An Aspie's Perspective: Identifying the Internal Conflict of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Discovering Resources Needed for Combat

Every day, people, like myself, are fighting an internal war.

Our war: Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Our enemies: Fear, anxiety, overwhelm.

Every single day is a struggle, and every single day we fight just to maintain a balance of self-worth and self-composure.

Socializing, proper balancing, or just simply understanding people's behaviors and intentions are all challenges that leave us perplexed. Sometimes, it leaves our heads spinning.

Some of us are lonely, trapped souls just crying and dying to break free from anxiety and fear and share with the world our uplifting personalities. I often say that we are the world's best kept secrets.

Every day, we are met with conditions that hinder us from achieving our best selves: Depression, discrimination, lack of understanding, or a lack of compassion.

Through our shared earnest testimony, we lay solid groundwork for others to learn and become more aware, and we forge a pathway for others to follow in a quest for success.

Our final goal is to achieve a quality life. A life where we are blessed with meaningful and enriching relationships and friendships. A life where we are accepted for who we are, faults and all. A life where we can hold our heads high with pride and bask in our achievements instead of feeling belittled or berated by others because we are not alike.

Some people in society rally around us and try to bring awareness to the issues we face daily; others simply don't care as it does not affect them.

Regardless, we put our best foot forward and forge through the trenches in our life-long journies.

We are survivors.

In our own special way, we long to inspire and touch the hearts of others to feel what quite frankly the world needs to feel these days: Compassion.

Our goals are never-ending because when there is one person out there who is feeling lost, lonely, and insignificant, this is when we must band together as a strong community to be there to shine light for them.

Only through this kind of support can we achieve the quality of life I have discussed previously and forge those important, meaningful relationships for which we strive and then, and only then, will we experience the greatest victory of all.