EXCEPTIONAL ADVOCATE
An Exclusive Interview with Armani Williams the First NASCAR Driver on the Autism Spectrum
By Ron Sandison I MET AND INTERVIEWED ARMANI WILLIAMS THIS YEAR AS I SHARE HIS REMARKABLE STORY IN MY THIRD BOOK, VIEWS FROM THE SPECTRUM: A WINDOW INTO LIFE AND FAITH WITH YOUR NEURODIVERGENT CHILD. I LOVE HIS PASSION FOR ADVOCACY AND HIS QUOTE, “TELL ME I CAN’T SO I CAN SHOW YOU THAT I CAN.”
This interview has been edited for Exceptional Needs Today. SANDISON: What were your greatest challenges having autism? WILLIAMS: I feel like my greatest challenge of having autism is communication and social interaction. All my life, I have been dealing with issues growing up, but I have managed to steadily improve those tactics, being a little more proactive around other people, and that’s going to help me in the long run as I continue to live my life with autism. SANDISON: How old were you when you began to speak? WILLIAMS: Good question; I can’t remember when I did. It’s been a long time since I was so little. I would say it was when I was two or three years old. It sometimes takes time before you can say your very first words. SANDISON: Did you have any sensory issues? If so, how did you learn to overcome them? WILLIAMS: Yes, I had some sensory issues, especially when I was young. And I still do today, but I have been able to reduce those issues and overcome them just by looking at my surroundings and knowing what’s going on in today’s world. When I hear or see something I don’t quite understand, I use the Internet and research things on Google to help me understand certain things I don’t know. The more I learn about different things, the easier it is for me to translate the information to my brain, and the next time it comes up, it’s like, “Oh, I have heard about this before,” or “Hey, I know what this is.”
Exceptional Needs Today | Issue 4 | 61
