Life With Autism

Life With Autism

I've spent the majority of my life trying to hide a big secret about myself, trying to find other ways to love and accept myself for who I am but I've now come to terms with the fact that I need to be honest so that I can be understood better

I have autism! 

I was diagnosed when I was 3 years old and had to repeat a year at school because of not being able to speak until I was about 5.  Now aged 25 I finally have the confidence to admit this to everyone.

I feel like one thing everyone needs to accept in this world is that we are all different in our own ways and if we were all the same wouldn't that be very boring?


I used to try to say I have social anxiety and was extremely shy but I've come to terms that I have autism and I am proud of who I am.

I'm not here to write anything negative I just want to spread awareness and to help anyone who doesn't accept themselves for who they are for whatever reason.  Everyone has their own story to be tell - right? So that's why I want to explain mine.


There's been so much that I have been able to achieve despite being autistic.  When I was first diagnosed, there was no guarantee that I would be able to learn to talk - now it's sometimes difficult to shut me up!  I spent 3 months living in a rural village in Tanzania helping to build a toilet block for a local primary school.  I also spent 3 months doing Camp America working in a special needs summer camp.

I am also about to move to Australian in the next 4-8 months to start my Working Holiday Visa and I am currently in the middle of taking driving lessons. 

There's so much that I am proud of myself for.


One thing to know about autism is it affects everyone differently. Some struggle with communication or can't even speak. Others struggle with work and being independent. Basically our brains might work differently but this doesn't mean we want to be treated differently.


I also wanted to share this so that my friends and family can understand me better and know that I don't want to be treated any differently from anyone else.  I might have a few burnout stages of not talking or wanting some time to myself but please don't treat me differently.


To all my friends and family who I've kept this secret from I can honestly say its nothing personal I just felt embarrassed to admit or talk about it until now.


Freddie Spencer


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Being an autistic solo traveller

Image
  I'm sure that nearly every person who is reading this blog knows someone who is a solo traveller, but how many of you know an autistic solo traveller? I don’t know anyone who is, apart from myself. I am a 26-year-old solo backpacker currently on a Working Holiday Visa in Australia, and I knew for a fact I wanted to do this on my own. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and be the best me that I can be. One thing that isn’t often spoken about in society is the opportunities and skills autistic people have. From a young age, I have always loved traveling. After doing many trips in the past I wanted to try being a solo backpacker. I’ve completed a few big challenges already ranging from spending 3 months living in a rural village in Tanzania building a toilet block for a primary school to trekking the Himalayas in Nepal. Despite doing a lot of traveling in the past, my Australia trip was different because I didn’t go through any organizat...
Read more