We Are Autistic!

How many of you like to watch the credits of a movie, or are fascinated by light switches? I’m guessing not very many of you, but I love them!

Bonjour, ni hao, hola, konichiwa, salut, choa chi, my name is Zachary and I have autism. Oh by the way, I’m also learning to speak in different languages.

When I was very little my family noticed that I did some things differently. I didn’t really like to play a lot with toys. I was more interested in books, letters and the alphabet and everyone was shocked and surprised when I could say the alphabet. That may not seem unusual, but, I was only 14 months old! Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D C B A. Oh, I could even say the alphabet backwards. That’s when mom and dad decided to visit a special doctor who told them I had something called “autism”.

Did you know that autism affects the way the brain works? That means that you see, hear, smell, taste, feel and react to people and situations differently. Sometimes, when I hear loud noises like a baby screaming I cover my ears because it bothers me. But just like you I hate broccoli and Brussels sprouts too, yuck!

There are 4 times more boys than girls who have autism, and every 20 minutes someone is born with autism somewhere in the world. Autism is something I will have for the rest of my life, it will never go away, but I am learning to deal with it. I can talk, read and write, but some of my friends who have autism can’t talk and that must be really difficult for their families.

Now that I am older I understand my autism better and it really doesn’t bother me much, in fact, I love my autism. That doesn’t mean I don’t have bad days. I have a lot of them. It is especially difficult for my brother Joshua. Sometimes he gets really frustrated with me and we argue. But I guess a lot of brothers and sisters argue, don’t they? My family is also learning about autism so that we can get along better. In fact, every year we participate in a fund raiser called “Cycle for Autism”. My brother and dad ride their bikes, but I like to walk with my mom. It’s a lot of fun and we raise a lot of money. It is a worthwhile experience.

I know that I’ll never be able to do a lot of things, but that’s OK. I think I’m pretty lucky, because there are things that I can do very well. For example, I love the piano and I can play a tune by simply listening to the music. My music teacher said that I have a special gift.

Autism is not who I am, it’s only a small part of me. I just hope people will take the time to get to know and understand me. So, if you ever meet someone with autism I hope you take the time to get to know them. You never know, you may learn something about them and maybe, something about yourself too.

Well, I hope that you learned a little about autism and me.