To say that Rosie King's
laid back, yet powerful and emotional speech on Ted.com struck a chord with me would be
the understatement of the year. I knew that for this particular blog post I
would like to address an issue I’ve both struggled with and embraced, something
that I do not want to be defined by, but something that has always been a huge
part of me and lead me on the path I am on today, even why I enrolled at Full
Sail University. Yes, I have autism. A mild degree of it that, I guess,
qualifies as Asperger Syndrome, which has effectively altered my social
skills and shaped a detailed internal world for me consisting mostly of films
and television shows. It’s a world I want to integrate with my “real”
surroundings, so a career in the film industry would help me merge the two
worlds together.
Rosie King really reminds
me of myself, however I was not as brave as she was at sixteen. I would never
have openly admitted my autism in public, though I’m pretty sure most people
suspected it anyway, even though they were never exactly sympathetic to my
predicament. I am also somewhat envious of Rosie’s supportive family, because
my parents are staunch believers that autism “doesn’t exist” and that I am just
“looking for attention.” Since I don’t want to spoil my relationship with my
parents, this is a topic I no longer discuss with them.
I liked that Rosie
explained that autism does not fit into one particular stereo-type and not all
of us behave like Dustin Hoffman in RainMan. Also, not all of us are math geniuses, I far one, abhor the subject
and barely passed it. However, just like Rosie, my autism expresses itself with
vivid daydreaming to escape mundane reality and wild creativity and that can
barely find an outlet. Since I’m not making any films at the moment, I try to
do it through writing, but it’s not enough, so my day-to-day life and schoolwork
start suffering.
