Thinking in retrospect, while sitting in my classroom of at least thirty students during my youth, I wonder about how many had the disorder known as autism. I can think of two schoolmates at the time that may have had the disorder, because of their slight awkward behavior. And I can now suspect they were encumbered with the disorder due to what we know now. They just did not fit with the rest of the classroom; therefore, I remember they were ostracized by other students from playground activity. Today, I cannot help but think what came of those two boys it is very disheartening. My guest this week, spoke of his experience while in school, where his teacher would speak to him in a condescending manner, not to mention his schoolmates because of his lack of not being able to show his schoolwork, yet, he had the correct answer, but showed his schoolwork differently. Kids, and yes, teachers can be very cruel and can scar others emotionally for life, otherwise, my guest would not have shared his painful experience, yest with a sense of humor.
He was diagnosed with autism at the age of forty-five years of age, and now he is fifty-six years and still struggles and toils with his disorder. However, I would be safe to say that we all have emotional or physical challenges in one way or another. Nonetheless, he has spun his experience into something positive by becoming an advocate, writer, speaker, and consultant on behalf of the autistic community. As a commonality to the autistic community, my guest bounced around from job to job, then finally decided to try his hand as an entrepreneur. He began a 20-year career as a successful freelance writer, having been published in more than 30 national and local magazines, a dozen daily newspapers and countless of websites. Of course, there is a spectrum of autism, and many are highly intelligent and productive. The disorder is unique to the individual and it demands that we as a community be willing to integrate them into the work force and every aspect of society. It has been speculated, that Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and the American artist Andi Warhol were autistic. Would the world have been different if they were ostracized from the social mainstream? Would the world be different without Microsoft as we know it today? Yes, Bill Gates has been said that he is autistic. And did you know Eli Musk the wealthiest man in the world admitted his mental disorder? From my perspective, the word (disorder) is many times a misnomer, just because they think differently. The point is, the world contains about seven billion of us, and we are all unique down to our DNA, and we all can contribute to an obvious extent. Please take to heart my following encouragement, and that is, if you suspect someone with autism, or with any other personal challenge, the tendency is to (stare), which is a five-letter word. Let us substitute it with another five-letter word, (smile.) Make the much-needed human connection, both of you will be better for it.
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