Hi Natalie,
Please get in touch with us at info@inautism.org if you're realy interested in blogging :)

I am the mother of two autistic boys. I am interested in blogging for this site. Please contact me about how I can help. Thank you,
Natalee

I just looked at the last blog entry - April?!? Wow...time sure slips away quickly! Right now, we're working on the Annual Awards Dinner. It's actually not going to be a sit-down dinner, but wine and heavy appetizers. We'll have a jazz band, and a live auction, in addition to the awards. It should be great fun, poolside!

Welcome to the new ASI Blog. We are going to try to update this as we can...probably have guest bloggers, and more. If you would like to blog for us, let me know!

We're excited about our new website - I hope you are, too.

Welcome to the Autism Society of Indiana. We're glad you're here.

Life is so good right now. Sometimes it's easy to think it's going bad but when you step back and take a look at it it's actually pretty good. Asperger's syndrome can sometimes make me see the world in a completely different manner than other people see it. While my views are often very valid and true, they are also a little skewed and can be slightly inaccurate. I sometimes 1 negative thing into 500 negative things because I get so tired of things going wrong.

I try to see the world from the neurotypical viewpoint but it's often very difficult to do so. It feels like I live in a somewhat different world than many NT's do. This world isn't bad or wrong it's just a little odd to the common eye. I try hard to other stand other people's perspectives but sometimes I just don't get it.

With these added challenges and many other added challenges there have been times in my life where having Asperger's Syndrome has been over bearing. But I'm learning to come to grips with it and I'm handling it quite well. My new job at Starbucks is going very well and I enjoy my time there which is a huge plus. I actually have quite a bit of good things going for me.

I'm a published author of two books now. Both "I want to be lik you" and "I am a child: Just Like You are out. The Children's book just came out yesterday. I'm very excited to share my stories and writing with you all. It's easy to get caught up in the negatives of autism but when you can dig deep and look inside and see the hundreds of thousands of positives that come with it and share the positives with the world, that's when life is rewarding.

It's now been three weeks. I am working at Starbucks and love it. It's such a good place. Not only do I love the job I've met lots of fun and interesting people. It's a very up beat environment. People tend to have their favorite drinks in mind when they come to Starbucks so they know just what they want and expect good quality for good reasons. Starbucks doesn't disapoint. They deliver good quality. I've been keeping busy at work which is something I love and I'm also getting a lot of hours which keeps me busy and happy.

While it is a challenge to learn all of the drinks and recipes I'd say Starbucks is an amazing job and there's a lot of potential and opportunity for people on the spectrum here at Starbucks. It's a family friendly environment and people are very eager and happy to help each other out. This is a short update here but things are going well and I'm happy. It feels great to be working and it really helps boost self esteem a lot. I would encourage all aspies to try and find employment that they like and are good at. It will go a long ways in helping other areas of your life as well. Until Next time.

Travis

Starbucks is so amazing so far. Great place to work for me. It's been an easy transition into the work place and while I'm still learning how to make the different Latte's and Frappicino's I'm really making progress and enjoying every minute of this job. I look forward to going in and I've even been multi-tasking quite often at Starbucks. It's very much a multi-tasking job.

My training period is almost over and while I'm a little nervous about being on my own and actually being the sole person responsible for preparing people's drinks I feel like I've got a good grip on it and will do just fine. Sure I may mess up every now and then but I think it will all be okay. The nice thing about Starbucks is that everyone has said "Not to be afraid to ask for help when we get busy or when I need to know something. That's very encouraging and I really really enjoy working with everyone at Starbucks.

My Trainer Shane has been amazing and we've learned so much and yes I've even tasted a lot of coffee which has kept me awake quite often at night. I love it though. The manger is very nice and everyone there is just great to work. It's just a wonderful experience and while there are some stressful parts and times to the job, it's easily managable and so far even with Asperger's Syndrome I seem to be doing just fine. It feels great to be working and doing something productive. Also, there's not as much time to sit around and mope or be bored. It's just a great thing. I am so greatful for this opportunity with Starbucks. I am looking forward to working on th 4th of July on Monday.

Another great thing that happened today is I got an email from a reader in New Zealand about my book. They really enjoyed reading it and it has helped them understand their significant other much better. It's great to read emails from fans. Writing is a very rewarding experience. I love life the way it is right now.

Saturday I returned to work for my 4th day of work at Starbucks. Once again it went really smooth. I'm starting to learn all of the drinks and even some customers names. It's been fun so far. I continue to learn something new each day. The best part so far is that everyone is easy to work with and very understanding. They work as a team there so it's been easy for me to ask questions and find out the correct way of doing things.

I have now finished my first week at Starbucks and I am very pleased with how it's going. I was a little nervous before I had my first day last week but now I'm not nervous and am extremely excited. It is so hard to find a good place of employment for people on the autism spectrum. I feel like I have found a great job that can be a career. Something I can stick with for a while and continue learning and developing.

Starbucks not only has great coffee, but they provide great customer service. I've been very impressed and happy with everything at Starbucks so far. I even got to do a little bit of working the drive thru on Friday and Saturday and that was quite the experience. Listening to so many things going on at once might be a bit overwhelming so it's something that I'm going to be focussing on learning. Starbucks is great. I love it so far and encourage people with autism/asperger's to apply at Starbucks.

Yesterday I started my new career with Starbucks. Starbucks is a great place to work. There were many friendly partners and customers there. It's in a great location and I'm looking forward to keeping plenty busy while I'm there. Today I've been upbeat and excited in everything I do. I have a drive and energy that I haven't had in a long time and it's a drive to succeed and become successful in everything I do.

I'm very excited to begin this new phase of my life. Things have really taken off for me. I'm going to be getting the ABA therapy that I've always wanted. The therapy that I think will change my life and improve my social skills so much. I'm very thankful to Sorah Stein for providing this to me and helping me out.

I feel like this is my chance. My second chance at life. I haven't always been able to do things the right way or the way I wanted to get myself going and become that successful independent adult but I belive that this is my second chance and my golden opportunity. I've spent a lot of years trying to figure out this asperger's thing and belive me when I tell you I haven't even begun to figure it out yet.

In trying to figure it all out I lost myself, I quit doing things I loved so I could be like NT's or what I thought was the right way to be. I thought that everything I liked and loved was weird and I shouldn't like it in order to be liked by others. I changed myself. I tried to re-invent someone in my mind that I thought my was and tried to convince myself things that weren't true about me were true in order to be liked by so many. There for a long while I lost who I was completely and that's when things really begin to get crazy and I went into panic mode. But with the help of so many great people like Kelly Pence, Dana Renay, and the entire Autism Society of Indiana I feel like I'm starting to find myself again. Now I just have to recreate my life in the right way. The life that was meant for me to live and not care so much about what other people think. It's time to do me in some ways and take care of myself, while still being a good person and looking out for others.

I'm excited to recreate my old self and start doing things that I liked 5 or 10 years ago again such as playing trombone. I want to be Travis again and I want to quit trying to be the NT that I thought everyone wanted me to be in order to like me. I am excited for this journey and I'm looking forward to continually building my social skills base and knowledge and making new friends.

In the mean time, I'm spending my day memorizing different Starbucks drinks and how they are made. It's actually very fun and coffee is quite interesting. Stay tuned for more updates.