Through My Eyes, An Autistic Perspective...

Being on the Autism spectrum, there are aspects of life that are more challenging for me than others. I guess since I'm grown up, I have new obstacles to deal with and older ones have either gone away or don't bother me as much as they did when I was a kid. But this generally makes sense for anyone depending on what they have gone through with their youth. Like I mentioned earlier though, my situation is, or can be, different. One big challenge for me was moving to Florida in 2003. I was excited to move, but to be more specific, I was just nervous and afraid to join any groups or sports teams at school because I thought I wouldn't be accepted. I also just wanted to stay with what I did from where I came from, if that makes sense. To put it better, I didn't want to replace my experiences in Carmel, Indiana with new ones in Florida. But I understand now that nothing will replace any of my experiences I have had in my life, unless I want them to. Another big challenge ...

Hello, I'm Andrew Boughner! Just to clarify real quick - my last name is pronounced "bow-ner", "bow" as in bowing to an audience. Not the other way "B-O-W" can be pronounced, but that can be funny. It's happened to me once and, at the time, I didn't even know what everyone was laughing about. Well, I did think that they were laughing because it was pronounced wrong, but not the real reason since I didn't know what "boner" meant at the time. You can also think of my last name rhyming with "downer". Anyway, I was born at 5:20pm or 17:20 on February 16th, 1993. I was the first baby and only boy to be born to my parents, and my full name is Andrew Michael Boughner. I was left with a birthmark on the back of my head on the lower right side that, when seen, looks like a coin-sized mole. I'm also allergic to Nickel, the kind of metal, not the coin. My life began in the great city of Carmel, Indiana here in the United Stat...