By Kadin McElwain
In 2022, I was preparing to transition into my freshman year at Lake Erie College. I had just graduated from high school during a pandemic while working two jobs and was confident in my ability to go to college — or at least I acted like I was.
On the inside, however, I was terrified of the idea of college, as many rising college freshmen are, neurodivergent or not. But as an autistic individual, I was about to leave my routine and prepare for the next chapter of life. I had no idea what to do. But I had parents who supported me every step of the way.
One of the biggest lessons that my parents have taught me is to embrace who I am and not to worry about everyone else. If people don’t like you for who you are, that is their problem, not yours. They are the ones who will miss out on an amazing person due to their ignorance. This lesson has helped me increase my self-confidence. But there was something else my parents did that calmed my worries about what college would be like.
Two days before I was set to move into my dorm room, I still had some worries about what the experience would be like. So my Dad took me to the college to tour the campus to help calm these concerns.
After having a look at the campus and enjoying one of my favorite things about the college experience — the food — I got excited about this new adventure I was about to go on. I am extremely thankful that my Dad decided to take me to the campus. While it wasn’t exactly like living at home, I ended up enjoying my experience with dorm rooms, aside from a few socially unaware roommates.
For the last two years of college, I decided to finish online while living at my parents’ house in order to save money on room and board. To be more accurate, they proposed this idea because housing and a meal plan make up the majority of the cost of university.
Coincidentally, the university was offering a scholarship for those who went online that year. So this was a no-brainer for me, and my family supported me in this decision. While we occasionally have our disagreements, as most families do, the love that we have for one another is enough to look past any arguments we may have.
The moral of this story is that when you have an autistic child who’s about to transition into the world of college and adulting, your support means everything to them. If it wasn’t for my parents supporting me every step of the way, I would’ve never built up the confidence to start planning my adult life.
Autism is a misunderstood disorder that may make parents worry about their child’s future. But if they commit to supporting their child no matter what comes their way, just like my parents did for me, they’ll have the potential to produce another success story. Most importantly, the child will have confidence in their own abilities and be able to pass that on for generations.
