The greatest obstacle I have faced in life has been living with autism spectrum disorders in a neurotypical world. It has challenged me in every stage and aspect of life, alienating me from my peers, creating academic struggles, and affecting my overall psyche and identity.
For better or worse, ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome have separated me from my peers and greatly impacted my social development. Initially they made basic interactions with my fellow classmates an everyday challenge. After accepting that I must interact with people outside my family, and hiding in my house would not make them disappear, I had to work on understanding the social norms of the community around me. This endeavor was “touch and go” at first, almost like a biologist discovering a new species and observing its behavior: “Ah, so the athletic kid is using insults and put downs against his weaker peers in an attempt to assert himself as the dominant member of his pack.” Even after learning the basics of “normal behavior” in early elementary school, I continued to miss some nuances of basic social interaction: “Oh, so holding hands represents that you are romantically interested in …show more content…
To an extent, my differences have made learning a challenge. It often takes me twice as long to do basic assignments, I sometimes start drifting off into tangents and eventually come to wonder where 75% of some days went (likely reading about nurturing wallabies on Wikipedia or something else of utmost importance), and sometimes I simply cannot stop fidgeting or jumping (it is a bad sign when you fall out of your chair). However, I look at these difficulties as mere challenges to overcome and have overcome most of them. While I have some bad days, I can thankfully say I have not fallen out of a chair in school for years and usually take tests within the same time limits as the “normal” kids (including the
For better or worse, ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome have separated me from my peers and greatly impacted my social development. Initially they made basic interactions with my fellow classmates an everyday challenge. After accepting that I must interact with people outside my family, and hiding in my house would not make them disappear, I had to work on understanding the social norms of the community around me. This endeavor was “touch and go” at first, almost like a biologist discovering a new species and observing its behavior: “Ah, so the athletic kid is using insults and put downs against his weaker peers in an attempt to assert himself as the dominant member of his pack.” Even after learning the basics of “normal behavior” in early elementary school, I continued to miss some nuances of basic social interaction: “Oh, so holding hands represents that you are romantically interested in …show more content…
To an extent, my differences have made learning a challenge. It often takes me twice as long to do basic assignments, I sometimes start drifting off into tangents and eventually come to wonder where 75% of some days went (likely reading about nurturing wallabies on Wikipedia or something else of utmost importance), and sometimes I simply cannot stop fidgeting or jumping (it is a bad sign when you fall out of your chair). However, I look at these difficulties as mere challenges to overcome and have overcome most of them. While I have some bad days, I can thankfully say I have not fallen out of a chair in school for years and usually take tests within the same time limits as the “normal” kids (including the