AngeGirl2007's Journal

Well, hello!

My name is Jordan.

I'm glad to see you!

Please sit down.

I see you've met my brother Matthew.

You've learned about his autism.

I have something else to teach you.

I have something called Asperger's.

Asperger's is an autism-related condition.

Mom calls it “autism's cousin.”

People with Asperger's are smart and creative

but have problems relating to people

and understanding what is appropriate behavior

and what isn't.

Sometimes Mom will be talking to Grandma

or Aunt Tam or Aunt Susan

and I will interrupt and start talking about something

that is important to me.

That's because people with Asperger's don't understand

two-way conversation.

One night at bedtime when I was younger

Mom was reading us the story of the first Easter.

When she read of Jesus paying for our sins

I asked, “How could Jesus pay for our sins? He didn't have any money.”

People with Asperger's don't understand figurative language.

People with Asperger's do better in some areas of school than

in others.

I enjoy Language Arts, Theater and Band, and science.

I do all right in math but I have to work harder than the other kids.

Sometimes it is hard for me to be with people

for very long because of my Asperger's.

When I have had a stressful day, I spend time at my computer

or I play my Nintendo DS.

These things help me to relax and feel good.

People with Asperger's have different areas of interest

that are their areas of excellence.

One thing I have learned to do with my computer is

to make my own movies.

I also enjoy reading and I've discovered that I like to write stories.

My teachers tell me they enjoy the things I've written and they

encourage me to keep writing.

When I was younger my interests were trains and dinosaurs.

I used to build train layouts that would stretch from one end of the house to the other.

Now I am helping my younger brother Kenny to build train layouts.

And dinosaurs? I can tell you the names of every dinosaur that ever lived along with the time period they lived in.

Sometimes it is lonely having Asperger's.

I don't hang out with anyone after school.

I don't go to anyone's house and they don't come to mine.

It isn't that I don't WANT to make friends.

It's that I don't know HOW to make friends.

Having Asperger's isn't easy.

Some of my behaviors are misunderstood

and, like my brother Matthew, I'm seen as being

mean or strange.

I am neither.

I have had some good experiences since I've gotten older.

I've participated in band.

My dance class designed a special dance just for me.

And I have performed in several different plays that got lots of cheers from the audience.

My classmates have even cheered and said “Way to go, Jordan!”

There are days when I wish I didn't have Asperger's.

Sometimes I wish I could be a normal teenager.

Mom tells me all the time that Asperger's chose me,

I didn't choose Asperger's.

Sometimes I wish I knew why.

Mom also tells me of the people in history with Asperger's and autism,

people like Albert Einstein, Emily Dickinson, Thomas Jefferson.

Even Bill Gates, the man who created Microsoft for the computers we use.

Mom tells me that I have Asperger's and that Asperger's doesn't have me.

Mom believes in me and what I can achieve. She wants me to believe in myself.

I hope you can come over again.

I'll show you how to create your own movie

and maybe even how to make a train layout that goes from one end of the house to the other.

Maybe we can share some pink lemonade and I will quiz you on your knowledge of dinosaurs.

Sounds like a plan to me!