Source:(The Gazette)
Writer: Liz Zabel

Leah Parker wasn’t diagnosed with autism until she was 18.

Despite recognizing the symptoms in her behavior, the 19-year-old University of Iowa English major said her parents had trouble believing her.

Maybe it’s because she got “good at pretending and blending in” by studying others, even though it didn’t feel natural. Or perhaps it’s because her special interest in dogs is socially acceptable enough to “slip by without people noticing,” she said.

But when the doctors delivered the news that she is, in fact, autistic, her parents were shocked.

“A lot of people seem to think it’s much more rare than it actually is,” Parker said. “They have a picture in their head that everybody who is autistic is Rain Man or something … People just know a lot more autistic people than they realize.” Click here to read the rest of the story