"I have dyslexia. I cannot read easily, but I do like to read books." - Eden

My name is Eden and I am 12 years old. I live with dad, my mum, my brother, my sister and the cat Emma. I have autism. It irritates me when children tap me when they want to tell me something.

I do like massages, they are expected and they have more pressure. That's not a bad thing. I especially don't like touching when I don't expect it. I am also rigid. I always like to sit at the same place. I don't like not getting a warning sign when something is about to happen or when we are going somewhere. Because of this rigidity, I am also a perfectionist.
An advantage of my autism is that my perfectionism allows me to further develop my talents. A disadvantage of my autism is that I can appear strange because I think differently. But I am not someone who camouflages.

What is difficult for me, is that I have dyslexia. I cannot read easily, but I do like to read books. My dad did read to me a lot. Reading myself has already improved a lot. I am currently reading Harry Potter. But it's not going fast.
I am proud of my drawing talent. I mostly draw animals, girls and fantasy.

I have three tips for children with autism. If your phone-earbuds bother you, but you still want to listen to music from your phone, you can also put your earbuds in a bigger pair of headphones and put those on. That way, you can hear the music too, but you don't have anything 'stuck' in your ears. If it is difficult to look into people's eyes, you can look at something else in their face. If you don't like hugging, you can tell a cuddly person beforehand that you don't like hugging.