This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Adelphi chapter.
Hi, I am Skylar, and I am on the spectrum. I do not know when I was diagnosed, but I can tell you how I found out: I was in my parents’ room being nosy and stumbled on a book about Autism, so I started reading it. I figured my parents must have had the book for a reason, and I knew from what I read that it wasn’t likely that my siblings would have autism. I was probably the one who had it.
While there are good and bad things that come with being on the spectrum, I thought that I would tell you 10 positives ( in no particular order)
Note these are positives for me and may be different for other people:
- I always have an outfit planned for Wednesdays, do you all remember the classic line from Mean Girls “On Wednesday we wear pink”? Well, I follow that rule religiously, as every Wednesday I have my burn book shirt on, Mickey leggings (they look good with my shirt), my SNL sweatshirt, and a Mean Girls snapback or beanie. If I forget, I make sure to have a backup in hand for that day.
- I seem to have the ability to make connections with people in my field of interest. I am very fortunate to be able to personally know the former social media head of Playbill, have my book signed by a three star Michelin chef, and many more opportunities because of my special interest in things.
- I have a coping mechanism for whenever I am very sad. I have a fascination with bucket lists (I will be writing an article soon about them), and with completing and updating them, which has helped me to get out of my head and look forward to the future.
- I have a copious amount of knowledge on Broadway, TV and movies.
- I am excellent at coming up with ideas for where to go on vacation (just don’t ask me to actually call the places haha).
- I have a ton of restaurant and bar recommendations I would love to go to Noma (Denmark) and Artestian (London)
- I met two of my closest friends because I’m on the spectrum. One I met through a summer camp for those on the spectrum and the other I met at the Bridges program here at Adelphi, which is designed to support students on the spectrum
- When I am happy, it is very obvious- not only because I am smiling but because I am usually flapping my hands excitedly.
- I usually have a universal topic that I can talk about with others since I have a variety of interests.
- I would not be who I am without being on the spectrum.
As you can see there are many positives to being on the spectrum that most people do not realize.