Every morning, four Greenwood individuals wake up to take on the day the same way everyone else does.
They eat breakfast, brush their teeth and head off to school or work or get an early start on the day’s housework. However, these individuals are vastly different from everyone else.
They cope with a disorder that has puzzled doctors for years, but with breaking research, doctors are starting to find some answers.
They see the world a little different, a little bigger and a lot more vivid. They have varying degrees of autism, and here are their stories.
The Athlete
Jeremy Fisher, now 21, was diagnosed with autism at 4 months old, but his disorder didn’t stop him from becoming a basketball fanatic with remarkable skills on the court.
His favorite team is the Miami Heat, and he aspires to play like his favorite player, LeBron James.
“His granddaddy bought him a basketball goal when he was 4, and he’s been playing ever since,” said Jeremy’s mother, Irene Fisher.
Not only can Jeremy shoot a 3-point shot from over 20 feet away, he remembers every name, team and number of every player in the NBA.
“His memorization skills are like no one else I’ve ever seen,” Fisher said. “He remembers the names of his kindergarten classmates in alphabetical order and he knows everyone’s birthday.”
Jeremy’s athletic abilities don’t stop at basketball. He’s won several first-place medals and ribbons in the Special Olympics for various events including volley ball and the 50-meter dash.
Jeremy received a certificate of completion from Greenwood High School in 2009. When he saw his high school classmates going off to college after graduation, he wanted to go to college too. “He just woke up one morning and said ‘Mama, I want to go to college,” so we enrolled him in a GED course at Mississippi Delta Community College,” Fisher said. Jeremy takes classes on Mondays and Thursdays in language arts, spelling, math and reading.
“He loves learning, and he really has a passion for it,” Fisher said. “He tries to absorb everything he can, and it’s my hope that once he gets his GED, he can take some college courses.”
With a high functioning autism disorder, Jeremy could likely hold down a job. He is able to communicate verbally and has good organizational skills. He likes to read, is learning basic math skills and is mastering the fundamentals of spelling.
Jeremy does most of the same things the average student does around the house, including taking the trash out, vacuuming the floor and keeping his room clean.
The Chef
Chris Carter, 25, doesn’t speak, but he can whip up a potato salad before you have time to ask “what’s for dinner?”.
Chris communicates through facial expressions and gestures, and his mother, Kassie Carter, says he does well. “He’s good at letting us know what he’s feeling without speaking. We always know what he’s trying to tell us,” she said.
Chris is skillful with the microwave and he’s careful when chopping up food with a sharp knife. “I just came in the kitchen one time and saw him doing it,” Carter said. “It scared me at first, but he’s careful.” Chris can almost prepare an entire meal without supervision, but his mother is never too far away.
Besides cooking, Chris loves planting vegetables in his summer garden, routinely taking out the trash and getting the mail. “Those things never bore him. The repetition and patterns help stimulate his mind,” Carter said.
Having an autistic child has been a difficult experience for Chris’ parents, but Carter said there is a reason why God gave her Chris. “I used to question why my youngest child has this disorder, but God has a reason for everything,” she said. “When you have an autistic child you learn to love them for who they are, and not everyone is the same.” Carter said one of the biggest lessons she’s learned from Chris is patience because children with autism are not able to catch on to certain skills as quickly as children without it.
She has also seen a miraculous change in Chris’ development. “When he was 10 years old, he had no idea what danger was. If a car was coming, he didn’t know to wait until it passed to cross the street. Now, at 25, he’s much more aware of danger and the world around him. I saw him go from nothing to a more aware young man.”
While Chris’ younger years were more of a challenge to his parents, Carter said it gave her hope to see that the challenges come in stages, and children will eventually overcome these difficulties.
“My overall goal for Chris is for him to one day live in a group home for men and be able to work in an environment that can cater to his abilities,” Carter said. “I want him to be a productive member of society and find self-fulfillment.”
The Employee
Katie Elliot, 35, has a sweet personality and she smiles a lot. She lives at Beacon Harbor during the week but comes home to visit her mother, Ruth Elliot, most weekends.
Katie grew up in New York. She took regular high school classes and especially loved math. “Katie was good at math, “said Ruth Elliot. “She finished all of the math courses at her school, and by the time she finished, they didn’t know where to put her.”
Katie also enjoyed P.E. and playing kickball. “I have two older sisters, so I was called by their names a lot,” Katie said. “Luckily in P.E. they called me by my name.”
After graduation in 1996, Katie went straight to work at a workshop where she helped sterilize bottles for distribution. She also worked placing the plastic around bottles and making sure the tops were screwed on tightly. She held another job where she put candles in glass frames.
“I wanted to be a nurse, but I’m happy doing what I do,” said Katie, who now lives and works at Beacon Harbor. She spends her days making Christmas cards, which Beacon Harbor sells during the holiday season, and making T-shirts and other miscellaneous things.
During her spare time, Katie likes to read, especially her favorite book, “Little Women.”
Katie also plays Yahtzee and collects nickels. “Holding the nickels helps me not to bite my nails so much,” she said. Katie has hundreds of them that she keeps in a plastic laundry detergent bottle.
When she visits her mother on the weekends, it’s Katie’s responsibility to feed Phantom the cat. The fluffy black-and-white cat is always waiting for her to come home.
During the week, Katie lives a normal life. Although she lives in a home with 11 other women, she has her own list of chores to complete. On Mondays, Katie vacuums the floor and on Thursdays, she washes the dishes.
Katie loves to sing. She’s a member of the a cappela Rainbow Choir at Beacon Harbor, and the group performs at different places throughout the year. The group will perform at the Autism Awareness Walk on Saturday.
The Musician
Benjamin Hodge, 16, is a ninth-grader at Greenwood High School who can bring magic into the room with a few strokes on the piano.
He’s been taking lessons for seven years, and often plays in church.
“I like that he’s interested in piano and it helps him to organize his thoughts,” said Benjamin’s mother, Miranda Hodge. “It was a real challenge getting him out and in front of people, but piano has helped him with that.” Benjamin even played on Easter sunday.
Like all young children probably do, Benjamin was playing around on a piano one day after church when one of the deacons overheard him banging around on the keys. “He told me, ‘you know, it sounds like that boy is actually playing something,’” Hodge said. “He suggested that Benjamin take lessons, so I got that set up for him.”
As a young child with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, a form of autism, staying focused was not something that came easy for Benjamin. “He really wasn’t focused enough at that time to stay with it, so we took a break for a little while,” Hodge said.
Now Benjamin is focused enough on playing, and the progress he’s made in his lessons show it. It even helps to boost his confidence.
“Anything we can do to develop skill, we’ll do it,” Hodge said. “And piano lessons also help with his communication skills.”
Benjamin has been in speech therapy since age three, and as a result, he’s able to speak and communicate well with others. Social interaction is challenging, but Benjamin is making progress. “He loves high school,” Hodge said. “He makes A’s and B’s, and he’ll graduate with a vocational diploma.”
Benjamin also loves working with computers. “I think he knows more about them than I do,” Hodge said.
Since Benjamin’s disorder is classified as “high functioning,” he’ll likely be able to hold down a job and be a functional member of society as an adult.
“it’s my goal for him to have a happy, successful life and do something he enjoys, and hopefully earn a living by doing it,” Hodge said. “As he gets older, he gets more focused, so his future looks good.”
Hodge said a lot of prayer goes into her son. “Dealing with autism is a challenge, but it’s not impossible.”
