Hannah Perry
“He looks normal!” others say to me when I tell them my brother has ADHD and Autism. Or, “I never could’ve guessed!” To them, my brother looks like a normal kid who just can’t focus very well sometimes. But when you actually take a shot at living with him for a while, you’ll really see the difference. “Wear your slippers downstairs!” I’ll hear my mom yell at least 10 times a day. “Why can’t you focus?” my dad says, sighing in frustration while trying his best to teach him math. “You won’t get a job one day if you don’t work harder!” My parents do everything they can to help my brother. They worry for his future. They send him to a bunch of after-school activities. They even send him to counselors in school so that he can improve his social skills. But behind every careless shrug my brother gives to my parents when they ask him, “Don’t you want to do better?” all I see is a teenager just trying to fit in. It’s not that he doesn’t want to join jazz band or sports teams, he’s just afraid of messing up so that people will judge him. When he tries to make people laugh, sometimes all he gets are stares and a scolding from the teacher to keep quiet. I feel terrible because he is such a great person, but he just isn’t understood. That’s why whenever he goes to MTE and meets plenty of other kids that share his struggles, he actually feels accepted for once and like he can be himself. But having ADHD and Autism is actually not a bad thing. It’s a great thing! My brother has a scarily amazing memory, and actually pays a lot of attention to small details that others don’t notice. Whenever I ask him about the dates of the days we went on trips or did special things, he always remembers very well and can even tell me the order of the things we did! I used to think that I was better than my brother, and sometimes even looked down on him. But when you actually try to understand those with disabilities, you’ll get to know what amazing people they are. Autism isn’t less, it’s different, and if you put yourself in my shoes, you’ll see it, too.
