What it's like. February 11, 2014

**Editor's note: Today William is going to talk about what it feels like to have Autism/Asperger's/NLD. I think it's important to see things through his eyes. We are doing this because of a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Coliniseleven. I encourage everyone to go on this kids page and wish him a happy 11th birthday. And Please read the article on him. It's eye opening.**

I have Asperger's. Having Asperger's is sorta normal for me. But my having Asperger's is a big deal for others.

The bad stuff is that I get picked on a lot by friends I didn't know I have. Having a conversation with someone my age is very, very hard. They just walk away from me. And they don't even say a word. Sometimes I felt like they included me, but sometimes I felt I was excluded. Lunch, when I sat near the boys, they would just run away. They would just tell me I was creepy. Especially my enemies.

Asperger's makes it hard for me to understand math. I just don't get it. It makes me feel aggravated. In school during math,  I wanted to scream, yell, rip my papers to pieces, break the windows and throw my math teacher out the window. I didn't, but I wanted to.

I see the world differently from you out there reading my blog. I hear a lot more noise. Big sounds give me a big headache. I cover my ears a lot when we are in loud places. Bright lights bother me because they hurt my eyes. I don't like tight clothing. I makes me feel like I'm being squeezed like a boa constrictor. When cartoons bother me, it's because my imagination thinks they are real. Sometimes I want to leave the movie theater because the movie makes me paranoid.Nighttime, I think aliens are real.

Sometimes I get angry at a lot of things. One thing I get angry at is when my favorite amusement park is closed.

That's all that really bothers me about having Asperger's.

Now for the good things.

I'm very, very smart. I love reading. I go through about 6 books a week, depending how hard they are. It took me about 4 months to read The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. But they are big books. I also read The George series by Steven Hawkings. But, my favorite books are Geronimo Stilton.

My imagination is fun! It has everything in it. It has all of outer space including earth in it. I remember I used to invite my Mommy into my imagination.

I like hugs, A LOT. I'm a hugger. I look at the world by chemistry. Chemistry is my thing.

Asperger's is unique. It makes anybody that has it unique. It's good and bad. It has it's times. I like to stay the way I am. And sometimes, I wish I could change myself. I'll talk about that another day.

Stay tuned 'til tomorrow.

TO BE CONTINUED...
To infinity and beyond!!!!