On today's episode Gracie shares what life is like having autism and how she hopes people will treat her. She talks about the struggles she's had and how life changed once she embraced her diagnosis and made friendships with others who could fully understand her.
Music: Moments by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or check out our blog at www.wellbalancedlife.ca. And don't forget...you're not alone!
On today's episode Gracie shares what life is like having autism and how she hopes people will treat her. She talks about the struggles she's had and how life changed once she embraced her diagnosis and made friendships with others who could fully understand her.
Music: Moments by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or check out our blog at www.wellbalancedlife.ca. And don't forget...you're not alone!
Guitar music gently playing 0:00 - 0:18
Melanie 0:00
Welcome to Well Balanced Life. On today's episode we're going to be talking about "Living with Autism".
If you're new here, I'm Melanie
Grace 0:11
I'm Gracie
Melanie 0:11
And together we've created Well Balanced Life to help other families living with special needs. We've decided to start with Gracie's feelings and experiences on her life with autism and her other diagnoses, and I'm sure many of you will relate. And others may learn something new. As they say, once you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. Each one of you are unique and incredible in your own way. So I'd love to hear from Gracie what her thoughts are on living with autism.
Grace 0:38
Umm...living with autism can be sometimes a little bit hard, um with rou...with routines, um new places, new changes, and sometimes I struggle with making friendships, and sometimes I make, sometimes I have a hard time with school.
Melanie 1:03
Mhmm, so that was actually going to be one of my next questions, was, um what parts of the diagnosis do you find challenging?
Grace 1:10
What do you mean diagnosis?
Melanie 1:12
Like autism and...
Grace 1:16
Yes
Melanie 1:16
So you do have a bunch of letters beside your name, right, but I would say we probably focus more on the autism diagnosis because the strategies for that seem to help with a lot of the other ones.
Grace 1:29
Yeah
Melanie 1:29
But um... so you mentioned that school was hard and making friendships and a bunch of other things. Are there some good things about having autism?
Grace 1:37
Uh...ya! Um the things that I like about it is that I get the extra help when I need it.
Melanie 1:44
Mhmm
Grace 1:44
Um, with school, not with just school but um... with learning new things and I also have super powers.
Melanie 1:53
Super powers?
Grace 1:54
Yes.
Melanie 1:55
Can you share a little bit about that?
Grace 1:56
Ah, um, I'm a really good hearer, I can see well, I have a very good sense of smell, um...
Melanie 2:05
Mhmm... so you know what? That could probably be another um, episode that we do, is on sensory issues. Because, for a lot of things you're hyper-sensitive. Do you know what that means?
Grace 2:15
Umm...I've never heard of that before.
Melanie 2:16
You've never heard hypersensitive?
Grace 2:17
I know that I, I know that I get excited easily.
Melanie 2:20
(With a little laughter) Which is the word hyper in there. But hyper sensitive means that you can hear things, and see things, and feels things, maybe even a lot stronger than other people.
Grace 2:31
Yeah.
Melanie 2:32
So like when you get hurt...right. Um, you can feel things a lot more than what I can feel, so might feel pain really really bad. Right? (With some laughter) I know sometimes you react more and that's a whole other story, but um, your hearing for example...you could be downstairs and I could whisper something to dad and you come running up because you've heard what I said. Right?
Grace 2:56
Yes.
Melanie 2:56
That's hypersensitive. That can be a good thing but it can also be a bit of a challenge too right? Like when we went to Disney and when you're in loud places...
Grace 3:03
Yes.
I still struggle with loud noises sometimes and crowds.
Melanie 3:10
Mhmm. And then hypo-sensitive means you don't feel those things as strongly. Or you don't hear as well, you don't see as well, you don't...hyPO, means um, that you don't feel that. And, I will say that you can go from hyper-sensitive to hypo-sensitive, even in the same day.
Grace 3:30
Yeah.
Melanie 3:30
You, I remember when you were a baby once, you um, got your foot stuck under a big chest. I don't even know how you managed to get it under there.
Grace 3:38
Oh...
Melanie 3:39
But, and I, I'm surprised it didn't break your toe in all honesty.
Grace 3:43
Oohhh!
Melanie 3:43
But you didn't react at all!
Grace 3:45
Wow!
Melanie 3:45
It didn't phase you one bit.
Grace 3:47
I almost, I almost broked my foot and I didn't even remember.
Melanie 3:50
(With laughter) No...but that's when you were hypo-sensitive.
So um, do you feel that autism and anxiety and all those diagnoses, do you like that defines who you are?
Grace 4:04
Ahh...sometimes.
Melanie 4:05
Like is that your whole self?
Grace 4:07
No. Sometimes I feel like it, but depends... on the situation.
Melanie 4:14
Mhmm...You live with it everyday.
Grace 4:15
Yes.
Melanie 4:16
But maybe you can tell us a little bit about you just being you.
Grace 4:20
Yeah.
Melanie 4:20
What are the best parts of you?
Grace 4:22
Um...I'm outgoing, I'm fun. I get like, I like how I get excited over things easily.
Melanie 4:28
Mhmm. What sort of things do you like?
Grace 4:30
Like my hobbies?
Melanie 4:31
Mhmm.
