My Story...
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 States of America. My two younger sisters joined us within the next four years. It wasn't until I was in 2nd grade that my teacher discovered something about me that would change my life forever.
Looking over results from a test I took in 2nd grade, my teacher noticed that I did things differently than my other classmates. My parents were informed and decided to look into it and find out more about me. Long story short, I was diagnosed with Autism. This started a new journey for my family as my parents did research about the autism spectrum to better help me learn and grow. A little fun fact too is that I took 3rd grade twice. After a while we made a big decision to move to Florida. My parents wanted to settle down and raise my sisters and I in, I guess you could say, a laid-down environment. So it was for the next 3 years, starting in 2003, that we lived in Florida and adjusted to this "changed" life.
As you probably guessed, we moved back to Carmel, Indiana in 2006. What's interesting too is that we were visiting our hometown that summer and then six weeks later we were back living in the same neighborhood on the same street. It was great to be back after an extended vacation (not really) in Florida. So from then I sailed through school and graduated high school in 2012. Then, I guess you can say, my real life began.
I have taken a number of paths this decade to find one to stick with and it's been quite the journey. Starting in the Fall of 2012, I was an undecided major at Indiana Wesleyan University for about a week into the starting semester. Moving away from home and living on a college campus took a huge toll on me and I ended up having a psychotic break. My mind got sick and I lost touch with reality and had to drop out of college and soon be hospitalized. It was a slow healing process and I took the rest of the semester off of school. Having known about what might have caused my psychotic break, my parents enrolled me at Ivy Tech Community College starting in 2013. There was a close enough building with classes I commuted to that was comfortable for my situation to continue healing and school. Once I had finally healed, I took time to think about my next step. I had, and still have, an interest in art, so starting in 2014, I enrolled at the Art Institute of Indianapolis.
This was an interesting path for me and for most of my time at the Art Institute, I enjoyed it. But then classes were more difficult as I progressed and I ended up losing interest. It was at the beginning of my third quarter at the Art Institute of Indianapolis that I dropped out, no longer wanting to take classes. Afterwards, I wanted to try working and put my education at a pause.
I spent about a month in 2014 from July to August looking for a job to do and ended up working at Dairy Queen for the next year. It was a great first job and starting in 2015, I began taking classes at the University of Indianapolis. I commuted and took two classes while still being able to work hard at Dairy Queen. It was a great few months juggling between school and work, and I did great and was happy. Unfortunately, my next idea didn't go as planned.
It was my plan to try living on a college campus again in the Fall of 2015. This time I was a bit closer to home at the University of Indianapolis, and my parents and I hoped I would be able to succeed in staying and living on campus while taking classes again. About a week and a half was all I could manage to do and I dropped out again, but this time my second psychotic break didn't come until after I was back home. The good thing is that the healing process was a lot quicker than the first time I got a psychotic break, so that was good. I did however take a gap year to slow down and think about what to do next while healing.
So in the Fall of 2016, I started working at Target and ended up only working till the end of the year. My shifts were in the middle of the night and once the holidays started, I got a lot busier and had enough of working and quit my job. Beginning in 2017, I took my next path.
I actually had been on this next path for a while, but never fully. It was sometime in 2015 that my dad told me about Eleven Fifty Academy and their classes on coding. It sounded like a great opportunity and I took a weekend class that summer and a full week class in February of 2016. So, I gave the coding opportunity another chance and took a 12-week JavaScript course last summer. I really enjoyed learning more about coding and graduated with three certificates for my hard work. From then on, I have been searching for an opportunity to showcase my coding skills and it's taken me this long so far. I have been working on two other opportunities that came up - one's with working at "No Label at the Table Food Co.", a starting bakery where the staff there are people on the autism spectrum. The other opportunity I'm currently on is where I'm a trainee of LEND, a program at Riley Hospital of Children, where I'm giving my input on what it's like being on the autism spectrum to other trainees who will take my information and use it to help them in their careers in being doctors, nurses, dentist, etc.
So my life so far has been an interesting journey. I know that with hard work and a positive mind will help me in the long run.
-By Andrew Boughner
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 States of America. My two younger sisters joined us within the next four years. It wasn't until I was in 2nd grade that my teacher discovered something about me that would change my life forever.
