About Me

Hi, my name is Megan, and I am a 30-year-old aspie. Some people call this a disability. I consider myself as differently wired. I have embraced my difference as a unique gift. For that reason, I would never change that for anything, not even for a million dollars!

Diagnoses

Do you know that when mom’s bounce their babies up and down on their laps? Well, When I was about 8 months old, my mom noticed that something was very wrong. One day, I started to bounce me on her lap up and down, and during mid bounce my legs had stiffened up and I had flipped backwards. Kind of like a gymnasts practice their flipping skills! Ha who knew I wanted to try gymnastics. Just kidding! So, then my mom had decided to set up an appointment with a specialist. When we arrived at the clinic, she had checked me in. When it was my turn, the doctors had performed some tests. Such as, testing the flexibility, balance, and posture. When the results came back, the doctor told my mom that I have what is called cerebral palsy.

Cerebral Palsy

Definition cerebral palsy is defined as a disability that affects a person’s ability to keep good posture, balance, or flexibility causing severe muscle tightness and muscle spasms as a result of the muscle tightness

Cognitive Learning Delays

When I was around 2 years old I was diagnosed with cognitive learning delays. meaning I had difficulties communicating with anyone, including, my own family members. Because of this, I was an easy target of getting bullied a lot more than others while I was in elementary school. and throughout middle school. Somedays it would get so bad I would come home in tears, sobbing. Now I understand why because others were jealous that I could make friends easily. During this time I have received so much help along the way. Such as, speech therapy so I can communicate more clearly. Now I am more able to have excellent conversations with others

Generalized Anxiety Disorder and depression

At age 13, I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and depression. It was very difficult to cope back then. It felt like I was riding on a emotional rollercoaster. Being a teenager is difficult enough in general. Especially when being 13 years old and being a female of course! During that time my mom had suggested that I should go and see a therapist. But I was reluctant at first. During that specific moment I was thinking,” No! I don’t want to!” ” It doesn’t work!” It won’t help me!” My mom had told me that it would help me to learn some coping skills. It could also help me to manage my anxiety better. So, I went. Now after going through therapy , putting in the work , and learning some coping skills

At age 18, I got tested for Autism. Let me tell you it was not easy for me to complete. My brain had felt like the wheels kept turning around, and around again. When I was at my wits end of times, you know of that image in cartoons of steam coming out of your ears? That is exactly what I was feeling during that particular moment. When the results came in 2 weeks later, I had found out that I was diagnosed with Autism. To be honest with you I felt a sense of relief because I knew that I was different my whole life. Now everything started making sense. At age 25 I had to take a psychological evaluation again because my new social worker at that time didn't believe that I had autism. So now, I had to go through another series of testing. For me , it was very agitating when I had found out about it. It had taken me over an hour to complete. During this I had experienced what was called "Sensory Overload" or " Overstimulation. Within 2 weeks later I had found out that results showed that I have Aspergers.

Asperger’s: is a high functioning form of autism

How Aspergers Affects Me

How my autism affects me is by a heightened sensitivity to certain noise frequencies , sensitivity to light, and certain smells just to name a few. I am also affected by certain textures of certain foods such as, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, salad, and coleslaw. For me the worst own is mint toothpaste. It is so strong for me that it makes me feel sick afterwards. So instead, I use cinnamon flavored toothpaste .Certain senses also affect me as well. Such as , Lavendar, window cleaner, and microband 24.

Maintaining Eye Contact

If I have a hard time keeping eye contact with you it is because I am trying to think about how I am going to respond after a person has a conversation with me. I great way of explaining this is the cartoon “Road Runner.” Road Runner runs super fast so its harder for the bad guy coyote to catch him. In my situation while trying to maintain eye contact with someone, my eyes tend to dart around a lot. So , if I am not entirely looking directly at you that is why.

Hard times Dealing With Change

For me when everything goes according to my daily routine I feel more emotionally secure and happier. . I prefer to have a structural routine. Wheb that gets disrupted, I tend to get agitated. I have been better with it as years have passed by. Still sometimes, it gets the best of me. Oh well nobody’s perfect and as my Mom says”OopsieCadoodle!” I know what you are thinking where did that word come from ? Well for starters the word “Oopsiecadoodle!” came from a tv show that I watched on Netflix called “Pup Academy.. In the episode there is this little yorkie that runs around saying “Oopsiedoodle!” as there way of saying oops ! Oh well I am not perfect.

Conclusion

I would like to say just because you are different doesn’t mean that you should limit yourself. You can do anything you set your mind to. There is nothing wrong with you at all you are an incredible amazing human! thank you all!

Until Next Time,

Megan Volz aka Differently wired