On the 20th of december I'll be signing the
contract for my own living place. This will be a type of temporary sheltered
living for people with autism, where I'll be learning how to live on my own.
The place is an old primary school, which
has been made into a type of sheltered living. Classrooms are divided in half,
to provide training rooms. Every participant has his/her own training room.
There is a bathroom and kitchen area in there, officially making it a proper
house with our own address. As for the rest of the room, we can put anything we
like in there, since it's our own house. There will also be a shared living
room and washing area (for clothes). During the day there'll be coaches nearby,
ready when we need them.
There are also a few classrooms that
haven't been divided. Those are studios. Bigger living spaces for people who
feel they're ready to live on their own, but aren't sure yet. They can live as
independently as possible in these studios, but still have coaches nearby just
in case.
I'm very excited to be starting this
training! I'm also very scared. People keep telling me it's normal to be scared
when you go and live on your own for the first time. They tell me everyone has
this when they first move out. I don't think they have nightly panick attacks,
though, do they? Or am I wrong?
Luckily I got coaches, parents, siblings
and friends to help me. Even though I have these panick attacks, I am still
100% behind this idea. I want to do this!
Lately I've been reading a lot about how
other people with autism experience Christmas. I've actually always loved
Christmas! I love the songs (not too loud though...), the little Christmas
light, all the Christmas decorations, the calm feeling that comes with it... I
love it!
After reading some stories from other
people and thinking about it a lot, I've come to realise that my family has a
lot to do with that. They've been so very supportive all my life!
I read a story of how someone's kids wanted
to crawl under the table every time, because of their autism, but that the
family didn't like that. I've done this too at my grandma and grandpa's when I
was little, but I remember them simply handing me my plate under the table and
putting down some bowls of snacks under the table. Sometimes other kids would
even join me and play board games with me under the table, because it seemed so
cosy under there suddenly.
Now that I've grown up, I find it easier to
just sit at the table, but I'm also chronically fatigued now and it all costs a
lot of energy because of my autism too. This means that somewhere halfway the
Christmas dinner with my family I sometimes get very tired and need to lay
down. My family knows this and is usually very supportive about it. They show
me the way to a nice bed to lay down on to and they'll go back to the family,
while I nap for about an hour.
I realise how lucky I am with such a
supportive family and through this post I'd like to thank them for that. I've
never had to miss a family Christmas dinner because of my autism or chronic
fatigue, because of that support. Thank you!
