When I was four years old I was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, a form of autism. My parents were told I had a very low IQ and that kids with autism similar to my diagnosis would one day have to be institutionalized. In fact, there were some ‘experts’ who believed I was mentally retarded. My parents fought for me. They did not want me to have a limited future and, as much as I understood it, neither did I. I knew I was special, I always knew it. In school I had a difficult time keeping up. I was in special needs settings in Pre-K and kindergarten. I attended three different public schools in my first four years of grade school. I was bullied a lot, and I had challenges getting the academic support I needed. It was hard for me and I had severe issues with depression mostly because of the severe bullying. The loss of self-esteem is one of the worst consequences of a learning disability. Believe me, I know that. I experienced it, and it was terrible.

It was in fourth grade that I was mainstreamed for the first time, I was put into a mathematics class. Numbers have always come easily to me; math was my love and my passion. In math class I could do everything the other students could do, everything, and I could do it better than most of them. On a math test I got a 102% – and I finished it before anyone else. Some of the kids in my class were blown away by that. For the very first time I saw myself in a positive way. It was a feeling I had never experienced and it was wonderful.

My parents enrolled me in the Community School at the beginning of fifth grade. My life changed. The bullying disappeared to a great extent because everyone there had something special about them. For the first time I was accepted for who I was; The praise – and the criticism – I received was based on my performance. As I discovered, it wasn’t just a school, in fact it was a community; a community where there is acceptance for other people and a lot of love for each other. I blossomed there. Also, this was the first I was able to build on my academic abilities, rather than 25:1 teacher to student ratio in public school it was closer to 8:1, but even more than that my teachers had experience with students who learned differently, like me, and found the pathways I needed to learn.

Maybe most important, my self-esteem just grew and grew. I began to feel good about myself. I began to realize I could have dreams and fulfill them; even though to begin with they were small dreams. I also discovered that academically I could achieve amazing things.

As a child, no one had ever talked to me about the possibility of going to college. During those early years college seemed like it would be a real stretch. The first time I thought about it was during my sophomore year at Community High School, when I made the JV basketball team. I have always been a huge basketball fan and can quote a lot of statistics. I was overweight at that time, and I took it upon myself to lose sixty pounds. That feeling of succeeding at something that I had failed before made me realize if I worked hard enough, if I focused and was determined, made me believe I not only could go to college, I could succeed in college.

I didn’t kid myself, I knew how much hard work it was going to take, and I knew how important my therapy was going to be throughout the whole process. But now I had confidence in myself and my abilities, the focus and determination to succeed and an understanding of what I had to do to make it possible. I had learned the strategies that I would need. I graduated from Seton Hall University. And I began speaking in public about my personal struggle and what I learned. I was tentative at first, and certainly nervous, but I felt so strongly that if I could help other young people who were in a situation similar to mine, if I could give their families hope and even inspiration, then I would have to learn how to communicate my message.

My confidence just continued to grow. In 2011, after graduating from Seton Hall, the National Speakers Association awarded me a scholarship to attend graduate school. I received my Master’s degree, also from Seton Hall, and eventually began studying for my doctorate in Educational Technology Leadership at New Jersey City University.

I began working for the organization Autism Speaks soon after graduating from Seton Hall and am currently Producer of Social Media and Digital Content for that organization. Today I average about 100 speeches annually. In addition, I have written two bestselling books in the category of Special Need Parenting Defining Autism From The Heart, and Autism and Falling in Love, and contributed a chapter to a third College for Students with Disabilities: We Do Belong.

In 2011 I was asked to consult on the creation of the key character in the movie, A Joyful Noise, which starred Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton. Three years later I did similar work for the movie, Jane Wants A Boyfriend starring Eliza Dushku and Louisa Krause. Also in 2011 I founded my own non-profit organization, KFM Making a Difference. Our objective is to help break down barriers for those with special needs, the same barriers I had to deal with, while also providing partial scholarships for adults with autism to attend college.

And I even began hosting a weekly cable TV program, Different is Beautiful Show. All of this became possible because of the Community School. They took a shy kid with serious learning difficulties and presented me with the tools and the opportunities – and maybe most important, the self-esteem and confidence to become the person that I am today.