Monthly Archives: November 2014

My Speech at the Autism Society Self Determination Conference

When you think of your future, you have lots of ideas.

So do I.

Remember when you finished high school? What were your plans?

My plans are similar. I want a college degree. I want independent living one day. I want a relationship. I want a fulfilling job. I must try to get these despite my autism and my not speaking and all the challenges this brings.

From our earliest ages people with autism are used to being told what to do.

Touch your nose!

Touch your head!

Look at me!

Hands down.

All done!

Self-determination means having the right to express what I need to achieve my goals.

This means that the unique and individual needs of people with disabilities need to be addressed. My needs are different than the cookie cutter. This means that agencies, like Regional Center, and others, that support us in our adult lives, need to be adaptable.

I want to get the right support. The support I need may be very different than what other people with disabilities, or even other people with autism need, to succeed in college and in a career. I am a bright enough guy to know my needs and the kind of support that will enable me to achieve my goals. I want to be sure that the support and services I will receive after high school will be what I truly need and not based on the needs of other people with different plans or different talents.

My experts have missed the mark most of my life. Kind of like a tennis player who keeps missing the ball or hitting it to the wrong court.

That’s why I would really like to plan my own course and have a say in my own life.

We need partners to support us, not planners to tell us where we belong.

Isn’t that supposed to be the objective of all the services we have received all our lives anyway?

I warn you about one thing though. A consequence of teaching autistic people to type is that we have opinions and we have determination. Once we can express them we will demand a voice in our own futures.