Looking over results from a test I took in 2nd grade, my teacher noticed that I did things differently than my other classmates. My parents were informed and decided to look into it and find out more about me. Long story short, I was diagnosed with Autism. This started a new journey for my family as my parents did research about the autism spectrum to better help me learn and grow. A little fun fact too is that I took 3rd grade twice. After a while we made a big decision to move to Florida. My parents wanted to settle down and raise my sisters and I in, I guess you could say, a laid-down environment. So it was for the next 3 years, starting in 2003, that we lived in Florida and adjusted to this "changed" life.
As you probably guessed, we moved back to Carmel, Indiana in 2006. What's interesting too is that we were visiting our hometown that summer and then six weeks later we were back living in the same neighborhood on the same street. It was great to be back after an extended vacation (not really) in Florida. So from then I sailed through school and graduated high school in 2012. Then, I guess you can say, my real life began.
I have taken a number of paths this decade to find one to stick with and it's been quite the journey. Starting in the Fall of 2012, I was an undecided major at Indiana Wesleyan University for about a week into the starting semester. Moving away from home and living on a college campus took a huge toll on me and I ended up having a psychotic break. My mind got sick and I lost touch with reality and had to drop out of college and soon be hospitalized. It was a slow healing process and I took the rest of the semester off of school. Having known about what might have caused my psychotic break, my parents enrolled me at Ivy Tech Community College starting in 2013. There was a close enough building with classes I commuted to that was comfortable for my situation to continue healing and school. Once I had finally healed, I took time to think about my next step. I had, and still have, an interest in art, so starting in 2014, I enrolled at the Art Institute of Indianapolis.
This was an interesting path for me and for most of my time at the Art Institute, I enjoyed it. But then classes were more difficult as I progressed and I ended up losing interest. It was at the beginning of my third quarter at the Art Institute of Indianapolis that I dropped out, no longer wanting to take classes. Afterwards, I wanted to try working and put my education at a pause.
I spent about a month in 2014 from July to August looking for a job to do and ended up working at Dairy Queen for the next year. It was a great first job and starting in 2015, I began taking classes at the University of Indianapolis. I commuted and took two classes while still being able to work hard at Dairy Queen. It was a great few months juggling between school and work, and I did great and was happy. Unfortunately, my next idea didn't go as planned.
It was my plan to try living on a college campus again in the Fall of 2015. This time I was a bit closer to home at the University of Indianapolis, and my parents and I hoped I would be able to succeed in staying and living on campus while taking classes again. About a week and a half was all I could manage to do and I dropped out again, but this time my second psychotic break didn't come until after I was back home. The good thing is that the healing process was a lot quicker than the first time I got a psychotic break, so that was good. I did however take a gap year to slow down and think about what to do next while healing.
So in the Fall of 2016, I started working at Target and ended up only working till the end of the year. My shifts were in the middle of the night and once the holidays started, I got a lot busier and had enough of working and quit my job. Beginning in 2017, I took my next path.
I actually had been on this next path for a while, but never fully. It was sometime in 2015 that my dad told me about Eleven Fifty Academy and their classes on coding. It sounded like a great opportunity and I took a weekend class that summer and a full week class in February of 2016. So, I gave the coding opportunity another chance and took a 12-week JavaScript course last summer. I really enjoyed learning more about coding and graduated with three certificates for my hard work. From then on, I have been searching for an opportunity to showcase my coding skills and it's taken me this long so far. I have been working on two other opportunities that came up - one's with working at "No Label at the Table Food Co.", a starting bakery where the staff there are people on the autism spectrum. The other opportunity I'm currently on is where I'm a trainee of LEND, a program at Riley Hospital of Children, where I'm giving my input on what it's like being on the autism spectrum to other trainees who will take my information and use it to help them in their careers in being doctors, nurses, dentist, etc.
So my life so far has been an interesting journey. I know that with hard work and a positive mind will help me in the long run.
-By Andrew Boughner
What a wonderful idea to start blogging about your experiences, struggles and perseverance no matter how many changes have come your way. I think your experiences and the things you do will be helpful to others who are also finding their way in life different from what society sometimes says we have to do. Good for you! I am very sorry you have had to withdraw from school and adjust to new jobs so often but sometimes it can be all part of the journey. Your experiences along the way definitely have impact. Even the negative is feedback not failure....just gives someone a chance to readjust. I remember going to your house and attending play dates. You and Aubrey and Lauren had wonderful times together. Somewhere I still have a great picture of you playing Santa in the Sleigh with Lauren and Aubrey. Fun memories. Anyway, so excited to read your blog....
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