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hi I am Abby I was diagnosed with autism at Age 2 and a half life with autism has been very hard I want to start by telling you what it was like when I was younger when I was 3 years old I had something called ealia where you have no connection to words and just repeat things you hear one day my mom asked me what would you like for lunch hot dogs or peanut butter and I said hot dogs or peanut butter then I went to school and I didn't talk to the other kids because I didn't know how and I sat alone it was almost like I didn't see them because of the way my
mind worked and I put everything in my mouth they called my mom up and said they couldn't guarantee my safety so I was not allowed to go to preschool unless I had nid I had a teacher named Miss Beverly she didn't didn't understand autism she didn't want to learn about autism and wasn't willing to learn about how some kids like me are different we learn different we hear things differently and sometimes we have to move around a lot Miss Beverly wanted things the way she had always done them like for example Beverly would ask the kids to line up she had all the girls
line up then all the boys then at the end of the boy line she made me line up with my Aid because I was different this made me feel uncomfortable and very sad feeling like I don't fit in feeling left out and wishing I was like everyone else and I wish my brain would do what I was telling it to do in elementary school I was more aware of the other kids and that I was different it was hard to talk to the other kids because I couldn't get the words out sometimes my words would get stuck and then the other kids didn't want to talk to me because I couldn't answer and I had a hard
time focusing and staying on topic this made me very sad and I became jealous of typical kids because they could do things that I couldn't this is when I learned to identify with Ariel was a mermaid living in a world alone she wanted to be with the people and when she finally became human she couldn't talk that's how I felt very isolated and alone that is why mermaids and Ariel are still important to me today Ariel says I want to be where the people are and she says I want to be part of that world this was exactly how I felt too finally something that made me feel connected
to the outside world I felt like I was Ariel today I have had 22 years of speech therapy and social skills to learn to have conversations today and I never gave up when I think back about those times it makes me remember how alone I was and how I was not part of the world I have to remember who I am today it's like when Mufasa says to Simba remember who you are I can't think of anything that means more to me than feeling like part of this world without friends you really can't do that and just because some people need to practice more than others that's okay we are all different
