Matthew Swindle

I developed resilience, patience, and grit from having Apraxia. The simple act of making a friend, saying hi, asking for help, completing a sentence is something that I will never take for granted. All of those simple things that people do everyday was never easy for me. I had to push harder, repeat myself, find alternative words and phrases.

I unlike many of my peers was not able to easily share my thoughts, feelings, aspirations, even the need to go to the restroom initially was not understandable to those who didn’t know me. My mom said that as a kindergartner I entered with only 25% intelligibility to an unknown person. Think about that, 1 out of 4 every words is all that I could get out. I knew what I was saying. I knew what I wanted, but no one else did.

So the biggest lesson learned from all of my challenges was to just keep trying until I reached my goal. I got tired of speech. I got tired of not being understood. I got tired of being different. But I never let myself stop. My parents were so important in my journey. They loved me and supported me and I think that is one of my biggest take aways from all of my struggles. No one is an island. I needed people. I needed support from those around me.

-Matthew Swindle