About Me

My name is Ben Edwards.  I was born with a disability called Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism which is a disability impacting one's ability for social and non-verbal communication without the right accommodations, for which I struggled with school without proper accommodations and bullying but toward the end of my sixth grade year, I was put into the right school by my parents where I earned high grades and excelled socially.  After high school, I went to Johnson County Community College for three years where I got fifty credit hours.  At JCCC, I started the student organization called the JCCC Autism Spectrum Support Group for people with autism to have a voice in student life and where people who know someone could come for support.  During these meetings we would go bowling, see a movie, go miniature golfing or eat out.  Every two meetings we would have a planning meeting for what we did next.  By the second year I got it going, as many as twenty students would show up to the meetings.  During that time I got a job at a local grocery store Corinth Hen House and was also interviewed by Kansas City Star reporter Rachel Anne Seymour about living with autism, and spoke at Johnson County Community College's Autism: Beyond the Diagnosis Conference, and at the Topeka Legislature on the importance of access to autism services.  After JCCC, I was interviewed on NBC's 11 o'clock news hour with Chris Hernandez about autistic people transitioning into adulthood.

Today I am attending college at the University of Central Missouri after being accepted into their THRIVE program, a program for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.  During the first semester I will take all THRIVE classes though next semester I will be able to take regular UCM classes in addition to THRIVE classes, and go to UCM as regular student after THRIVE.  I also hope to start an Autism Spectrum Support Group at UCM similar to what I did at JCCC.  I am a firm believer in providing the right educational and social services for people on the autism spectrum and helping them be respected for who they are.  That is my philosophy.  I also hope one day to become a writer and a filmmaker.  I have written several screenplays of my own that I hope one day people will see.  My hobbies include photography, arts and crafts, flute-playing, collecting coins, pebbles, ethnic musical instruments and such, reading, and watching TV. I started this blog to show people that just because you have an autism spectrum disorder that doesn't mean you cannot live a rich, fulfilling life.