Written by Jeff Snyder, Autism/Neurodiversity Self-Advocate and Public Speaker
Growing Up NeuroDiverse…
The year is 2022 and I sit here in a Starbucks on the east side of Providence, Rhode Island doing one of my weekly writing sessions here, which includes writing this blog. As I sit here, I can’t help but think to myself how far we have come as a society. Two years into a global pandemic and civil unrest, I try to live life the best I can and try to focus on my path in life.
But it isn’t easy.
When I grew up in the 1990s and 2000s, I found that life was not going to be easy for me. At 21 months old, in December of 1990, I was diagnosed with Autism, a neurological condition that causes me to think differently than others around me. Back then, autism was a rare condition whose ratio was 1 in 10,000. Hell, I didn’t even know I was on the autism spectrum until I was 9 years old when Nick News interviewed and filmed me as part of a story that they were doing on Autism.
Challenging Perceptions: Neurodiversity in a Complex World
As I write this blog, I also can’t help but notice and think about what it is like growing up in a world as volatile and strange as this. Being neurodiverse, I sometimes don’t have a full awareness of the world around me which includes how I act and react to certain situations. In a way, some of you may look at a neurodiverse individual and say to yourself, “What is with that guy?” or “What is with that girl?” Why are they seemingly different from me and what good will they do in this world where there is so much unhappiness in it?
I’m pretty sure that these are all the questions that you may ask especially now in this day and age as autism has grown from 1 in 10,000 in the 1990s and before to 1 in 44. I can tell you that I am now part of that 1 in 44 living in a world where everything seems to change at lightning speed. As a neurodiverse individual, I can tell you that there are only two ways you can go to survive in the real world:
Be Flexible and you may survive the real world
Be Rigid and you may not survive the real world
You might be a neurodiverse individual or a family member of a neurodiverse individual and you might be wondering to yourself how you can contribute to society. Well, part of that comes from the experience of living life as a neurodiverse individual, and the more experience you take in like a sponge, the more that you may be a better fit for the future that is in front of you.
Flexibility: A Necessary Weapon for Survival
The two options I have mentioned about either being flexible or not flexible are what I was taught to embrace in my daily life as an adult. The problem was that I had to learn these things right after I got out of high school, although I was part of a special education class called “Social Transitions,” which did help me in a sense prepare, but not as much.
If there is one thing I can say about growing up in a neurodiverse world is that being “flexible” is your only main weapon of survival. Not just in the workplace, but in your daily life. For one thing, you can’t have the same routine and structure forever as much as you want to.
When things change around us, a lot of it is for the good and the necessary. It’s how we react to those changes that can mean the difference.
Preparing for Life’s Changes: A Call for Early Intervention
The important fact that I have learned is to prepare for as many changes as possible. That starts while the individual is still in school, particularly High School. When I left Middle School in 2003, little did I know that I was starting to sense changes happening in my life. I was now being introduced to a world where you are being prepared to get into the nitty-gritty of real life.
The problem was that I didn’t get all of the lessons until after high school. Starting while still in school is critical in terms of getting a job or living on your own.
On the job level, the individual can start by volunteering for an organization community or speaking from my recent experience as a fanfiction writer, at a local anime or comic convention. Once the individual reaches junior year, then he or she can start applying for a part-time level paid job according to the individual’s needs and/or desires.
The Harsh Realities of Adult Life
In terms of home living, you have to start learning not just by doing dishes or making your bed, but you also have to learn about saving money for transportation, rent, and/or buying an actual home. I’ve learned that there are plenty of organizations that are built to help provide individuals with the tools they need to be flexible, which includes being just overly flexible in general.
Still, many of us would much rather live under a rock and pretend to live in our little world. Sadly, though, that is not the case in real life. You have to set boundaries that enable you to keep your life as flexible as possible and you also have to make sacrifices that you don’t want to make. I should know, that I’ve been there many times and will continue to be there many times in the future.
