In my first year of what's known as mainstream school, I always felt I was different somehow. I often didn't know what to say to my classmates and when to start talking, I felt like an outsider when they laughed at me for not fully understanding what they were telling me. When I started secondary school however it all became clear when I was told I had autism.
Autism is often likened to being in a different country where everyone else speaks a different language where you only understand very few words. Watching old family videos I could see it effected my ability to communicate with others around me or even talk.
Fast forward to the present day. I am writing this story the day after my graduation ceremony where I received a Second Class Bachelor Of Arts Honours degree in Media Culture and Production which took me three years of hard work and motivation to achieve. This is my biggest achievement to date since I remember being told that I would not have been able to cope with GCSEs at secondary school; this didn't stop me wanting to do GCSEs with my friends and achieving twelve after two years of hard work. I then went on to college and achieved my A Levels.
None of that would have been possible with all the right help and support! So therefore I would like to thank the following people; Mum and Dad for their undying love, support and guidance even when things were tough, my sister Emily for being a best friend, my grandparents for being there to talk to and the delicious cakes of course, to all the learning support assistants (Felicity, Jilly Bull, Lois, Clio and Claudia) I had during education, my cousin Emma and all my friends who have accepted me!
One message from me is don't let anything stop you from achieving your goals!
Romsey, United Kingdom
