This guest post is by Ava Willis, a young woman who is diagnosed with autism and attends American River College. Ava is applying for the Spring 2025 Making a Difference Autism Scholarship via the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference started by me, Kerry Magro. I was nonverbal till 2.5 and diagnosed with autism at 4, and you can read more about my organization here. Autistics on Autism: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams, our nonprofit’s new book, was released on March 29, 2022, on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults.
I don’t know where to start and it seems strange: a Black woman on the autism spectrum is thought of as something that young White boys only have. I know it sounds so-called “impossible.” Growing up as a young neurodivergent dark-skinned German-born Nigerian-American girl, I was bullied for being autistic, unsurprisingly.
During my first three years of elementary school, I was a frequent target for teasing and ridicule, on the campus, on the school bus, at the daycare, in an after-school program, and even at the school bus pick-up spots. There were a few times other kids called me that “R-word” that I won’t say as it’s a slur. To the eyes of my peers as the “weirdo” due to fidgeting. Riding the school was the worst because before and after school, the kids were free to bully me without the fear of getting into trouble with a teacher or staff member. It was an unfortunate situation at the time because my family had transportation problems and my little brother and I had to ride the school bus with one of my sisters who was in middle school having to get up early. One time, I even went home crying.
As I grew older, it became difficult due to the pushback I’ve faced from the adults and peer groups around me. For instance, whenever I expressed my ambitious goals to others, they would put them down because my “feeble mind” wouldn’t be able to handle the challenging and rigorous post-secondary curriculum. I plan to become a Hollywood film director and screenwriter.
My love for all things cinema has always been there for me since childhood which was tied to my writing talent. Writing stories was also a safe space for me to fully express myself from the harsh reality of living as a neurodivergent Black girl which involved being confronted conform to Black stereotypes because of the fear from the other Black kids that I was “acting white.” This was common from when I was in the 8th grade where upon seeing my quirks, I was treated like I wasn’t one of them. I remember these kids trying to act, talk, and dress in a certain way that provoked harmful stereotypes about Black people, particularly Black women despite being 13-14 years of age. There was certainly a lot of peer pressure to uphold the so-called “Black code” by not seeking ambitious goals that would benefit you. For example, when I expressed my goals of going to a high-rank university and obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Film, all the other Black kids both laughed and scoffed, stating that it was a so-called “white people thing” and that I should focus on either basketball or become a rapper.
Looking back at those experiences as an adult, I now realize that you must always have faith in yourself by knowing your worth, not for others’ acceptance but what you want. To all the young autistic Black girls, understand your potential and strive for what you’re passionate about. Becoming a film director will help me capture the neurodivergence experience of many diverse people.
Follow my journey on Facebook, my Facebook Fan Page, Tiktok, Youtube & Instagram.
My name is Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum. I started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue post-secondary education. Help support me so I can continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
Autistics on Autism: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams was released on March 29, 2022 on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults. 100% of the proceeds from this book will go back to our nonprofit to support initiatives like our autism scholarship program. In addition, this autistic adult’s essay you just read will be featured in a future volume of this book as we plan on making this into a series of books on autistic adults.
