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NOT OTHERWISE DEFINED

BY PETE ROSCH

I am not really defined by my OCD, but some days it feels like I am. It dictates my behavior every minute of every day. It is perpetually in doubt as to whether I am doing things myself, or because I’m compelled. Meaningful moments outside of spelling are few and far between. Every moment is permanently possessed by compulsions. But I am not my OCD. Nor am I defined by my diagnosis of autism. I am Peter Rosch, fried food aficionado, reader of poetry, lover of music, and writer of this blog.

4/28/2025 1 Comment

I Want to be Cured

It is hard when we strongly disagree with our parents. I believe that we should already have better treatments for autism. My parents are extremely left-wing, and are anti-RFK. I strongly disagree though. In fact, I am furious with them over this.

I am incredibly disabled. I can’t speak at all, and I have hellish OCD. Then, to boot, I have episodes of self-injury that I can’t control. My forehead is disfigured from my banging it over and over throughout the years. I do not want to live the rest of my life like this. So when someone in power tells me that he recognizes that autism is an epidemic that needs to be stopped, and treatments need to be found, I am thrilled.

I don’t care what political party he is, because this goes beyond politics. This is only about my suffering, and that of my friends. There needs to be a point at which politics becomes irrelevant. I’ve hit that point - and I can only hope that my parents do too.

[Editor's Note: Not only did Pete's parents permit this to be published; they went out of their way to assure him that they want to hear his voice, even when they disagree with him. And they also assured him that they want a cure as much as he.]

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4/21/2025 0 Comments

Cool Technology

Today Judy needed to cheer me up because I’m grumpy. She showed me a video of a nonspeaking man wearing a device on his head that could read his brainwaves and then speak for him. It did cheer me up a bit. The cool thing about technology is that it just gets better. I genuinely believe that in the not very distant future there will be some kind of technology to help us. Maybe it will just read our minds so we can just type on a computer. Maybe someday soon spelling will be outdated.

But don’t worry…Judy will never retire.

The Cognixion Axon-R Headset

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4/7/2025 0 Comments

The Best Night of the Year

All my life I’ve been the disabled younger brother. It really hurt when I’d watch my older brother doing cool things like going to college, getting a job and an apartment. I accomplished nothing until I came to M2H years ago. I am totally proud of what I have accomplished here. I definitely could not have foreseen that coming here would change everything. I can talk, write and learn. That is a miracle. I finally am doing things of which I can be proud. And let me tell you, that feels pretty great.