Autism and the real-life story of Charlie Threatt

Charlie Threatt

[Charlie submitted this autobiographical story of how he has used martial arts to help focus his emotions for which he won 2nd place in the Blue Valley North spring speak writing competition in Spring 2013]

Charlie Threatt was born on April 8 1995. He grew up and spent most of his life in Kansas City, Missouri. He was a child born with an autism syndrome P.D.D.N.O.S. He didn't talk much when he was a baby. He was very quiet and always distanced himself from people. He had poor communication skills and anxiety and stress issues. His parents had to take him to a bunch of different therapists to help him out through his disorder. He's also in special education at school and got held back a grade. As though he had enough to deal with, when Charlie was little at a daycare, he and another kid got into a fight over power rangers. The kid overpowered Charlie and slammed his face so hard to the ground it messed up his teeth structure. He was left lying on the floor with his blood all over the place and his head was soaking the blood up like a sponge. He was so terrified and thought he was going to die.

This incident changed Charlie's life forever. Because of this incident he had a lot more trouble coping with his autism syndrome. Kids would constantly make fun of him because of the way his teeth looked and he didn't know how to respond to it. He just took all the pain in for all that time, and all the kids treated him like trash, and he didn't have a single friend at school. He was always by himself and cried all the time. He was a loner.

Like any other person with autism, he was clueless and didn't know how to deal with it. He was the school laughing stock. He slept with his parents for the longest time and never slept in his own bed by himself because he was so afraid and had nightmares. Charlie didn't know how to deal with all his anxiety and stress issues put on him. He was always terrified to leave his house because of what happen to his teeth and thought it was going to happen to him again. He always hated going to the dentist because he didn't want to be reminded of what happen to his teeth.

At some point he decided to fight back. When someone made fun of his teeth he responded with violence and would fight anybody who made fun of his teeth. He always used to think that violence was the way to communicate when someone made fun of him. He felt like they were trying to harm him so he wanted to hurt them so they would not be able harm him. He always talked back to teachers and had temper tantrums in class and didn't care about his schoolwork. He felt the teachers were also trying to harm him. He felt like everyone in the world was trying to get him.

Charlie was still a loner but not because he had autism it's because all the kids became afraid of him. No one dared to try him or else they'll be sorry. He thought he was taking care of himself the right way. He thought he was facing things like a man and always wanted to fight his own battles. When Charlie was 13 years old he started doing martial arts training. At first he wanted to do it to find a way to hurt others who ever made fun of him.

Over the time he spent training slowly he realized that violence wasn't the answer to solve his problems. Now Charlie couldn't care less if anybody made fun of him because now he only fights strictly for justice. He is now behaving better in school and actually doing his school work. He has better communication skills than he did before and doesn't have any more anxiety and stress issues. He overcame his autism syndrome.

Charlie's goal is to become a martial arts instructor so he can prevent anyone else going through the same violent things he went through. He wants to end the cycle of violence. He has passion for helping others and can't think of a better job than that. He wants to help people with any disabilities similar to his autism because he wants to help them deal with them better than he did. He wants to share the happiness of martial arts that it has given him to others. He wants to make sure everyone is taken care of so they can all live happy healthy lives by helping them in every aspect of their lives. He truly believes if he can overcome his obstacles, he believes anyone can overcome their own obstacles and better themselves from them. Because he also believes that all the greatest experiences in life are the ones you learn from.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @

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The Rett Syndrome Association of Australia (RSAA)email rettaust@bigpond.comwishes to draw attention to the fact that it is staging the 9th World Rett Syndrome Congress i ..
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