Living Life With Autism
Carleen Brandenburg
Throughout
my elementary school years and part of my middle school years, I wondered why I
was different and why I did the weird things that I did. I knew that I wasn't
like any of my classmates, and that made it a bit more difficult to make
friends. My mom took me to various doctors because the schools I went to wanted
her to get an opinion on what was different with me. In eighth grade, my mom
found out that I had a mild case of Aspergers syndrome. “Asperger’s syndrome,
also called Asperger’s disorder, is a type of pervasive developmental disorder
(PDD). PDDs are a group of conditions that involve delays in the development of
many basic skills, most notably the ability to socialize with others, to
communicate, and to use imagination.” (WebMD, n.d.). When she was given the
diagnoses, which was confirmed by more than one doctor, she told me. This made
a little more sense, but I had to figure out how I would cope with being
Autistic. Although I'm diagnosed with a 'disorder', I have my positives as well
as my negatives.
My
social life is different because I can't figure out and live by different
social cues, since I have Aspergers. People with Autism may have some difficulties
understanding others’ point of views and even if the Autistic person has good
language skills, there may be a difficulty with having back and forth
conversations. One aspect is that I can't understand sarcasm very well as well
as other social cues. I tend to pick up
sarcasm as seriousness, especially on the internet where tones of what's said
are hard for me to figure out. People have to tell me exactly how they feel
about what they're telling me, or else I may mistake something negative as humor
and laugh at the sad event. There are times where I can detect sarcasm, but it
isn't a lot of the time. Usually, people have to tell me that they're being
sarcastic. Unlike a lot of other people, when people use sarcasm towards me, I
find it rude because I associate sarcasm with negative or hate instead of being
funny. Since I can't figure out various social cues, I come off as socially
awkward amongst others.
A
lot of Autistics have various talents. Some Autistics are good with art, others
are good with learning things at a faster pace. For me, I have a few fortes.
The first talent I have, is a talent with technology. Objects are easier to
figure out than people are for me. The concept of an object has a beautiful
concept. Through my knack with technology, I'm going to college majoring in
Information Technology today. I can also learn a language faster than most
people. Because I learn things at a fast pace, foreign languages are no
exception. When I have an expertise, it's usually because I have some form of
obsession with the talent. If my obsession is a true obsession, it helps to
learn it easier, which turns my obsession into a skill. If my obsession is true
enough, I’ll also practice on it more. My biggest obsessions are Korean Pop
Music, Japanese Pop Music, and anime. These three things have inspired me to
learn how to speak and write in Japanese and Korean.
Being
an Autistic, means that I'll have more difficulties socially. People with
Autism have different mannerisms, which seems weird to a non-Autistic. I have
obsessions that majority of people wouldn’t think twice about. Seeing that I
have different mannerisms, some people may view them as weird. Through my uniqueness and people not
understanding who I am, people can be harsh to me. There was a study that took
place and in that study, children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are more
likely to be bullied than their peers that are developing at a normal rate.
Children with Autism who could speak well vs. the Autistics who had limited or
absent conversational ability were three times more likely to be bullied. Throughout
high school, even after knowing that I was autistic, people never really
understood why I did those weird things, which got them to talk about me behind
my back and not invite me to anywhere with them. Some people would believe
others, instead of getting to know me, so it made making and keeping friends
difficult for me.
When
I get upset, I tend to throw tantrums usually because I'm stressed out. Stress,
for me, is difficult to cope with. My tantrums last anywhere between a few
minutes to a few days, depending on how stressful the situation is. When I have
a tantrum, I can either argue, be passive-aggressive or even freak out
(sometimes causing physical harm). It depends on my surroundings and the
person/thing causing my stress.
Along
with not coping well with stress, I also can't cope very well with change. I'm
a creature of habit, meaning that once I'm used to something, please don't
change it on me because if you do, I won't like it and I'll throw a tantrum. If
I get comfortable with where I'm living at, and end up having to move away, it
would be a difficult transition.
Along
with my Autism, I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Basically my
mind is all over the place, causing me to have everything out of place. I'm
usually unorganized because of this. However, I can usually find my things even
though I'm unorganized. My lack of organization would cause problems with
school, but it took a lot for me to get organized, no matter how upset people
were with me.
Since
being diagnosed with Autism seven years ago, I'm able to cope better with my
Autism. I know why I'm different and why I do weird things. I know that I'm not
like all of my peers but I'm able to make friends because I have an easier time
working around my Autism. I'm glad that my mom took me to see the doctor, and
multiple doctors at that rate, so she could figure out why I was different.
Even though I have a 'disorder', I focus more on my positives than I do my negatives.
References
Autism Spectrum Disorder. (n.d.). NIMH RSS.
Retrieved October 21, 2014, from
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd/index.shtml
Szalavitz, M. (1970, January 1). Why autistic kids
make easy targets for school bullies. CNN. Retrieved October 23, 2014,
from http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/07/health/autistic-kids-bullied-time/
What is Asperger's Syndrome? Symptoms, tests,
Causes, Treatments. (n.d.). WebMD. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/mental-health-aspergers-syndrome
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