Autobiography of Steven Frock

Steven Frock is an adult who has been living with autism spectrum disorder since birth. The autobiography of Steven reveals a great deal of knowledge about the challenges that are experienced by people living with disability. The most important revelation in Frock’s autobiography is that people living with disability also have goals and dreams of being successful in the future despite their present condition. As a child, Frock was identified as a person with a disability and made to go through learning support classes as from elementary school to aid in his academic development. Frock’s early education life began experiencing challenges at his 5th grade when the district decided to move all kids with a disability to one elementary school.

            In the year 1992, Frock suffered from a tragic road accident that left him with a severe head trauma and a fractured skull. As a result of the accident, Frock now needed extra care for him to learn how to walk again since his motor skills are lost in the process. By the time Frock returned to the school year, he needed extra assistance to live with all the disabilities in his life. During his 6th grade the school took away all the learning support including speech therapy and occupational therapy that were meant to improve his education. This part of the autobiography reveals that without enough support, people with disabilities suffer a lot since his grades drop significantly.

            During Frock’s adult life he learnt of the Adult Community Autism Program (ACAP) a group in Pennsylvania that assists people with his condition to get the right kind of assistance. The group offer speech therapy and counseling to autism patients living in difficulty. At the program, Frock is assisted with achieving of his goals and gets an occupation where he is comfortable working as his ACAP counselor continues to give guidance.

            The author’s main point in the autobiography is that people living with disability require additional help in every level of their life. People living around autistic persons should, therefore, learn how to assist the disabled around them. Human beings have a tendency of assuming that those with a disability have no ambition and they are content with living as average beings but that is not the case. A disability does not alter the desires of a person to have a successful social, academic, and financial life. These people are capable of making achievements of their own as long as they are given the extra hand that family, friends, teachers and colleagues are expected to give. 

            The author also has a message for the people living with a disability based on his autobiography. As a person living with autism, Frock constantly sought the additional help from colleagues and teachers that would enable him to succeed in life. As a high school student, he approached his teachers several times to get the much required learning support. At one point in his freshman college year, he facilitated the start of a discussion program for disabled kids in the school to tell their story and help everyone to understand how living with a disability affects them.

            The strategy obtained from the autobiography is that confidently speaking out about the disability condition is better than silently shying away. The author continues speaking out to everyone about his condition through the book about his life experiences. Most people living with disability tend to hide and avoid speaking about their challenges. Speaking to the relevant people about one’s disability gives them a chance to search for ways to make the life of the disabled less challenging.

            As a person, Frock’s autobiography changed my thinking, in that disabled persons in society also desire to have a normal life and to enjoy all the successes that life has to offer. The lack of friends or support from teachers and educators also damages their progress in life and hampers their social development. The book also reveals that support from family in most cases is great for individuals living with disability even though it is not enough. In the case of Frock, they kept loosing different cases to the school district after attempting to sue the school for denying him support services.

            As an educator, it is necessary for one to understand all their students special needs and conditions that may impact their academic performance. Frock’s experience with educators was based on their level of interest in understanding his special needs and offering the necessary assistance. Math was one of his favorite subjects since the educators took a special interest on his unique condition and taught him in the way he understood it. This enabled him to go ahead and attend the mainstream math classes without any difficulty.

            Other educators should read this book in order to gain the insight on special students’ desires and wants from them. Often, educators are not aware what a disabled student requires or desires for their lives and they end up providing unnecessary services. The book by Frock proves that disabled students require a specific service that educators can understand once they give the student the necessary attention. In this way, the educators can match their skills with what the disabled students require.

Reference

 Frock, S. (2014). Autobiography. Chester. (pp.28). http://www.paautism.org/desktopmodules/asert-api/api/item/ItemDetailFileDownload/2813/Steven%20Frock%20Autobiography.pdf).