9-Year-Old Writes Book About Living With Autism

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Nine-year-old Milan Bonilla-Cruz has autism, but it's not who he is.
It says so right there on the last page of his new children's book, Autism & Me.
Milan, who will enter the fourth grade at Braeburn Elementary in West Hartford this fall, wrote and illustrated the book with Allison Butler, a West Hartford resident who is a paraprofessional at Whiting Lane Elementary, where Milan previously attended.

I do not want people to feel bad for me," Milan wrote in the book. "I like having autism and I would never change anything about myself. I would not be the person I am today if I did not have autism. I am very creative and smart because of this. However, autism is just a little part of me; it is not who I am."
That's the conclusion to the story of a fictional character named Mike that Milan based on himself. It's all about living with autism, how he views the world around him, and how he's similar but also different from his classmates.
The book was one way Butler began to further understand how Milan sees having autism.

"I was there more for the behavior side," Butler said. "If something was hard for him, he gets upset very easily, and I would try to help him with different strategies and to try and cope with it."

In their book, Milan tells of some of the ways he copes with his behavior. A section in the book details one of Milan's favorite places in his Whiting Lane classroom, his "space station." It was his own private room, walls adorned with stars, where he could go to unwind when he was upset.

Most teachers don't know that I don't trust many people, especially teachers that I have never met before," Milan wrote. "When teachers I do not work with come and tell me what to do, it makes me more frustrated. It makes me feel like there are a ton of zombies surrounding me and makes me extra uncomfortable."

The rest of the book details how Milan feels during recess, which he compares to a giant maze as he tries to find other students to play with, aside from his twin sister. Sometimes, it's hard, and he hides behind trees watching how certain games are played.

In that section, he quotes Butler with one of his favorite pieces of advice, and how he overcomes that feeling.
"You can't spend the rest of your life behind a tree," Milan said.