Inclusion and more

This summer, I will be blogging about some lessons learned throughout my life. This week my blog post is about "Small lessons learned through traveling"  Lesson 1:  Security is possible  For many years, I have had to use the machine that makes it so travelers don't have to put up their hands behind their heads and their feet on the yellow footprints through the TSA special needs lane for those with disabilities. While this last weekend, I took a trip to San Diego, CA to see my sister Molly and the special x-ray machine was out of order or understaffed so it wasn't operational so for the FIRST time I did the security X-Ray machine that makes travels do the above procedure I mentioned (arms above head and feet on yellow footprints) and rocked it!  Lesson 2: Follow the signs or follow fellow travelers This is a basic tip. Just follow the signs or fellow travelers from your flight to baggage claim! This weekend,  I followed the signs to the baggage claim ...

I have autism and it makes it challenging for me to make friends, socialize with my peers, deal with change and not see things as black and white. In middle school, I did not have many true friends. I spent hours sitting with the teachers. I saw my fellow students chatting, dancing and having fun! I wondered if I would ever have one friend. When I came to Chaparral High School in the Scottsdale Unified School District,  I was quiet, shy and not sure what to do so I would sit with the teachers yet again at lunch. There was this one time I got off the school bus and started sobbing to my parents as I just wanted one friend to talk to me. I watched my peers having fun together with their friends and going to homecoming and Prom.  While all this changed when a young man named Brad Efune came to me during lunch and encouraged to check out a club called Best Buddies. I did not know what Best Buddies was until then so I went home and researched its mission. I found out Best B...