My name is Khylil Robinson, I recently finished taking classes Community College of Philadelphia. I am really glad to have this opportunity to share my personal experiences towards other autistic individuals like myself. During my spare time, I like to improve my typing skills and play video games. I don’t think I am as good as I think myself to be, but I have accomplished a lot regarding my disability and I want to keep on moving forward in life and in school. I intend to fulfill my goal as a public speaker for autism and a math major in the future.
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I don’t really think about this as much, but sometimes I wonder, “Do I really follow up with one on one communication well?” I don’t think about it that much because whenever I am feeling social, I tend to do MOST of it well, like making direct eye contact and using my gestures properly to give directions. Even something like questioning for specifics I can do with no issues whatsoever because if there’s something I know, and people ask, I can answer. I have certain times where I can have a conversation, and as long as it’s brief, most of the time, I have it in the bag.
But now, comes the more problematic issue: More intense conversations or long presentations haven’t really gone well for me, and there are 2 reasons why. The first reason is because I run out of ideas or get distracted very easily. If I want to go and do an elongated explanation of certain projects or ideas, it starts well, but just ends with a dry or shortened statement because my mind doesn’t want to stay on one subject (if that even makes sense).
The second reason is knowing my audience, which is something I often tell myself in one-on-one or group settings. There’s nothing wrong with having a listening ear in a group setting, but I have to make sure I don’t completely mute myself out. Other times, I tend to butt in and imply something unnecessary or overdo my volume.
But even when I try to use gestures in conversations, I often have this thing where I don’t pay attention to others. There are times I haven’t really read a person’s body language that well to convey how they were feeling towards a topic. Body language is something that should be picked up on in times like this, but I don’t even know how to do it well if I haven’t known how to properly display it myself.
I have had this thought, that maybe, JUST MAYBE I have improved greatly on communicating to others, since I’m getting older and I’ve matured, but I know there’s still much more to learn as I use these skills towards business and living independently.
Khylil
