As a small child, I would get lost in music to the point I wouldn’t respond to my own name. My parents knew I was a little different, but they didn’t know what it was. When started kindergarten, I would hang around the teachers more than I would children my own age. Without an official diagnosis, my parents did things to encourage me to try new things. I was given piano lessons and encouraged to draw. My parents were always very supportive of my special interests.
I wouldn’t officially be diagnosed on the autism spectrum until I was an adult. By this time, I had already graduated high school and college with honors and without any special learning services or IEP. Before being diagnosed, I had started my own business to produce the films and books I wanted to write. Without any outside financing, I had written, directed, produced, starred in, and edited my own TV show and movies. My last feature film was shown in Mumbai, India, where I won Best Experimental. I have also gotten my filmography on IMDB.
As an independent artist, I will sometimes get a negative review for being different. I don’t mind being different, especially when my fans are comparing me to J.D. Salinger or talking about how my illustrations for children's books belong in a museum for children's book art.. The joy for me as an artist with autism is when I have somebody tell me how important my work was to them. I have had high school students do class projects on my books and students in college write their final papers on my works. I get fan mail from people around the world telling me they wished they would have read my books earlier in life. It would have saved them a lot of heartache.
My goal in life now is to become an advocate for individuals with autism and to increase awareness about it in our society. I want to create a positive image of what autism can be.
Bowling Green, OH
