Siblings. The thing 90% of the world has at least one of. Well, I have 3 and each one is very different. Especially my brother. He is 13, obsessed with video games, pokemon, superheroes, and he is on the Autism spectrum. When people hear the word Autism what do they automatically associate it with? A non-verbal disease caused by vaccines, which it is not. Do they think of the odd child coming from the special education room down the hall who can’t pay attention? Well, the thing is when one knows a child on the spectrum or sees a child on the spectrum they know only one child or person on the spectrum. Every child is different and every child is special. And when that statement is said and heard it sounds like you could be describing most children in the world, which it does but also those who may need a little help along the way. My brother has taught me a lot about how to live and see the world, but in a different way, any other younger sibling could. So I’m here to help set the record straight about what Autism is and how it changes one’s world. It is not easy for one living with it and for those living around them but Autism has taught me that there is a thick line between tolerance and acceptance, ignorance can sometimes be bliss, and that being oneself is nothing that we need to apologize for but we can explain for.

My little brother was born on February 26, 2005. He has always been very different in my family. First of all, he was born with a full head of dark hair, while my sisters and I were all born almost bald with just a little bit of red hair. Secondly, he is the only boy. Finally, he didn’t talk until he was about 3, because I did all the talking for him. All of these classify him as different but none as a child with autism. I have always been the one who worries most about my brother. Most likely because I had never had a sibling before and thought that I was another parent. I was never the child to resent the new baby in my family. I loved every bit of being able to care for a real human being and boss them around rather than my dolls that were only capable of showing one emotion. My Dad always said he never thought Joey, my brother, would talk much because I was always there to talk for him. Now, many believe that not talking until two or three is an early sign of autism, it actually isn’t uncommon for kids to not talk early on. Sometimes speech delays can be due to the inability to hear well due to infection or an oral impairment, and that came as no surprise since Joey had to have ear tubes put in for infections twice. When he really started to develop otherwise and start preschool we knew he was a little different in another way. When he started a new preschool we saw it was difficult for him to decipher social situations and understand the difference when someone was being mean to him and when someone was just acting normal, he was very separate from the other kids in his class. We didn’t really get an official diagnosis until he started kindergarten. I never really understood the whole story of how that came to be I just remember my parents explaining his differences to me at the kitchen table when I was in the second grade. I really can’t remember much else about life at that time but I know my parents seemed a lot more stressed and a lot of dynamic changed in the house not just because my little sister was just born but for more reasons that surrounded my brother.

I still was protective of him but because I had read Babysitters club #32, Kristy and the Secret of Susan which helped me understand autism and the issues those that have it face. I Felt not just because of that book, which I actually read with great timing before my parents explained Joey had autism, that it could be my job to protect and help him when my parents weren’t around. Again I was like another parent to him, or what I thought was a parent when I was 3. I was there to help him understand and to help others understand that he was worth more than an outburst they saw in five seconds. Before he started school he was just my little brother, and still was for a few months, but after that time my parents sat me down he was my little brother with autism.

As I said earlier, it is commonly believed that autism is associated with speech delays and language impairment. I will let it be known that my brother is far from that description. You can’t get him to stop talking now. He even talks in his sleep. He could go on for hours telling you about world war 2, the Avengers, Pokemon, and so much more. He is technically high functioning, but saying he has autism is sometimes easier than explaining everything else. If you were to see him in a crowd of kids his age he would definitely stand out. First of all, because he is significantly smaller than most kids his age but because he has this energy that expresses that he will dance like nobody's watching. We recently went to camp together and I spent all this time beforehand worrying about him and how others would perceive his behavior. After the first opening session, I pushed all that worry aside. He loved being on stage dancing, playing games, and just being himself. I do still worry about how the world will perceive him in instances like camp or school or even public events. The thing is since some kids on the spectrum have the wonderful dance like nobody’s watching mindset sometimes people can take advantage of that. Yes, my brother can make a fool of himself for doing some odd things, but kids that think that's funny may cheer him on for their own entertainment. I can’t say anything, but still, I am angry. He doesn’t see that people are really making fun of him but I do and it just breaks my heart sometimes even when I see it happen to other kids. I talked to a family friend about what I can do in these times and she said that all I can do is continue to treat anyone who is different the way I treat my brother so I don’t continue the trend and also realize that they are so unfortunate in the way that they will never get to know him as the amazing kid he is and only know him as the fool they created by seeing him that way. I know that my brother and everyone should have the right to be who they are and no one should stop them Try as I may, My brother would rather be himself and be made fun of than be silenced, and for him that ignorance is bliss. I’ve learned to take a page out of his book and really dance like nobody's watching. He may have a few odd outbursts or ask a lot of questions but that makes him who he is. When he misbehaves or interrupts at times autism is not an excuse or something that needs an apology but something that can be explained. I realize now that I should never have to excuse or apologize for his behavior but explain. Explanations make understanding possible and that is what I plan to do for anyone that comes my way. All anyone should have to say when being who they are and expressing their true personality is this is who I am and that’s my only excuse. My mom also came up with this great comeback when people are mean or rude it goes “ He’s got a diagnosis for being who he is what’s your excuse for being mean?”. Mean and rude is not who a person is and if it is that way I feel really bad for them. We can all fill in that blank, I’m expressive, what’s your excuse? I don’t care what you think, what’s your excuse for acting that way? We all have our quirks and that’s okay but we can all take a page from my brother to always dance like nobody's watching and our only excuse be that we were made that way.