Non-speaking Autistic, Amy Sequenzia shares her journey from self destructive attitudes to self advocacy
I was once an ableist. And I was my own target.
I had never before thought about my life and where I am now in these terms: from ableist to self-advocate.
It might seem strange to think that I could have sabotaged myself into saying things that diminished my life and my struggles. But I did. And I believe this is not very uncommon.
From the moment I began to type until I finally let my voice reveal my real thoughts, I typed stereotypes and misconceptions about myself, about autism, about life as an autistic.
I was a child who had just started to type and some people saw that I had intelligence to be explored. But according to pretty much everyone I was “trapped,” “suffering from this terrible impairment” and “isolated from real life” - I “had autism.”
Katie Bridges is a full time writer who lives in Vancouver, Washington. By full time writer, she means that she hardly ever stops writing! Whether she's working on a piece of fiction or composing a letter of encouragement to someone, she's often sitting at her computer typing away. If she wasn’t writing, she would be hiking, as she loves to be amongst nature. She also enjoys reading children's science books and is quite addicted! Katie owns a huge assortment she's collected over the years. In between writing, she spends time with her family, giving a great deal of care to her grandchildren who she has has a lot in common with. Together, they love to star gaze at night and talk about the latest scientific discoveries. To find out more about her life, visit: 
I am mildly under the spectrum myself, and am a married mom with 2 kids. My daughter is almost 8 and has mild ADHD, dyslexia and brilliantly creative. My son has ASD, and is almost 6. He is quite high functioning in many areas but is still quite speech delayed.
