To Be Myself by Braxton
Braxtonof Loganville's entry into Varsity Tutor's November 2016 scholarship contest
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To Be Myself by Braxton - November 2016 Scholarship Essay
I will be mostly thankful to be able to further develop my music and theatrical abilities in a setting where I am equal to my peers. As a teenage male with Asperger's, it has been a common part of my very young life to be picked on, made fun of, or worse yet, be ignored because I'm different. I don't allow this to bother me, as this is one of the benefits of having Asperger's.
As it is, I am 18 years old, senior at my high school, and I am Autistic; in particular, I am an Aspie (Asperger's). This means that socially I am not accepted by most of the students at school or anywhere else, which is not a bad thing. It is just that they don't know how to relate to me because I come across as a bit strange, or may behave in a manner that is not socially accepted by them. Don’t get me wrong, I have many acquaintances at school, but this is because I am very involved in music and theatrical performances. In other words, I have a lot of people that like me and respect for my talents, but don't accept me outside of this. I have worked very hard to learn how to express myself so that I can show them how to be accepting of me and of those different than them. This is very hard when everything in my brain tells me that they are the strange ones because they don’t think like me. You see, my parents and I have done a lot of reading and research on Asperger’s, and everything I have learned tells me that we are socially unacceptable to them simply because those who are considered neurotypical don’t know how to behave around us and this can make anyone feel uncomfortable. I think this is quite funny to me because the neurotypical person is the one with the shortcomings. As I see it, most high functioning Aspies in history were geniuses in their careers and as adults.
I too have been blessed with some abilities that most people in the world don’t have; I have Perfect Pitch. This means that I can identify when a specific musical note is played on any instrument or sung. This gives me the ability to see, understand, and perform music in ways that most people can’t; including music teachers. My passion is to study music and musical theater in college, and eventually direct on stage productions, compose, or conduct music. So the way I see it, I have a tough road ahead of me as most of the people that i will come in contact with will be neurotypical people who share the same passion I have for music.
This means that as I grow and mature as a student, and eventually go into the field that I love, I have to teach people along the way that it is ok to think of me as different, but also be welcoming and accepting of me for what they see and in turn, I will do the same. For me, music is the one thing that people of all parts of the world, no matter your preferences, all share a history and passion for. From the time of infancy, we were taught to relate to things of this world through music. It is the foundation for everything we have learned throughout our life and it represents every walk of life throughout history.
One very important note to consider is that Autism has now become an epidemic. In other words, one in every 68 children born now, are born with some type of Autism. Unfortunately, some are born with more challenging disabilities than my own. So as part of my goal and aspirations in life, I hope to educate and bring to light, what many neurotypical people don’t realize. Autism is not like a debilitating disease that rips through families by taking the lives of those around them. It is quite the opposite, therefore it is not so well talked about like the cancerous diseases.
As a sad fact of this truth is, music always comes to the forefront to bring peace to those in pain. I hope to be one that can bring calm and peace to future generations with education on Autism and my love for music, and one of the main reasons why I am thankful for the opportunity to go to college and further develop my music and theatrical abilities in a setting where I am equal to my peers.