Photography 6: A Sunset in a Borderwith a logo for Ariel's Action Shots Photography
"The most interesting people you will find are the ones that do not fit into your average cardboard box. They will make what they need, they will make their own boxes."-Temple Grandin
April is Autism Awareness Month. World Autism Awareness Day is April 2nd every year since 2007. Autism Speaks calls it "The Light Up Blue Campaign" because more boys are affected than girls. The statistic shows 1 in 37 is diagnosis rate for boys versus 1 in 151 diagnosis rates for girls as 2014. Most of Autism community does not have much support Autism Speaks because they want to cure for Autism. There is no cure for Autism because it is neurological disorder that effects people's lives for years after their childhood years. But most of the Autism community started to make April in Autism Acceptance Month and make April 2nd into World Autism Acceptance Day. More females diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder as adults instead children like males.
Photography 7: A group of roseflowers in a Border with a logo for Ariel's Action Shots Photography
"Just because I do not LOOK Autistic that does certainly not take away from my constantly elevated sensitivity levels, the ongoing CHALLENGES and struggles I experience each day or my constantly elevated anxiety levels. If anything, not LOOKING Autistic make existence even MORE challenging because not ever assumes how very much I'm struggling every day."-Unknown
This quote is how I feel many times over the last 20 plus years during my journey to come to terms with my Autism diagnosis. Every time I have gotten to the point where I accept, I am Autistic, there is someone clueless about Autism. Especially when I hear most of my life, you can be Autistic because you do not look Autistic, or you are more verbal than most people with Autism. But in social situation I have taught myself how to more outgoing than I am so many times leads to a meltdown or shut down growing up after being people who do not know I am Autistic because I have learned to fake being "normal" in social situation. Over the last 10 years, I have been educating many people what is like to have Autism, at least for me. To understand why I am talking about Autism, you must get to know me, first.
Photography 8: Color buds in a Border with a logo for Ariel's Action Shots Photography
"Why is it that we tell "normal" kids to shine and stand out but tell kids with disabilities they need to blend in?"-Unknown
Autism was not first diagnosis for me, I diagnose with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at 5 years old. Think about the irony about that do you know any 5 years old who is not hyperactivity. So, the doctors put me on Ritalin (Methylphenidate) at 5 years old. While I was not on Ritalin the whole time it was in the same family of drugs. It was until 2 years later; I got the diagnosis for Autism. My formal diagnosis was PDD-NOS which means Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. It is the diagnosis given to people, who are on the Autism Spectrum but do not fully meet the criteria for another Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is a common occurrence for those on the Autism Spectrum, whose have symptoms or signs for both disorders. Autism Spectrum Disorder is more sensory related than Attention Deficit Disorder. There is overlap in symptoms and signs for both disorder and doctors have not found a way to tell whether a child's issues are sensory related or other like Attention Deficit Disorder.
Once I was diagnosed with Autism but because I am so high functioning many people have told me I could not be Autistic. I was 4 years older than average diagnosed as age 3 years old. Autism is more common boy than girls. So, most of my life there have been so many people, who did not believe I was Autistic. I still hear this on a regular basis especially when my mother says something me being Autistic to someone. It does not help feeling like I still must hide some much of what makes me who I am. Most people do not understand that Autism is spectrum so each person with Autism is different which means each of us experience the world differently.
Photography 9: Iron Fence Gate in aBorder with a logo for Ariel's Action Shots Photography
"Never assume a person who has difficulty communicating has nothing to say."-Stacy Sekinger
My Autism journey started with the local public school. I was so high functioning most of time that I confused the local school system in whether I belonged in resource classes (Special Education Classes in United States) or the mainstream classroom. I have always been smart but because I struggled with reading and writing, they thought I belonged in resource classes more than mainstream classroom. At point I had a resource teacher in my mainstream classroom to help if I needed but they started pulling out mainstream classroom more and more. Recently, I found my elementary report cards according to my fourth and fifth grade report cards they are reminder that I was an As and Bs student but drew to fact that I was either below grade level in reading and writing or need accommodations in the classroom for Science and Social Studies. That basically means that my As and Bs were less meaningful because I need help to get them which I had accommodations from the school system for or I was below grade level but instead of making sure I was up to grade level in those subjects, they just passed me along through elementary school. Art classes were my escape from bullying for many years to point my art teacher did extra art lessons for me from Grade 3-Grade 5.
Photography 10: Colorful Sunset in a Border with a logo for Ariel's Action Shots Photography
"Autism is not disease. It is different operating system. There is no cure needed for someone's method of existence."-Unknown
By Grade 6, I was bullied so much for being different and the fact I was pulled out of mainstream classroom so much. I would come home from school almost every afternoon in tears. That following year, my parents and I agree it was time to take me out of public school in a small private school about an hour from where I grew up. This school was art-based and what was escape in public school turned into something I did not enjoy anymore.
Through my whole public-school career, I was still on Ritalin because teachers told my parents that I was easier deal with on my medication. Even though I did not have Attention Deficit Disorder. So, when we took me out of public school, we decide at same time to take me off my medication. We hope that I was done with it, but time told me that was not the case.
Photography 11: Colorful Nature Photography in a Border with a logo for Ariel's Action Shots Photography
"So called "mild" autism doesn't mean one experiences autism mildly. It means you experience their autism mildly. You may not know how hard they've worked to get the level they are."-Adam Walton
The Super Court officially ruled in March 2017, that school system must give student the tools to successful make meaningful progress versus minimum progress (USA Supreme Court Rules in Favor of a Special Education Student). This ruling by Supreme Court would have helped me during my public-school years and private school years because my parents fought both the public school system and my private school for the tools I need to be successful during my school years. This private school was supposed to be a place where I could grow into myself, which did not happen until after I graduate in 2008.
Photography 12: Purple Flower in a Border with a logo for Ariel's Action Shots Photography
"Autistics are square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It's that you're destroying the peg."-Paul Collins
Many factors played into this. The first factor, before I turned 18 was to make sure my accommodations were ready when I decided to go to college or if I decide to go to college. I will never forget sitting in room with the doctors telling my mother (she was the only parent with me at the time of testing), I would not make it in college and if I did I would not be able to take more than one class at a time especially when it came to sciences. I was not going be able do more than that I was able to take two or three classes a semester to graduate. The second factor, I was told by a teacher in my senior high school that I would not make it in college so I should even worry about it. The day after she said that I signed up for community college. The third factor, I was so smart that I got stuck at same section of math because they could not find a teacher to teach me any higher than Algebra 1 and they made me feel like I was stupid because I could get pass this one section of math for six years.
Photography 13: Sunset with the Sun ina Border with a logo for Ariel's Action Shots Photography
"Realize you are a human. And you make mistakes. And you cannot control everything. You need to understand that you are doing the best you can. Do not blame yourself once again. You are trying. And that is enough."-Unknown
The last factor is the main way my autism affected me is when I am overwhelmed in sensory or in general...I cry, and many people have yelled at me for getting overwhelmed. In the middle of high school my teachers in the private school told my parents to put me back on my Ritalin because it would be easier for them to deal with me on my medication. Over the last couple years, I have realized that those who yelled at me for getting overwhelmed, plus the bulling I experienced over the years by many people have led to me to have created anxiety, now. Those people at this private school were not as accepting as we first thought just like the public-school system, they even divided us into a group of mainstream children and special education children. For the first 12 years of my autism journey, I had the label of special education child until I graduated high school and I finally was able to be like everyone else with few differences.