A True Story of Adriana
I was always a child who liked to explore everything, was very curious, and took some risks, taking risks even when I didn’t know if it would work, but I went ahead. Sure! Sometimes it doesn’t always work out, but we learn from our mistakes and try to rectify them until we get what we want. Never give up!!! I am going to explore my strong bridges in life today.
I’ve always left the people around me a little confused, I’ve never been an exceptional student, I’ve always been somewhere in between. But of course, with my preferences, mathematics, biology, physical chemistry, and drawing were my passions. I was never a good student of Portuguese, English, French, and history, it was complete chaos.
I felt very confused, I liked being a veterinarian because I have a passion for animals, I loved being a professional pastry chef and I loved helping others. So I thought!!! But what kind of profession is this, where I like animals, cooking and people? I entered the animal area where they had the famous disciplines that I loved, what I forgot was that I had to deal with the “death” of some animals, so I gave up.
I thought!!! Let’s try the social part that I love so much and helping others, but then I came across the difficulties I had in Portuguese which were quite a lot, besides that, I never studied and never managed to memorize the subject. Either I understood and did it by instinct or it didn’t work.
Learn Burnout | An Unyielding Love of A Mother for Her Children
The first year was very complicated with many existential doubts. I was still on the verge of giving up due to my difficulties with Portuguese, but my goal in life was increasingly clear in my head and I fought against all my difficulties believe me I never failed a subject, I never took an exam and I never failed a year any.
Therefore, I am proof that when we want something, we fight with all the strength we have. We overcome and exceed all our limits even if at a certain point we feel that we are being boycotted, mainly by society, some family, and friends. That’s why I show you a little bit of me and my day with my two atypical puppies in the following text, so you can understand that we must never stop chasing our dreams no matter how many obstacles we face in life.
I could tell you about the football World Cup, but no! Here at home nobody likes football. My 15 and 12-year-old children are passionate about drawing, cooking, computers, and mechanics. I can tell you with the greatest pride of a mother that my son since he was 9 years old, has been assembling and repairing computers from scratch with parts he buys and uses parts.
Learn Embrace Neurodiversity | How to think Outside the box
Since he was 13 years old, he has fixed some parts of both the mechanical and electrical parts of a car and I consider him my Magic Lamp Genie. My youngest pup makes fantastic drawings with incredible perfection. But of course, all these capabilities are considered outside the context that society defines as normal, which creates frustrations with repercussions on the emotional and structural level of my children, which causes fewer good days! Just like today!!!!
Another day during so many other chaotic days. With an autistic son who, even though he’s in grade 1, you never know how you’re going to wake up or how you’re going to end the day, you never know!!! You live in a permanent unknown in constant adrenaline.
This week, it’s the 2nd time my Principesco has gone into shutdown, and he can’t go to school. As a mother, I try to understand the reasons, the causes, and the emotional outbursts it provokes in my son. And as much as I have the notion that this is normal to happen, I’m worn out… simply physically worn out, psychologically to the point where my soul corrodes. I stopped being who I was, who I am, and who I will one day be… there are days when my strength runs out, I have no more words, and I can no longer explain to teachers, my family, and those around me that all of these are peculiarities of autism.
The other day, I read an article that said “Mild autism is more complex and problematic than moderate or severe autism. Because it has a masked face, difficult to diagnose, difficult to be accepted by teachers, family, doctors, and even parents.” Well, how many times do they tell me “Ahhhh…it doesn’t seem like it”, “Ahhhh…it doesn’t look like that”… The serious thing is that the specificities of a mildly autistic person have 100 times more repercussions at an emotional and behavioral level for not being seen as such. Simply because there is no acceptance, inclusion, and a lot of lack of medical and school knowledge.
Not to mention society. How I wanted to shout out to the world and explain in a simple way that we just need to respect each other’s time and way of being and differences cease to exist… Because we are all different, we all need each other and it is inconceivable to live without the next one! UBUNTU.
This is me, a child full of dreams that were defrauded by the hypocritical society we live in! I think I was born with the UBUNTU philosophy, which unfortunately few people know what it means. He was a happy child, extremely lazy, and somewhat introverted. What I most liked to do was walk around barefoot, or with old pink checkered slippers, play with my cats and dogs, ride my bike, and climb trees. I grew up and realized that human beings were not that simple and humble, which over the years brought me many disappointments.
Learn Embrace Neurodiversity | How to think Outside the box
I grew up with very different tastes in what I wanted to be when I grew up. From veterinarian, social worker, and pastry chef… I must say that I conquered a little of everything. I’m not a veterinarian, but I studied hairdressing and canine aesthetics, I’m not a pastry chef, but I paid for my degree in Social Work by making birthday and wedding cakes. I mixed it all up with a magic wand and made something grand. I’m a Social Worker and with a postgraduate degree in Animal Assisted Therapy, deep down I conquered everything. But take a good look at the soul of this pure and humble child!! This shows my soul, my true “ME” and I can tell you that it’s not thunder that will knock down those who have survived storms!! “ME” and my UBUNTU Philosophy achieved gigantic achievements!!
