Story and Mission
Born in 1998 to my two wonderful parents and a big family, I was initially diagnosed on the autism spectrum and was non-verbal by early 2000. While not knowing what would happen or come of my future, my parents both worked hard to advocate and give me the resources I needed to be in general education around other neurotypical children my age rather than in special education. Despite many battles with my school district, I was lucky to be eligible to be in a kindergarten class by the time I was 6 and was able to speak more than anyone ever expected. From there, I would slowly grow to become more social with people and try to make friends - which was an incredibly hard process for me at the time due to the bullying and isolation I often went through. And while I knew that I was different from people and what my autism was, it was not accepted by many of the people that I knew. However, my parents always reminded me that my autism was something that I should embrace and never feel ashamed or afraid of because it was a difference of mine that was valuable like any other.
As I got into high school and began to enjoy my math and physics classes, I took a psychology class and, to my surprise, fell head over heels with the subject. I felt like I gained a better picture of people, could finally understand why my peers felt the way they did, and it made me more optimistic about people. I felt like I could see how complicated we all are and the individual uniqueness we all have just by being ourselves, and that drew me to the world of autism. I felt like I could take this knowledge and use it to help autistic people feel more secure and hopeful about their future and lives knowing that there were people who have the lived experiences and the academic ones.
When I enrolled in university, I branched out and learned about autism and psychology in many different areas, was able to grow my skills in interacting with others, and eventually made some great friends along the way. Despite many changes in my life, my mission to help people and help autistic people know that their lives and perspectives are worthwhile and beautiful hasn’t strayed, and I hope it continues throughout my journey in advocacy and wherever else my life and autism journey takes me from here. Outside of the academic space, I’m interested in lots of films (especially science fiction and superhero genres), love my folk music and record collection, and have the hobbies of cooking, making digital graphic art, and decorating.
What is the mission I hope this platform can accomplish?
Ultimately, I hope that this platform can help be a place where not only non-autistic people can learn and grow from hearing an autistic perspective, but even more so be a haven where autistic people can feel at home with one of their own. The talks and papers can potentially inform people and give them a difference in perspective regarding many topics important to the autism community, whether it be diagnosis, resources, therapy, societal stigma, social justice, and many, many others. Hopefully, it can give knowledge to parents, care providers, researchers, clinicians, educators, counselors, and the like that they can take with them to bring into their practices to help autistic people they know, and maybe even help change systems through policy and practice in the places where autistic people are not as present as they should be in the conversation.
Most importantly though, I hope that the resources here and the talks about autism and the struggles and joys of this community can resonate with other autistic people, regardless of whether they thought about their place in the community today or were diagnosed far before I ever was. I hope it opens up the possibility of people learning that they are autistic when they never would have thought about it before, or help them know that there are voices out there who are advocating for their interests like me and so many others in this space. Hopefully it gives people the possibility of believing that as tough as life can be being autistic in a society not made for us, they can find happiness in their autism or whatever parts of their identity give them peace and joy in their lives, and that they can find other people like them in their communities to make friends with and share in all the joys that come with being true to one’s self and their autism.
I hope while you’re here that you learn a little something about autism or the community, or at the very least feel a bit more at home. Thank you so much for being here, and hopefully you can remember that the biggest gift you bring to the word is being yourself every day.
- Thomas