Annabel Franz: Hey, this is Annabel with Autism News Network and we’re here with Benjamin Zirlin, a local researcher here at MUSC, and he’s here to tell us a little bit about himself. Hi, Ben.

Ben Zirlin: Hi.

C. Magnus: Ben, what was like the — what was the transition from high school to college?

Ben Zirlin: Yeah, so that was kind of interesting. Um, I actually went to a military school for — for five years. Uh, started in, uh, eighth grade [CM: Yeah] until I graduated from high school and went to two different schools. So, for me high school is like a really different kind of a unique type of experience and there was a lot of challenges and things involved but, um, for me college was really difficult for me starting out because I — I mean this kind of goes into the thing, you know, being on the autism [CM: yeah] spectrum but being independent for me at that point was something I was still — I mean even though I’d been in military school, like college is you’re just completely independent. And I went to Oklahoma [CM: Yeah] State, which was out of state and I was all on my own. And I couldn’t — when, when I was at Oklahoma State my first year I could not get things together.

C. Magnus: You just kind of — it’s like oh my god I’m like I’m like I’m on my own like —

Ben Zirlin: Yeah, I [CM: That’s the kind of thing] I tried to join a fraternity also and that was a really — that was not a good idea for me [CM: Yeah] to — to try to ju — you know that’s that’s not a good fit for me. Um, so that –that you know, and I couldn’t figure out what degree I wanted to do so I ended up going — switching to, um, be closer to home [CM: Yeah] so I went to the University of North Texas. But, so yeah, the transition was — was pretty difficult but then so I — you know — I ended up being closer to home and really not being as — as independent and I kind of was, um, finding myself relying on being close to my family. [CM: Yeah] Uh, so that’s something — you know probably up until my mid-20s [CM: Yeah] I found myself [CM: Yeah] kind of avoiding the whole being — the independent thing.

C. Magnus: It’s just like kind of a little extra harder since, uh, the spectrum — God — I would imagine if I — that for me I’m like oh my God I’m in college, I’m away from my family, I’m actually on my own, you know —

Ben Zirlin: Yeah, I mean — and I’ll tell you like one — it’s a lot — it’s like tied, a lot of it’s tied to anxiety — like things I feel about things that are unknown and unexpected. Like I remember even up until like my mid-20s I would feel, uh, really anxious about making appointments [CM: Yeah] on my own, like colleges, talking to a stranger on the phone — so I would like ask my parents to make appointments for me [CM: yeah] because I was just so anxious about just calling a stranger. And I’m jumping ah– ahead a little here [CM: Yeah] but I had to — at at s– at one point I actually, um, had a situation with — with my family where I was forced to be the — to be very, to be more independent [CM: Yeah] — independent on my own and that was like around my mid-20s so then I just had to start [CM: You gotta learn everything] to push myself [CM: the hard way, you know, yeah.]