Autistic student defeating the odds: 21-year-old is finalist for Truman Scholarship

Ed Kemp

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Every time a door closes, Marie Holowach touches her left shoulder with her right hand. The ritual is not optional.

"If I don't put my hand on my shoulder, I feel like I'm going to die right now - or something else bad is going to happen," she explained.

Holowach, 21, is a highly functioning, highly successful 4.0 student at the University of Southern Mississippi. She's a Presidential Scholar, a National Merit finalist and just this month was named one of 197 national finalists for the prestigious Truman Scholarship, which pays out $30,000 to college juniors for graduate studies and leadership training.

Holowach also has autism, a developmental disability resulting from a neurological disorder of the brain.

Throughout her life, she has battled panic attacks, insomnia, attention deficit disorder and obsessive compulsive behaviors such as the need to immediately flip over cell phones sitting screen-side up.

Doctors diagnosed her at age 14 with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that impairs social and academic development.

"Having Aspergers is liking speaking a different language - like living in a different world with a different culture," she said.

A different world in which others can frequently and jeeringly remind one of one's alien status.

Because her dad changed careers, Holowach often changed school settings growing up from Cullman, Ala., to Fort Wayne, Ind., Wheaton Ill., and finally Madison.

She said she was taunted by classmates for her quirks even as they recognized her gifts.

"I always had a really good memory; so they (my classmates) always wanted me to be on their jeopardy team and things like that," Holowach said.

"I call it the zoo effect: I was an exhibit to be looked at, but not to be interacted with."

Meanwhile, teacher support was iffy.

"It was kind of a grab bag with teachers - some were accepting; some didn't get it at all," she said.

Hence Holowach's policy proposal for the Truman scholarship: "Autism Bullying Prevention," which focuses on revamping elementary school curriculum through teacher training to promote education and awareness.

Full article from Hattiesburg American here