Autism Unveiled Week 1
I spent many years of my life lost.
I struggled alone, not sure why I couldn’t be ‘normal’.
I tried and tried but wasn’t compatible with the world.
I failed at work, at friendship, at relationships.
Then one day, a light was switched on.
I wasn’t travelling the same road as others.
I was on a different path.
I couldn’t judge myself the same as the rest.
I understood myself for the first time.
As you can guess, the light was when I found out I had Asperger’s and while that does not define me, it does give me peace of mind, knowing that I don’t have to be comparing myself to other people, who see the world differently, who process things differently and who simply have a different way of ‘being’.
I am a koi amongst goldfish.
Alex Bowen, Wales, U.K. Read more at Alex’s Deviant art page.
Alex is part of a six-week advocacy project Autism Unveiled Project culminating on April 2, 2015, World Autism Awareness Day. “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism,” Dr. Stephen Mark Shore
Thanks for sharing your story, Alex. I really appreciate the way you write about everyone having a different way of being. I’m thankful that, more and more, people seem to be getting that different ways of being is a good thing, and that there are more communities of people sharing their wonderful way of being.