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Whenever I tell people that I am on the Autism Spectrum, they are quick to ask me what the Autism Spectrum is. What does it mean to be autistic? What it basically means is that my brain is wired differently compared to other people. I tend to perceive things differently. I view certain things in a different light, so to speak. From what I am told, being autistic means that you are tremendously gifted in certain areas while greatly lacking in other areas, particularly when socializing is involved.
Autistic people face a myriad of social challenges that can be hard to overcome. For instance, it is easier to get on a keyboard and type messages out on the internet for everyone to read than it is to approach someone in-person and have an in-depth conversation with that person. Autistic people are far from being masterful when it comes to properly introducing themselves simply because they tend to be shy.
Autistic people tend to handle situations differently than other people. I know from my daily experiences that I tend to form the habit of not wanting to deviate from a routine that I feel comfortable with. Whenever I establish a routine that comforts me, it can be hard to get me out of that comfort zone. Sometimes it will take a sudden turn of events to force me to drop these routines and start anew. This is a common trait of autistic people in general. We want things to flow as easily as possible and we don’t want the things that comfort us to be disrupted. This is something we do need to work on.
When I read countless success stories about other autistic people, there is one thing that jumps out at me. That one thing would be the fact there is always at least one thing that we are good at. There is always something that interests us, something that drives us to excel. Most of the time we don’t even know what that thing is until we realize its positive effects afterward.
For example, I had no idea what I wanted to do in the long run in my life until recently when I realized just how much impact I truly had as a writer. I tried to convince myself that I could be a sports athlete, a professional wrestler or a computer programmer, but I was none of those things. The more I looked into doing those things, the more I realized that these dreams were unreasonable. If I can pinpoint the one valuable lesson I have learned in searching for what I was good at, then it would be this. I learned that I needed to stay true to the skill I had been developing all along, which was writing. I thoroughly practiced my writing skills when I was a kid.
Some people say that being autistic is like having a disease, but I believe that isn’t at all true. Autism isn’t something that you can cure. Once someone is diagnosed with autism, there is no special medication that one can take to stop being autistic. Autism doesn’t work that way. While being autistic has its disadvantages, I believe it is important to note its advantages as well, and I also believe that sometimes autistic people can surprise others with their talents at the most unexpected times.