Grace 4:32
Well I like going for walks. Um I'm started going for walks with my friends. Um, Sébastien, Cameron, and we're gonna ask some other people like Jessie and Robbie so I'm excited. Um, I'm, I'm starting to go out...I'm starting to meet up with friends more often so I'm looking forward to that. Um... I like, um, going for walks like I said, with my friends. Going on my phone. Um, I like going out places. With family too!
Melanie 5:04
What sort of shows do you like? And characters and stuff.
Grace 5:06
Ah, my favourite show right now is Bluey. Bluey is my favourite TV show.
Melanie 5:11
Mhmm.
Grace 5:12
I don't really watch TV as much I usually just use YouTube.
Melanie 5:16
So I think that's part of having autism too, is um, you might like, like developmentally...you might be younger than your birth age at times right?
Grace 5:26
Yeah.
Melanie 5:26
And I find now, like you're 19 years old and I feel that, there are moments where you can still a 6 to 8 year old...
Grace 5:35
Yeah.
Melanie 5:35
Even younger. Three and four year old when it comes to Bluey and your excitement over Christmas and those sorts of things.
Grace 5:41
Yes!
Melanie 5:41
And then, the sass that you can give sometimes is more like a... 14 to 15 year old.
Grace 5:48
Yes.
Melanie 5:48
And then, you have some really incredible insight... like you're nineteen.
So I think there's a lot different, different age groups happening, happening there.
Grace 5:57
Yeah! It depends on the day.
Melanie 5:59
Mhmm. And what do I always say about having a diagnosis? Like when I say "You have autism, but that doesn't mean..."
Grace 6:11
I can make if for an excuse.
Melanie 6:16
(With laughter) Right... Right? It just means that you learn in a different way.
Grace 6:19
Yes.
Melanie 6:19
Doesn't mean you can't do something.
Grace 6:20
Yes.
Melanie 6:20
It doesn't mean that you can't go to school and learn. And have your brain grow.
Grace 6:28
Yes.
Melanie 6:28
Would you change having a diagnosis? Like if you could have a magic wand and get rid of it.
Grace 6:35
Um... I would want to see what it would look like with me not having autism.
Melanie 6:40
Mhmm.
Grace 6:40
Yeah.
Melanie 6:41
But are you pretty happy with the way you are?
Grace 6:42
Uh...ya. Sometimes I am.
Melanie 6:45
What are some things that you don't like?
Grace 6:48
Umm...how I can't fit in with friends. Like how I'm, how I have a hard time not making...I, sorry... um...
Melanie 6:58
It's okay!
Grace 6:58
I don't like talking about things...
Melanie 7:02
About the things that make you feel bad?
Grace 7:04
Yeah.
Melanie 7:05
But it's good for people to know, right?
Grace 7:07
Yeah.
Melanie 7:07
And, we all have moments where we, you know...things are harder to talk about because it does make us sad.
Grace 7:14
Yeah.
Melanie 7:14
And I know you're talking about friends and how you don't make friends, but you have made friends now, haven't you?
Grace 7:19
Yeah.
Melanie 7:20
And I think the difference was, you finally, in high school, decided to embrace your autism.
Grace 7:28
Yeah.
Melanie 7:28
Right? And you decided to befriend some people who also have autism.
Grace 7:35
Yes.
Melanie 7:35
And I think that made a big difference... you were trying to fit in with what you said in quotes there "the cool kids".
Grace 7:41
Yes!
Melanie 7:41
And that was the hard part right?
Grace 7:42
Yeah.
Melanie 7:43
You were always good at making friends.
Grace 7:45
Yeah.
Melanie 7:45
It was the keeping friends that was hard.
Grace 7:48
Yeah.
Melanie 7:49
So....would you change having autism? Would you get rid of it completely or no?
Grace 7:53
Uh...sometimes. But I don't mind it.
Melanie 7:57
Alright...what are some things that you wish the world knew about you? Or about autism? Or about people that have autism? Especially when they're out in the community. What do you want people to know?
Grace 8:08
I want people to know that... they shouldn't feel bad about themselves, if they have autism or some other diagnosis.
Melanie 8:18
Cool. How do you want people to treat you?
Grace 8:19
Ah...well kinda just treat me with respect.
Melanie 8:23
Mhmm.
Grace 8:23
With kindness.
Melanie 8:25
That's good!
Grace 8:26
Yes.
Melanie 8:27
Well there you have it. Treat everybody with kindness and respect.
Grace 8:30
Yes.
Melanie 8:31
I love that. Everybody should do that to each other in the world eh?
Grace 8:34
Yes!
Melanie 8:35
Diagnosis or not.
Grace 8:37
Yep.
Melanie 8:37
Alright! Well thanks for sharing Gracie and thanks for listening!
(Guitar music gently playing in background ) We um... hope to do some podcasts that share some strategies and some tips on specific challenges that you might be having. I don't know, we have some pretty funny dinner conversations don't we? (with laughter)
Grace 8:54
Yes, yeah
Melanie 8:54
So we kinda want to make this just like our chats at dinner.
Grace 8:58
Yeah.
Melanie 8:58
That's it for today! A good autism awareness chat today I think.
Grace 9:03
Yeah.
Melanie 9:03
Thanks for listening! And don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. The more people we can reach the better because we are all in this together.
Grace 9:11
Yes.
Melanie 9:12
You're not alone!