TGP Project Jan. 2013 | Page 9

Jahna's (standinherspotlight) Story

9

things about me as well, and usually the things they accuse me of, it hurts to hear. Because I would never be standoffish or unfriendly or anything like that intentionally, it’s merely a side effect of the social deficiencies the Asperger’s gives me. Would I like to live a life where making friends was easy and effortless? Absolutely. Do I? No. If I was able to control it, don’t you think I would have by now? Everything I do, or have done, in my life, is done with only the purest and truest of intentions, and that’s why I was appalled by the things I saw people saying about Charlie. Because whose right is it to say he’s acting the way he is on purpose? Maybe he’s like me. Maybe he acts the way he deems appropriate in that moment, and regrets it later. I’m not trying to make excuses for him, because maybe he doesn’t. Everyone’s experiences are different, and I am in no way saying we’re the same person in any way. But closed-minded people that pass judgments like that need to understand that it is an option.

Having Charlie on the Glee Project this year is a learning experience. I hope the exposure of issues like his inspires people to do their research to better understand us as people that deserve the same respect as “normal” (I hate that word, to be honest) people. But it’s also been a learning experience for me as a person. Reading the comments that people leave about Charlie, however rude, disrespectful, and possibly wrong they are, and applying them to myself. Wondering if that’s how people think of me, and working to build my character as a person, to meet these people in the middle. If I want people to change their stereotypical judgments, I have to be willing to adapt to some things myself.

All that being said, though, Charlie is also phenomenally talented, which only helps his case and places me even more firmly on #TeamCharlie. I look forward to his performances every week, and as much as I hate seeing him hit bottom 3, it’s another chance to hear how fantastic he is, and I find myself oddly looking forward to it.

#TeamCharlie for life!