A Story from my Service Dog Class

Makayla and Nikki, taking on the world.

My story starts as a girl who felt like she didn’t fit in. A girl with braces, who felt like she was living in another world. The cafeteria was always so much noise, everything had to be the same, lunchbox check, chocolate milk, check. I could hear every noise in the cafeteria at once, all at the same volume.

I screamed at the hand dryers in bathrooms, they were so loud it was painful, I didn’t trust people, and the world was very big and scary to me. A fire alarm going off would send me into a meltdown, all I could feel was panic and pain coming over my body in waves, I ran and ran and ran to the nearest exit with a therapist running after me saying “Stop! STOP!” there was no stop, I had to get away from that pain.

When I was in the teenage years I joined a vaulting club, I didn’t fit in so well, I would get so tired from all the socializing I would retreat upstairs to the warm-up room and nap on the mattress. The other girls never really socialized with me, I was the girl in the shadows. Then when I turned 18 Nikki came into my life, I remember that day I first saw the trainer, I felt a bit nervous, but hey she looked nice and when I approached I felt something stir in me, Something that drew me towards this dog.

The trainer, Liz, showed me all the things Nikki could do, deep pressure therapy, relax, etc. I watched with total fascination! Wow, I had never seen this kind of training before. We thought we’d have to go home and come back to pick Nikki up, but to my delight we got to take her home that day, I remember just feeling nothing but joy, I finally had a best friend, I finally had my own service dog.

We came back for classes and boy, I had a lot to learn. But every goal we accomplished was awesome, when we passed our AKC CGC and CGCA I felt so proud and happy! I slowly found myself learning to trust the people here, they truly cared about me, and I felt that.

Today I am a 21 year old woman, a woman with big dreams for the future. I am an autism advocate/self-advocate and neurodiversity supporter, I run a blog Ausomely Autistic, and I am a contributor on the Mighty, a website about different disabilities. I love horses, and of course dogs. I also like to color.

Makayla & Nikki

Visit Makaylas blog: https://autisticandawesomeblog.wordpress.com/