My name is Lisa Kozma, I was born July 1st 1989. When I was a baby, I was happy, normal, alert & made eye contact until I was 15 months old. By then I had little/no eye contact, would line up my toys, have consistent meltdowns, was fearful of getting out of the car & was difficult to feed. I should also mention I didn’t start talking until I was 4 years old, my language then consisted of repetitions.
When I was 4 years old, my family heard the news about me that would change their lives…. I was diagnosed with AUTISM.
According to the doctor, the chances of me ever living a normal life were 1 in 4. My family thought differently & never gave up hope.
When I was 16 years old, I auditioned for Canadian Idol. Looking at my life in the NOW... I am in a happy, serious & commited relationship with Vince, volunteering with Big Brothers & Big Sisters as an In School Mentor, & 360 basketball league. I'm currently in my final semester at Durham College in a specialized program called CICE with an area of concentration of ECE. When I graduate, I will be graduating with top honours. I would love to work with autistic children & their families as I would love to give hope and help other families out there. Another dream that I have is to become a motivational speaker for autism in order to inspire, help others, and give hope in order to raise autism awareness.
Being on the spectrum has taught me patience, acceptance, and motivation. The little things in life are a big step for me, this makes me a fighter. I proudly support autism awareness, and am in many autism support groups on facebook.
Courtice, Canada
