- Mimi

"Anything is possible for anyone, even for those who have autism."

Preview audio:

storyj.mp/abfipffkf2iw

Hi, my name is Maraya Adams, but you can just call me Mimi.

I am 21 years old and I have autism.

I was diagnosed with autism when I was age 2 and didn't speak until I was age 3.

My favorite things to do in my free time are singing, dancing, drawing, and watching my obsession Noddy on the TV.

Noddy is a little wooden boy who drives a red and yellow car and speaks in a British accent.

He is called Noddy because he sometimes nods his head uncontrollably.

He is really a cutie!

It's hard for me to make new friends.

Sometimes I feel like I have no friends, so I usually talk to my "imaginary friends" from my world.

Never mind about that. I actually have one best friend. Her name is Ms. Carolyn.

She was my bus driver from my sophomore and junior year back in high school.

Just because I graduated doesn't mean our special friendship will end.

We still talk to each other on the phone.

We usually talk about music and life.

We've been best friends for 5 years.

I say our friendship is pretty special because we're so many years apart from each other.

Age doesn't really matter to me.

I have trouble communicating and socializing with others.

Back when I was in school, I almost never spoke unless if it's break time.

I also have trouble speaking up and expressing my thoughts.

I expressed them better when I wrote them on paper.

I'm

finished

I just wished that I was allowed to write down my needs for my teacher instead of actually speaking them.

I do a good amount of repetitive behaviors, which are also known as "stims."

Flapping and clapping my hands

rocking back and forth

bouncing

pacing in a room

scratching, biting, or picking parts of my body

clicking my tongue

whistling

squealing

They included...

and most importantly...

repeating words or phrases again and again.

let's watch my show

Echolalia is a common behavior in autism. There are two types:

Immediate echolalia is when someone immediately echoes something that another person just said.

Delayed echolalia is when someone echoes something that they heard days, weeks, months, or even years ago such as a phrase from a movie or TV show.

I've been doing this since I was a little girl and I still do it today.

Palilalia is also a common behavior in autism and it's basically repeating a word or phrase again and again.

Like I said before, this is also one of my stims I do on a daily basis.

Even though I was in a special education class with other people who also have my disability in high school, they made fun of me for my stims.

She's a

weird girl!

Yeah!

I use a lot of "foreign words" that seem confusing to other people, like the Japanese word "itadakimasu" before eating any meal and "biscuit", a common British word that we Americans call a cookie.

Because my obsession with Noddy is British, I use a lot of British words when communicating with my family.

These are

cookies.

No, those

are biscuits.

I would usually translate whatever somebody says in American English to British English and sometimes back to American English.

Honey, diapers

are for babies

No, nappies

are for babies

I am very sensitive to loud noise. The noise that makes me feel the most overwhelmed is hoovers of any kind.

I am also sensitive to bright lights. Whenever someone takes a picture, the flash of the camera bothers me.

Taste is one of the biggest senses I'm sensitive to. I would avoid most textures almost all the time such as soggy or mushy.

Ew, that

looks gross!

This also goes with the food's temperature. I won't eat hot desserts or some room temperature food like PB&J sandwiches.

This may not be related to food, but I mostly won't have cold drinks unless if it's water.

Touch is one of the senses I don't really have many problems with.

I love really tight clothing and especially really tight hugs.

My great aunt Tracy even says

that I'm one of the best huggers.

I am very picky with everything from food to music to TV shows, you name it.

Whenever we go to a restaurant for lunch or dinner, I would order the same thing, every single time if I can find it.

However, if it's not there, I might have a meltdown.

Oh, no, they don't

have what I like!

It is very hard for my family to feed me since I'm really picky with food.

I like about any type of music, except for metal unless if it's the older kind like Metallica.

My favorite type of music to listen to is The Beatles and many other singers and bands that are from the 50s and 60s.

For TV shows, I would only watch shows such as any game show but Deal or No Deal, American Pickers, Chopped, and of course, my favorite, Make Way for Noddy.

Age doesn't matter to me when it comes to children's shows.

For movies, I like them if they're from the 50s to the 70s, have a lot of music, or are made by Disney.

A list of genres I won't watch are mystery, action/adventure, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, or western.

The genres I will watch are animated, musical, comedy, romance, and drama.

I also don't like almost all movies that have language or violence.

For clothing which I'm sensitive to, I would only wear short-sleeved shirts and trousers, capris, or shorts and would only wear simple close-toed shoes and sandals without all the fancy stuff.