College senior with Asperger’s uses her life experience to help employers and others just like her

My name is Rebekah Chancey, and I am a senior Educational Studies major at Bob Jones University, diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome (high-functioning autism). I would like to share my story about how I got to where I am today, my ambitions for the future, and what I am currently doing right now.

I was initially diagnosed at five-years-old but was not aware my diagnosis until later in high school. With my struggles to make friends in my private school and church, and then transferring to a public school; adjusting with this new knowledge about myself was hard for me to cope with for a long time. Nevertheless, I continued to excel in my academics, made some friends with both students and teachers, and was accepted to Bob Jones University after high school graduation.  College presented even more opportunities for me to grow, yet more hardships as well.

Originally, I majored in Health Sciences with a concentration in Pre-Nutrition since I had an odd fascination with the science of food and thought of being a nutritionist. I struggled to understand the higher-level science classes, before eventually changing my major to Communication Disorders, hoping to work with individuals on the autism spectrum, much like me.

My new major was even more discouraging, because even though I did well academically, my professors, being aware of my autism, tried to convince me to change to a simpler major due to some emotional problems they observed. Stress from classes, pressure of my professors, and work at the campus dining common soon developed into depression. Though others had tried to help me through counseling and medication, no one was willing to actually listen to me. Seeing that my professors and counselor hardly knew anything about autism, I had enough of being put down all of the time and changed my major to Educational Studies, which is where I am today.

Through my major in Educational Studies, I hope to start a coffee shop that combines my interests of food science and autism and employs individuals on the autism spectrum, encouraging them that they are capable of living their lives to the fullest. I chose Educational Studies because it is a flexible major, I can choose classes that pertain to my interests, such as business classes, and I can keep the focus on the person, rather than their conditions.

Now for my senior year “Capstone Project,” I wish to educate employers about those on the autism spectrum and to share my experiences as someone on the spectrum. I hope that my words will be encouraging to others like me and their families.