Miraculous Person. Wrong Country? - Part 1
Hello you all and believe it or not, it's been 4 years since I've started this blog myself!
My idea for this blog for anyone who's visited for the first time is very much my journal of my new life I've started myself. Initially, I wanted to do this blog for when I'll do my project car but it hadn't got there yet. However, I've done new things and made more achievements plus other goals and anything else has been a good steady work in progress. And that will be ingredients to further add to make this blog a growing piece of fascination in the online world.
There are many things I can do as a human like walking, going to places, work, pay bills, socialise, utilising living skills like cooking, fixing, working on projects, enjoying life when possible and even vote. All these or so to help society moving along.
However on my end, things hadn't been that way especially when I was growing up. Since I've been diagnosed with autism when I was 5 years old, I wasn't like everyone else. I've had various traits; the bad, delayed language development, sensory overload, sociable in a particular way and being particular with people, difficulties coping with changes.
From there, I hadn't coped well with troubles I had with noises, not understanding jokes, not communicating well resulting in meltdowns. I've had integration aides along with speech therapy sessions and they've been a decent help. There are also traits that are good; fascinations with certain topics then growing strong knowledges, reliant on structure.
The highlights back when I was a boy has been my strong knowledge on certain topics which include world countries, dinosaurs, animals including sharks and whales and outer space. Computers have been my good forte and I can even remember when the computers the primary school I have attended have the Windows 95 operating system.
From then on, I've learnt many programs, use of CD-ROMs, using a printer, and that won't stop. That I believe is how I've been developing as an individual. And that is despite when other students play together, do sport and so fourth.
My high school years had been tough in the way of not entirely blending in with other students but I'm glad my schooling years have finished. I've completed Year 12 and also passed the driving test and obtained a manual drivers license. That was far from the end of the world for me. It'll be worth knowing that in Australia, a learner driver who passes the driving test in an automatic car will only be permitted to drive automatic cars. The other side for me has been a bonus.
And this is what it's like living in the world as an autistic person. Sadly, many other autistic people experience those problems no matter if they have special qualities that can help fit into society or perhaps change. I've been realising as the years go by, things aren't right. Even though I've worked many jobs over the years, I wasn't getting much help with employment services when I need help gaining employment.
There've been other people establishing their social circles, some dating then getting married and having children. I hadn't had that luxury as such. The worst bit is not knowing myself much in the world and that hadn't helped. The moment when I've decided to do something big is to move to a different area and so I did.
From the time I've moved out of my parents' house, I took on new experiences, responsibilities and there had been some hard moments but at least it's a good chance to learn more skills. And better still, I've had meaningful counselling sessions from both my psychiatrist and psychologist within the south east area of Melbourne. That has helped address other diagnoses such as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia which thankfully have been disproven.
There's a previous page dedicating last year with regards to my schizophrenia disproven by my then psychiatrist which I'll attach the link below.
Since then, the psychiatrist I saw didn't see any further need to attend any more appointments. I'm happy to say I got closure. I've also realised other moments why I had troubles, the biggest problem is ignorance along with people who don't know enough about the autism spectrum.
In the earlier years, people insisted that autism is some kind of intellectual disability. I however don't see that. As I've witnessed other autistic children and even adults, there've been worse ones. They can't speak words, can't eat or drink properly and they'll even need care for the rest of their lives. I've been lucky.
This is one piece of ignorance as I've proven lately that the fact that autism is an intellectual disability isn't always the case. What other people should know is autism varies in the spectrum. Where I am, I'm highly functioning; capable of independent living, having specialised capabilities also and that is the high side of the spectrum. Severe autism is when others can't communicate with words and needing lifelong care and this'll be the other side of the spectrum. Hopefully, you'll understand.
Throughout the course of time during my residency in the south east of Melbourne, I've been discovering more things including myself. I started meeting some people who are on the same spectrum as I am which happened to be a new staff member years back. From there, I've been embracing more of the autism spectrum and I've even been changing my perspective on the condition, that hadn't happened before. I'm not stopping there.
With autism not much of a problem, hurdles still remain. The biggest being communities not educated enough. This is the realisation I came to being the root causes of my troubled past. I took a grand opportunity last year on September to meet with state MP representing Narracan Wayne Farnham. I took the opportunity to discuss about autism awareness and education including my insights. The outcome has been better than I expected and Wayne has expressed willingness to meet up with other ministers in the Victorian parliament to forward the matters.
Aside from finishing up my last appointment with my psychiatrist the following month, I started watching The Assembly.
The Assembly is a different kind of TV show broadcasted on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). What makes this unique is it features journalism students who happen to be on the autism spectrum interviewing celebrities including Maggie Beer. They've been tasked to do a little research and set up questions by each journalism student but the questions they've each asked but they're not just simple questions. They're comprehensive. And that marks their incredible amounts of curiosity.
After watching that episode with my parents, I got into it although I had to catch up on previous episodes through ABC iView. To date, 2 seasons of The Assembly have been broadcast with the third one to start later. Looking into myself, journalism seemed to be up my alleyway and it's been a good privilege to work on my blog.
I'm also a member of the Autism Valued organisation for over a year. What started with 2 Zoom meetings towards the end of last year motivated to become a member. And I was at the stage in life I'm getting tired of dealing with typical people who can be troublesome, even in a sharehouse where there are housemates who have completely different personalities.
This year, the organisation has commenced the Passion Projects group starting February. The intention is for participants including myself to work on our projects or enjoy other projects practicing their special interests among others. It is also referred to as 'body doubling or parallel play'. It's been a long while but I'm starting to know other members despite life getting in my way.
Anyway, I better conclude this. I have more to add but on the other hand, that may be too much so I've decided to split this into 2 parts. And one thing I'm delighted to share is Amaze which is another autism organisation initiated the Autism @ Parliament program meeting up with state ministers and the end result will be promising and for once, benefit more people on the autism spectrum. There'll be the Victorian Autism Act and after reading the article, the proposed policies have won my support. It's much needed especially when I went through the tough troubles just to be part of society.
I'll provide the link below regarding Amaze's Victorian Autism Act article for everyone else to read.
Victorian Autism Act: autism organisations call for landmark reform at Parliament 2026 - Amaze
See you next time!
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