stories.
Not long ago I saw a video of a girl at her graduation who is
autistic with a speech impairment giving the valedictorian speech.
How
amazing is that!
My
point is you need to accept that your kid is different and what is
best for them and teach them that they are different and how they
are different so that they can learn for themselves how they can
strive for the best life that they can have. I wouldn't
have gotten far without my mother pushing me in the right direction.
She was the one that made sure that I got out of special-ed and
earned a high school diploma instead of a certificate of attendance.
Because of her, I was able to go out on my own, earn a bachelor's degree, get married, and become a photographer, business owner, and
writer.
Autism
is on a spectrum, so there are many differences, and what is best for
you and/or your kid won't be the same from person to person. Self-acceptance and research are probably the two most important and challenging steps you will have to face for yourself.
I am in the blue my sister is in the yellow. We both graduated with a bachelor's degree within days from one another.
The Girl in the Mirror Joe walks out of the house while her mother is screaming at her from inside the house. “You fucking dumb ass, how dare you burn my breakfast....That’s right you’d better leave, and don’t ever come back you retard...”. Joe, no longer fazed by her mother's berating, goes for a walk through town. With her dropping out of school her new routine became quite simple with spending about five hours in the library reading and then later on grabbing something to eat from the dinner. Unfazed by the people staring at her she continued on walking. On the other side of town, she comes across some abandoned houses. One of them is a plantation house that looked like it had been there the longest, possibly built in the 17th century based on the architecture. Intrigued, she attempts to go inside. At first, the door wouldn't budge. It was either jammed or locked but Joe had to give it one more push. This time she put her shoulder into it, knocking it right op
Change is inevitable it is also the one thing that a lot of Autistics don't like. A lot of people on the spectrum are routine-oriented. Whether we plan to be so or not. My grandmother would say, “Lena you are so predictable”; I would argue back, “No I'm not”. I hated being predictable. And didn't want to be so. But it was true. Whenever I went to visit her I would often go to the barn and back to the house like clockwork. To my defense I was bored. I didn't have much to do other than listen to music in the barn while cleaning the stalls and going back to get a drink and eat. But I loved being around horses so therefore I didn't care. For years I would say that the only thing that we would need to know about me is that I love reading books and being around horses. Give me a reading nook in a horse barn and I would be in heaven. You would never see me. I would gladly sit there reading to my horses. Unfortunately, I didn't always have a book with me, so I
Originally, I had planned to share stories about my trip. My trip was amazing, and it was wonderful to reunite with my family. I hope I don't have to wait another seven years to visit. Who knows how much time we have on this planet. This post does not directly discuss autism. If you're interested in learning about autism, please refer to my previous posts or find a reputable book on the subject. You can find a book recommendation in my previous post. Instead, I will discuss a close friend of mine. His name is Morgan Griffin. I met him during a shift, either during closing or opening... He worked overnight, so I would see him in the morning at 6 am as I arrived and he departed. This would also occur whenever I worked the closing shift in my department. Initially, we were aware of each other's presence but occupied with our individual tasks. As time passed, our responsibilities started to overlap, leading to increased communication between us. He stocked products on the
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