My YLF experience - Part 1
- Nov 19, 2021
- 1 min read
Fast looming adulthood makes me very anxious. To be plainly blunt, it terrifies me. Half of my brain says," Omg, panic!", the other half says, "Yes! Let's do this!"
Amid a pandemic, an opportunity arose to apply for YLF - Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities. My aunt had shared an email about this leadership opportunity for me to consider. My first reaction was - there's no way I'm applying. Then, as isolation continued, I got desperate. First, I had to apply. My word, I had to answer all these questions and get a letter of recommendation. This was stressful. Thankfully, my teacher agreed to write a letter on my behalf. My friend Tyler kindly supported me in filling out the application. In the end, I was accepted into the program along with my friend Otto. As the date approached, my anxiety grew. I get anxious because I can't speak and rely on mam to hold my keyboard to type. Most people are open minded to accepting my autism and how I best communicate, but every now and then I see that look. You know that look of prejudice. It is probably the rudest, most unkind look on earth.
To be continued...
Reading about your journey through the Youth Leadership Forum is incredibly moving, as the emphasis on advocacy and navigating personal challenges is a perspective I hold close while managing the intensive rigors of my current PhD research. Balancing my doctoral studies with a part-time role at last minute assignments has given me a front-row seat to the modern student experience, where academic expectations often clash with overwhelming technical deadlines and complex software projects; having suffered through many high-stress hustles and sleepless nights during my own college days, I am now incredibly conscious of the mental toll that an unmanaged workload can take on one’s stability. This personal history is why I have such a genuine interest in assisting others today,…