Hi my name is Summer I am autistic
Hi my name is Summer I am autistic.
I want to share how chickens changed my life.
I could not imagine life without chickens.
Chickens helped me embrace my true self, build resilience and self-confidence, chickens gave me the strength to stand out.
One of my biggest challenges is understanding social contexts.
Facial expressions, body language and tone of voice, is often confusing to me.
I find it difficult to interpret facial expressions while concentrating on words that are being said , which often caused a series of misunderstandings.
Kids are not very forgiving, often saying things that hurt my heart.
I would spend most of my lunch hour observing my peers in the playground mirroring things I had observed in hope that I would fit with in, because being myself attracted bullies.
At night I would lay in bed and run social scenarios visualised in my head like a scripted movie.
I often felt isolated or what I call ‘Islanded'
Islanded is where you can leave the island if you have a friend.
A paddle boat requires two people to paddle in sync with each other.
I can't leave the island because I don't have a friend to paddle a boat with.
No one wants to choose me because they say I don't paddle in sync with them.
I'm marooned, isolated and islanded.
Then I found my chickens, chickens do not care if I paddle out of sync.
My Chickens helped me paddle my boat to where ever I want to go.
My chickens do not judge me, they do not confuse me, they do not make fun of me and they do not hurt my heart.
My chicken flock taught me that life is better when your heart is full and happy.
Some of us are born to shine bright and to be our true selves even if it pushes others out of their comfort zone.
We all have the ability to shine bright some of us just shine from a different angle.
💛Summer
(written by a 11 year old Summer)
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