On October 1st, I sat with my knees to my chest and fingernails bitten so badly, they were bleeding. My student council advisor sat beside me while my right leg shook uncontrollably. As much as I wanted to say every thought swimming through my head, it felt as if no words could suffice. The room was silent but my body language screamed. That was the moment when she said something to me I will never forget. She told me that I should never be ashamed of my differences and that people like me add vibrancy to our world. For the first time, I was to face to face with someone, who wasn’t a family member or a friend, telling me that struggling with mental health was not a flaw or something to be embarrassed of. The word vibrancy echoed in my mind as I left her office. The first association I made with vibrancy was diversity. I felt a sense of ignorance wash over me, I was disappointed in myself for being able to love and appreciate the beauty of diversity within race, sexuality, gender identity, culture, religious affiliation and more but not recognize the allurement of our own unique psychological makeup.
My name is Grace. I am 16 years old, currently a junior at Enloe High School. I love to dance, play soccer, listen to long playlists of eclectic music and I am completely fascinated by science. At school, I take AP/IB classes and get involved in numerous extracurriculars like many of my peers. To the average eye, I seem like a “normal” high school student, stressing over balancing academics while trying to maintain an active social life. However, there is no sugarcoating the struggles I have faced throughout my time in middle and high school. On top of the all too familiar high school obstacles that adults recall or current teenagers face, I fight anxiety, ADHD and OCD everyday. Since 7th grade, I have been in therapy and at one point, I felt ashamed of my diagnosis’, feeling as if there was something wrong with me. Years later, I have accepted who I am and I know I am so much more than a label. To this day, the stigma around mental illness has grown into something beyond misconceiving. This misconception is fed by negative stereotypes that can lead to preconceived ideas and discrimination. Labelling someone by their illness or using it as the butt of a joke causes those who face mental health challenges to be ostracized. The simple fact is everyone faces obstacles and people may be struggling with things that aren’t apparent to outsiders. But we are all human and we all deserve equal treatment and opportunities no matter the extent of the difficulties we endure.
For Enloe High School’s 14th annual Charity Ball, we are attempting raise 200k for the Autism Society of North Carolina’s IGNITE program. Autism is not a mental illness, it is a developmental disorder with symptoms that are expressed in varying ways. Yet, similar to mental illness, the stigmatism of being “different” is present. In a world that thrives on diversity, how can we define normal? Someone who might be “normal” to me, may be completely alien to you. The Autism Society of North Carolina’s mission is to not only provide services and programs tailored to the unique needs of individuals with autism and support families, but also to better educate our community. ASNC is moving towards a change from the original autism spectrum; they are moving towards a new way of identifying the range of symptoms that individuals with autism experience. However, I believe as humans we are all on a spectrum. A vibrant, rainbow spectrum where we all fall under different colors, face different challenges and go through experiences that make us uniquely ourselves. This exquisite rainbow is what knits humanity together in a genuine manner, allowing these disparities to positively unify us in order to reach a level of true understanding and acceptance. This is what Charity Ball is about- bringing vast groups of people together to unite and insight change to benefit our community. Today, when hate and discrimination seem so prevalent, it is more important than ever that we come together. As the colorful letters read, taped to our atrium windows: Disability Is Not Inability. For colors together, side by side, is what forms the rainbow.
Grace Suzik
Clubs and Organizations Officer