By: Wynonna Uy
“What exactly is autism?” you ask. It is actually a widespread disability in the brain discovered as early as the 1940s. It is also the fastest-growing developmental disability since a new case could occur every 20 minutes.
Asperger Syndrome is what I’m diagnosed with. Sadly, there’s no ‘cure’ for this. However, many therapies may be done to help us live as normally as we can.
Actually, some autistic people even live successful lives, such as author and food animal handling systems designer Temple Grandin, Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri and our very own Filipino marimba player, Tum-Tum Mendoza.
See, many people don’t appreciate others because they’re “different”. I for one felt like the people in my old school saw me as a tiny fly ready to be squashed. At first, I didn’t experience any shame or anything like that.
But when I turned 11, my life went upside down. I read some “letters” and notes concerning my diagnosis. This frustrated me; and for a whole year, I was in depression. I felt like the world would be mean and cruel to me because I was not “one of them”.
However, I don’t consider this disability as a curse. Having autism doesn’t mean the world hates me, neither does God. I know He has a reason for choosing me to be special and I’m still thankful that He doesn’t fail me.
I feel especially blessed that there are schools with SPED programs to help accommodate students like me. To all the SPED teachers, thanks for keeping up the good work!
The writer is an incoming fourth year student of Tabernacle of Faith Christian Academy. She belongs to the top 5 of her class and is a writer of their school’s newsletter. We want to thank Barbara Lu, former ASP Trustee for sending us this article.
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