How Autism Changed My Life by Lakshmi

How Autism Changed My Life by Lakshmi - October 2013 Scholarship Essay

Sudden wailing rose from the bed next to me, waking me up for what seemed like the millionth time that night. It was the night before a crucial exam in my academic career, the IB Middle-Years Program Entrance Test. The next day I entered the testing center with dark circles under my eyes and resentment towards my two-year-old brother who had been waking me up for the past couple of months.
Two months later, our family received some life-changing news that threw my life onto a completely different path with totally different choices. My little brother was diagnosed with autism.
When I was 10, I remember feeling neglected when my parents were busy taking care of my brother. However, as I watched my brother struggle to learn basic tasks such as brushing his teeth or combing his hair, I realized he works thrice as hard as his peers to learn even basic concepts. My brother has influenced me profoundly; as I’ve grown to become the person I am today. Living with Autism, opened my eyes to the world around me, and I began to understand that different people in different situations have various problems and even more diverse strengths.
Through my brother, I have learned to cherish diversity, and I have learned to treat everyone with acceptance, compassion and empathy. My brother inspired me to spread acceptance and appreciation of diversity. He motivated me to get involved in the community, leading me to start a worldwide STEM outreach project, “Growing Up in a FIRST World”, to create vocabulary videos for children with Autism and to volunteer at a Biochemistry lab to help with research involving various illnesses. Spending time with my brother has also led me to my interest in medicine; I hope I can make a difference in the lives of others, as therapists and doctors have in my brother’s life.
Our house environment was very unpredictable when Pranav was first diagnosed, so I needed to develop a lot of inner control to deal with the emotions and uncertainty that came along with autism. I grew up to be a leader in this emotional turmoil and found new ways to unlock my brother’s potential. Understanding my brother’s passion for the arts, especially music, I taught my brother a few songs from “The Sound of Music,” a feat which is impressive even for a neuro-typical eight-year-old; he was only five. One thing my brother taught me very early on about leadership was the importance of seeing differences in methodology and thought processes and how accepting and cherishing these differences can deliver superior results. That ability to stay calm and be a leader in high-stress situations, along with my appreciation for creative methodologies has helped me lead our Robotics team to four awards at the Virginia Regional FIRST Competition and to two World Championships over the past three years.
As I have witnessed my brother grow up struggling with the isolation and frustration that comes with autism, I’ve realized that some of the problems in my everyday life that used to seem so serious were really just simple annoyances. This realization gave me a much more balanced perspective about the gravity and lasting effects of problems in my life, allowing me to evaluate my options and choices without getting too emotional or irrational. My balanced perspective has helped me as I juggle my biochemistry research, FIRST Robotics team, IB coursework, Varsity Tennis Team, numerous other extracurricular and my family life; It has allowed me to immerse myself in all of these activities without becoming overwhelmed.
During the first decade of my life, my academic focus was limited to science and math, however, my brother’s need to learn language and his passion for the arts has resulted in my multi-faceted interests in music, science, math and dance. Living with autism, has fed and cultivated my right-brain functions, allowing me to flourish as an individual and leader with both analytic and creative skills.