How writing became the most important outlet for this young man on the spectrum

This is a post by Khali Raymond, a twenty-year-old writer and poet from Newark, New Jersey with Asperger's Syndrome.

There is a quote by Napoleon Hill that says: “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” I can attest to this greatly as it sums up my life. I have dealt with many challenges that has shaped my character. To start off…

Growing up in a poverty-stricken neighborhood came with its struggles. Abandoned structures for miles. Fuzzy or nonworking streetlights. Pothole ridden streets.

You didn’t know who was going to be gunned down or arrested. You didn’t know if you were going to make it home after you left for school in the morning.

I grew up in a single-parent household with three other siblings, without any father figure present. At the age of six, I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.

As I was growing up, I struggled with socializing. I didn’t begin talking until I was four years old. It was difficult for me to make friends in school.

I didn’t like making eye contact with anyone. I was extremely sensitive to certain sounds, tastes, and smells. I had a habit of fiddling around with my fingers or hands randomly. I had limited interests.

I was bullied in elementary and middle school. I would get called disparaging names and would have humiliating things done to me. This made me not want to go to school at all.

I cried whenever I had to go because I would get harassed and belittled. Administrators just did the same thing they always did, fill out paperwork to put in my file and leave me subjected to harassment.

At home was no different. My family members couldn’t understand what I was dealing with in school. Because of this, I was not entitled to have any feelings around them.

I would just get shunned and ridiculed, which made me feel worse about myself. As I got older, I found that all these feelings I would keep bottled up only did me more harm than good.

I began to act out in school and at home. I would ultimately experience PTSD because of the things that I was seeing around me, along with what I was experiencing at school, my neighborhood, and my household. Asperger’s didn’t help the situation.

However, there was a calling. Writing was it.

I’ve been reading ever since I was two years old. Once I began attending school, I found myself writing those words that I once read for the first time. There was just something about storytelling which had me coming back every single time.

Could it have been the sheer amounts of freedom that allowed me to craft any narrative that I wanted? Was it the worlds I was capable of creating? Was I a kid of much words? Verbally, no. However, once a pen was placed into my hands – I found that I was able to blow away people with my knowledge and my honesty in my writing.

When I was going through heartbreak, struggle, and adversity, I would always retreat to my journal. I’d jot down how I was feeling. My journal was the only place that I couldn’t be ostracized in. When I entered the eighth grade in 2012, I took on something that no one has ever taken on before.

I would begin work on the book that started my writing career. The Ballad of Sidney Hill was born. It took me two years to write the book. I self-published it on October 26, 2014 – a month after I entered the tenth grade. Fast forward four and a half years later, I have 127 books published. I have had my work featured by countless publications, such as the Obama Foundation and Prudential.

I am a performance poet. I will be graduating with my Associate’s Degree from Berkeley College next semester in the spring.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from having Asperger’s – that’s to never give up on my goals. Never allow this world to dim my light. Always have the power to bounce back!