During the peak of puberty, I experienced intense emotions. Autism added to this blended fury. There were many moments of doubt. I questioned if I would make it through junior high school, let alone high school. Through the perseverance of my parents and my mother, I succeeded. Many supporters on both sides of the table helped me. I proved I can overcome challenges and be better than expected.

Junior High or Middle School is just rough for anyone. When you are autistic, it is very challenging. You don’t understand things like social norms. You can’t adapt to things as you transition from elementary school. On top of that, my first year of Junior High involved a building project. This added an extra layer of complexity. It made things difficult because we had to walk to other buildings. We also had to do things out of the eyes of adults. The building project was completed the second year. There was still a lot of newness. This brought on extra challenges.

Along with the complexities, I had many issues outside of school. A principal viewed students with challenges as something to look the other way at. After receiving my diagnosis, my parents worked to educate the building administration about challenges. They also explained how to help, but their efforts were pushed away. At the time, just having a diagnosis was not enough. Many in the education arena were not educated enough on how to help. Those days were more on survival than working on goals or potential.

I did not leave Junior High on a good note. I left my Junior High and ended up at the psychiatric hospital on the same trip. This is something that just does not happen today. I went through a rough summer and eventually ended up in a residential treatment facility. Since it was a different district, educational opportunities were explored. That district also had the grade configuration of middle and high schools that America comes to expect today.

I had to do a half day trial visit to see if it would be a good fit. By God’s grace, it was a good fit. It was one of the largest high schools in the region. It had twice the number of students as the senior high school. There were four times the students of the Junior High School I had come from the year prior. Nonetheless, I did exceptionally well because my needs were met better than what my home district did. Education was tailored to me, and I was given the attention that I was needed to flourish. As much as I wanted to finish high school there, I had to accept the reality. Coming home meant that I had to go to my home district.

Thankfully, I was capable of finishing the school year with that other district. This was possible because someone was honest. This person would later become one of my best supporters and advocates at my home high school. This helped to make the home transition smoothly. I was also willing to downgrade to a learning support classroom.

This same educator believed that the students in the emotional support classroom had a deep history. Because of this, they knew how to trigger and bully each other. I had been in that classroom since second grade. Uniquely, many of those bullies later became allies and acquaintances. They apologized for their behavior. Some of them I am close with on social media. One particular classmate even designed the logos for my blog. This was a heartfelt gift that I am forever grateful for.