ALBERT'S STORY

My Story of Autism

It wasn't easy for me to figure out that I had autism. In fact, I didn't find out I had it until I was a freshman in high school. Yes, all that time since I was little living in Oklahoma until I was back in California living with my grandparents, I actually had autism. My parents had a difficult time figuring it out though, but thanks to my grandmother, she realized that I had some behavioral problems, and decided to get me the help that I desperately needed to help me through this. I was 14 years old at the time when my grandmother got me help by going to the County Mental Health office in the south part of my hometown. There, we met up with a psychologist who ran multiple tests on me, which took several weeks to complete, and then more time to figure out what I had. Of course, it wasn't all that easy on me, but with the support of my grandmother, I got the tests done. Not even two months later, the diagnosis came back positive for autism, well, the high functioning form of autism, Asperger's Syndrome. For the first few months, I had severe difficulty coping with it, but with the loving comfort of my grandparents, I finally accepted the truth of what I actually had. As time went on, I started to become more and more understanding and gotten more help as I gotten older. Achieving my goals became my top priority. Now being 24 years old, I have achieved a lot of goals, such as being in college, living on my own, and a whole lot more than I ever dreamed of. Was it easy for me? No. But, with the help of my friends and family, I will be successful in anything that I put my mind to.