{"id":27833,"date":"2024-04-09T15:24:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T19:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/?p=27833"},"modified":"2025-02-25T12:04:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T17:04:30","slug":"autism-awareness-month-nicolas-allion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/resources\/news-library\/autism-awareness-month-nicolas-allion\/","title":{"rendered":"Autism Acceptance Month: Nicolas Allion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nicolas Allion is an Eligibility Specialist at Firefly Children and Family Alliance, where he helps low-income households apply for childcare vouchers and navigate the CCDF policy manual: a job that requires quite a bit of juggling.<\/p>\n

On top of managing his work at Firefly, Nick is also working through distinct feelings of discomfort, living in a societal setting not built in a way that\u2019s conducive for him to thrive. Neurodivergent people experience many misunderstandings or blocks to communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience with autism has primarily been as someone who masks well enough that I can and have passed as neurotypical for most of my life,\u201d Nick says about the relationship he has with his neurodivergence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went through so many years of being angry at everybody for not recognizing the signs. Because they were right there. But I did well in school, and I didn’t present with any obvious learning disabilities. So, I was good to go.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More recently, \u2018neurotypical\u2019 and \u2018neurodivergent\u2019 have been buzz words used frequently in various media. Learning the difference is integral to understanding each other:<\/p>\n\n\t\t