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You wouldn't be able to tell. If you spent five minutes with me, you would never know that I have autism. You would never know the struggles that I have put myself and my family through just to get by in this world, the number of times I have been pushed to the breaking point and back again. But the sad thing is, I'm not alone.
For the first six years of my life, my parents knew that there was something different about me; they just didn't know what it was. They took me to numerous doctors and child psychologists and turned up a heaping helping of nothing. It wasn't until they took me to some experts in Dallas that I was finally diagnosed.
The next few years of my life were torture. Intermediate school marked my downward spiral into this deep world of self-doubt and fault-seeking. See, I didn't fully develop adequite speech or social skills until high school, and was terrorized by bullies. Medications didn't help--they just made things worse--but they still kept me on them up until junior high.
That was the trigger point. I was an out-of-control machine during the 4th Grade--being quiet and reserved one day, chipper the next, and aggressive and violent the day after. 5th Grade was worse, because I had been placed in a class to help control my behavior, and control it they did--with an iron fist. All I ever took from that class was being yelled at and pushed to the floor. And like the meds, it only made it worse.
But the worst of it came during the 7th Grade. My teachers were given material to read about my autism and ways that they could have helped, but they didn't take it, choosing instead to completely ignore my disability until I just couldn't take it anymore--and neither could my parents. They took me out of school and went so far as to hire a lawyer.
From there, things gradually started to improve. I guess that my Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Years marked the end of the emotional crucible I had been put through. I am currently a sophomore at a local junior college and an aspiring novelist in the genres of fantasy and romance.
The thing that really bothers me is, out of the every one-in-166 that are just like me, this same crud could be happening to any one of them. It needs to stop.
And that's why I have formed this guild. People need to know about autism--that's all there is to it. Without their help, we don't stand a chance. Sure, they may never find a cure, or even a way to prevent it, but they can still help--by informing teachers, putting together developmental programs, or just learning as much as their brains will allow. There is still hope, as long as there is someone to listen.
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