My Autistic Life During COVID-19

I see the world very differently. Things that usually don’t bother other people bother me a lot, just the same as things that really interest other people might not interest me at all. My world is always filled with happiness for I don’t see the bad in things as much as other people do. I look at my parents and see them always hugging me and making me feel happy. I don’t understand why things don’t always work out the way that I want them to do so, but usually I’m ok with that. My days always go the same: I wake up, shower, go to school, and come home to do my homework and spend time with my family.

Things stopped being the same for me on March 16th, 2020. The way things used to be for me changed from one day to another. I used to get up every morning and get ready for school and now I just get up and go to the kitchen table to see what work I have to do for school. I used to look forward to seeing my friends and teachers at school and now I see them through a computer screen for maybe 20 minutes every other day. I used to see my parents happy all the time no matter what, now I see that their big smile went to just a small grin on their face. They think that I don’t notice but I see them really worried and I don’t understand why or how I can help. I can’t go anywhere that I want to like I used to or even see my grandparents as much as I wanted like before.

I asked my parents “How come we can’t do the things that we used to do all the time anymore?” My mom and dad tried to explain that there was something happening all over the world including Colorado that could get me and everyone really sick. They said it was called coronavirus and that in order to stay safe we had to stay out of the streets as much as possible. I don’t understand what the coronavirus is or what it does to people, even though my parents have tried to explain it to me several times. All I see is that they are worried and sad, I see that they don’t go to work as much as they used to and even though I like spending all this time with them I see that they are sad. I want to see my grandparents but I can’t and that makes me sad.

I don’t know what this coronavirus is but all I know is that it has made my life more different than usual and I don’t know why. I want things to be the way that they were but know that this is not the case. I will be graduating 8th grade in a few days and won’t have a ceremony or be able to see my friends. I don’t know what high school will be like or even if we will be able to go to the new school building. I don’t know what anything is or will be like from now on. All I know is that I want things to be the same as before, I want to be able to be happy all the time and see the good in everything and everyone.

—Marcus

Share your own story here. Sharing stories is a powerful way to connect with other people. Be part of the Teen Health & Wellness Personal Story Project—like Marcus did above—and share your story about successfully dealing with or overcoming a challenge.