Every family navigating autism faces moments of uncertainty, strength, and growth. These are the voices of those who clear the path—not just for themselves, but for others walking a similar journey.

There are times I have trouble figuring out people's tone of voice, and what that means, as well as how that matches with body language. I simply ask people, I trust them to explain these things to me, or if I am seeing or hearing them correctly.

I can be easily distracted in a classroom that is busy or larger, and I can also be distracted when there are unhelpful people in the classroom who provoke me. I have trusted adults at school that I can speak to and I have always had an IEP to help me. I even recently attended my own IEP to advocate for myself.

I have to get help with social skills. There are often people at my school who treat me negatively even though I have done nothing to them. I have difficulties in standing up for myself as well, because there's often hypocrisy between my standing up and making a scene versus that person who said something mean to me and made a scene to me, even if it was not obvious to everyone else.
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I often find this unfair, because what is the difference between someone saying something rude to me and me, standing up for myself and saying something back to them to leave me alone or to stop their behaviors. Yes, I continue to advocate for myself by using my words and actions and getting support from individual teachers, even if the school as a whole doesn't always help me.

Meet Joshua Ellis, a junior at Winthrop High School! Here's what Joshua has to say in his own words: 

I was 6 years old when I understood I had something called autism, but at that point I was too young to understand how it would impact me. 

Autism is a disability that can in a way be invisible. Some autistic people can be observed as having needs, such as they are unable to speak, BUT I don't think we can assume that I'm not autistic because I don't "look autistic," when really there is no definition of what that means. 

I am able to have some talents that others don't, such as long-term memory or memorizing birthdays as well as historical dates. I have interests, such as history, and I become very strongly focused on those interests. Sometimes I have not been treated well because of my behaviors linked to autism. So what that has taught me is what not to do, and I try to treat everyone nicely and equally.
Due to sometimes being hyper focused, I can pay a lot of attention to detail which can be important. I can notice things about people that someone else might overlook. 

I think having autism teaches me how to work hard, because often times I have to work twice as hard to reach the same goal a neurotypical person would have that, and a "regular" person would have.

It takes longer to accomplish regular things. An example is learning to drive. I needed medical clearance. I had to overcome this by working towards goals, with both my counselor and my doctor in order to prove to them I was fit to drive. Now I am driving and earning many hours towards my testing date.

When I say I'm stressed out and overstimulated, people don't understand, if I say I am stressed and I need to calm down too like, they say they are stressed what's the difference. People want me to act normal, but I'm not. My brain functions in a different manner, even no matter how much I say that then don't told it's not an excuse. I'm not trying to make an excuse, I'm trying to explain my behavior as it relates to my condition. I can't just stop being autistic. Say that again?

You can't just shut it off like a light switch. It's not how it works.. a great example is people not being able to understand how sudden loud noises startle me and my sensory system, as I have sensory processing disorder. Yes, I've been told just to get over it or get used to it instead of people being willing to educate themselves if I give them information as to my condition.

My autism is a lifelong condition that I live with, but other people seem to be the one struggling with it.
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Thank you again Joshua for sharing your story and wisdom with us!