Lately through conversations with acquaintances and colleagues, I have been greatly complimented by them for the contributions that I make to the things that I take interest in or are passionate about. Sometimes it has been hard to accept the compliments given to me, but they have also allowed me to see how by expanding my potential the difference I am making in this world.

I am not saying these things in way of glorification or self-promotion, rather it is defining the sometimes what is not actually realized by me. For the longest time, when I was given a compliment for my efforts towards something, I would often brush it off as something that everyone that was expected to do. I was unwilling to accept the compliment and be proud of myself because I was unwilling to see the value that it brought to others.

Through all the challenges that autism can bring to the world, it can also have its benefits and potential. Even though I live life as I do and even as I close out living in my thirties, I am learning more about autism and the challenges that it brings to not only me but also others in the world. I am learning more about the things that I struggled about in the younger years and can put terminology to what is happening and also understand that it is perfectly acceptable to asked for accommodations when needed and while in my eyes, its not only a disability, but a different ability to see the world in a different way.

Now I am not saying that everything in an autistic person’s life goes swimmingly. I have paid my price many times by trial, error, ebb, and flow of the imperfect balance that autism gives me. Despite getting to this juncture in my life, for as many good moments and accolades as I have experienced, there have been just as many negative or challenging ones. I was the person that they wanted to ship away to not be the fly in the ointment.

Thankfully through all the challenging times in life, there were my parents who continued to see the potential, did the research, and fiercely advocated to even unheard limits to make sure that I was able to get the care that I needed to be in their lives and not someone that was forgotten. Even when there was doubt by my biggest supporter, my mother, my father was the down to earth one that gave me the chance to be in their lives and paid the price equally as my mother did by my furious, unpredictable and unpretty moments, because they never saw sight of the potential.

Believe it or not, as you grow and learn in the same community all your life, even after getting the proper care that I needed and even going to a lesser level of restrictive environment, I still had to prove myself that I could excel in my own way and be a better person despite my past. Even though I did not want to live my past, unfortunately it is oftentimes the thing that outshines when you are trying to make a change for the better.

When those that have had a glimpse of what my history was and take a glimpse of why I am in something in the first place, they are sometimes shocked how an individual such as myself has fought so feverishly hard to overcome so many challenges and barriers by proving the doubters that I can turn my life around and be an amazing contributor to the community.

It can be easy to judge what was thought about something without the chance of believing that a person can change if they are given the opportunity to do so in the way that is made the best for them. Nothing is perfect and things will happen, but I am in a much better position than I was over two decades ago and sometimes I need to be proud of overcoming many obstacles and continue to bear the world as it is today.