A Poem I Wrote After My Parents Told Me About My Autism

I was looking through old photos at my parents’ house and found a poem I wrote after I was diagnosed with autism. Even though I was diagnosed with autism at 4, I wouldn’t find out about it until I was 11 and a half. I always knew I was special, but I didn’t know why. Then, one day after school, I decided to ask my parents why I was special. That’s when they told me about autism for the first time.

I almost forgot about this poem completely, but when I saw it I was brought back to my early childhood in an instant.

The poem reads…

I have autism
I’m not broken
I’m not dumb

I have autism
I’m not always overwhelmed
I’m not always wanting to be by myself

I have autism
I’m different but different is OK

I’m unique and also have a unique perspective of the world
that makes me special

I have autism
I’m the only person in my family to have this
I’m excited to make friends and for you to get to know me

I have autism and
I hope you can accept me and others like me

We long to belong.

A version of this post originally appeared on Kerrymagro.com.

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Photo by contributor.