Growing up as a neuro-divergent member of the LGBTQ+ community in a private Christian school sets you up for many challenges throughout the course of your life. From the age of two years old all the way to adulthood at eighteen, you are in the same environment, surrounded by the same people you grew up with, whether you like it or not. Now in regards to the Christian aspect, some will say that it’s incredible to introduce at such a young age to show a sense of right and wrong, while others, such as those who have actually experienced it, will say otherwise. The administration that loves to fool you with shallow attempts of compassion and Bible verses tend to shove ideals of a sexist, homophobic, and racist nature down your throat. Sadly, there are only a handful of us that can see through this facade and expose it for what it is. At the beginning of my sophomore year I was called into the office along with my mother. They sat us down and began to talk about what it means to be a homosexual and the horrific future that awaits us. I found out then and there that someone had told the administration of my bisexual identity. The whole time they were trying to talk to me, I saw a hint of fear in their eyes, as if they were scared they were going to provoke me like an animal ready to pounce. They wanted to expel me. I almost wish they had. But their attempt of “love” came through again and decided to give me a “second chance” to reevaluate my identity of which I had spent months figuring out for myself and getting comfortable with. You feel like a monster. You feel like a horrifying, screwed up monster when you don’t come out the exact way that they want you to; full of personality and a separate identity that they are afraid will cause the whole administration to come crashing down. As someone diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, your whole experience in a place such as this is ultimately about ten times worse. You don’t understand why certain rules are in place or why people act certain ways and you certainly don’t like to keep your mouth shut during Bible class when they talk about their sexist and racist ideals. Due to the sheer amount that I was forced to mask during school hours, I would often experience what is called an “Autistic meltdown”. Trying to act in a way that is acceptable to neuro-typical people is exhausting, and would result in full mental breakdowns being unable to physically speak or move for hours at a time. A terrifying sight for both parties involved. Spending my entire life in a private Christian school has allowed me to be proud of who I am as a person and who I am no longer afraid to be. The horrors and emotional manipulation that I endured still stick with me to this day and always will, but I want to use that to reach my full potential and live the life that I always wanted - full of love and acceptance. I want to create an environment for people like me to feel accepted and proud of who they are and not feel as if they have to hide their true selves from even the closest people around them. I want to live the life I was too afraid to.

The DSM 5's greatest hits: Borderline Personality Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Dissociative Identity Disorder. Now wrap that all up into one 5'4", 17-year-old girl - that's me! I've been battling mental illnesses since I could crawl and it has shaped who I have become today in regards to how I view myself, how I view others, and how I go about living my life. The two biggest illnesses that affect my life the most are BPD and ASD. Autism and Borderline both have a large amount of stigma surrounding them and I want to spend my life actively decreasing that stigma. I've gone through years of therapy dealing with sensory issues, panic attacks, splitting, understand social cues, reducing autistic meltdowns and how to not react from your emotions; something that has taken all of my strength and energy, all while trying to understand who I am as a person growing up. There have been times in my life where I experience episodes due to my disability where I am unable to speak or move for hours at a time. It is a terrifying experience not being able to be in control of your body because your brain decides to shut down due to overbearing neurotypical surroundings. Trying to explain that to someone when you can't do anything but scream in your own head is...difficult to say the least. I want to use my experience with the challenges of autism and BPD to spread awareness throughout my life and help others going through the same struggles I am to live a fulfilling life that we all deserve.

The DSM 5's greatest hits: Borderline Personality Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Dissociative Identity Disorder. Now wrap that all up into one 5'4", 17-year-old girl - that's me! I've been battling mental illnesses since I could crawl and it has shaped who I have become today in regards to how I view myself, how I view others, and how I go about living my life. The two biggest illnesses that affect my life the most are BPD and ASD. Autism and Borderline both have a large amount of stigma surrounding them and I want to spend my life actively decreasing that stigma. I've gone through years of therapy dealing with sensory issues, panic attacks, splitting, understand social cues, reducing autistic meltdowns and how to not react from your emotions; something that has taken all of my strength and energy, all while trying to understand who I am as a person growing up. There have been times in my life where I experience episodes due to my disability where I am unable to speak or move for hours at a time. It is a terrifying experience not being able to be in control of your body because your brain decides to shut down due to overbearing neurotypical surroundings. Trying to explain that to someone when you can't do anything but scream in your own head is...difficult to say the least. I want to use my experience with the challenges of autism and BPD to spread awareness throughout my life and help others going through the same struggles I am to live a fulfilling life that we all deserve.

I am proud to be a woman in the LGBTQ+ community because I am strong. I have been beaten down by society, by men, by sexist expectations, by homophobic stances and I am still rising and fighting to defeat it. I have developed my identity and confidence as a woman and will not let a fragile mindset destroy that. My instagram is @jordanhunter22

My father has always been in and out of my life growing up. He dealt with major anger issues, would participate in manipulation, and mentally abuse me and other members of my family. Growing up, I was always terrified of how he would act. He was unpredictable and I never knew when I would see him if he would be fine, or blow up at the tiniest event. At age 2, my mom and him divorced, at age 5, he threatened to kill himself, at age 11 he sexually assaulted me, and at age 15 was the last time I saw him. Being sexually assaulted by a parental figure distorts your sense of trust and destroys your mental health at an intense level. He manipulated me and touched me, scarring me for the rest of my life and being the reason for distress in his daughter. I never told anyone until October 1, 2019. He kept gaslighting me and manipulating me into staying for years, until I finally told my psychiatrist and I was legally no longer able to see him. He abused me both sexually and mentally and I am still in the process of going through the trial for it. It was a sudden change. It confused me and made me feel simultaneous relief and anxiety; I missed him despite everything he did, because he was my father. He supported me financially in my school and extracurriculars and was suddenly stripped away because of the situation. It is now solely on my mother, and it is hard. For a long time I had my grandfather, who lived with my mom and I and whom I was extremely close with, even closer than I was with my mom. He was a strong financial support and was my true father figure as a child. He taught me how to love myself, introduced me to music, and sparked my passion for writing music. He suddenly and unexpectedly passed in August of 2016. I was with my dad at the time on vacation and never got to tell my grandfather goodbye or that I loved him. I was with the one person who hurt me when the person I loved the most died. Both incidents happened only a year or two apart, and completely deteriorated my self-confidence and mental health. His death forced me to realize that my biological father was the only father figure I had left. One that sexually assaulted me when I was just a child. I have fought with my entire soul and mind to not fall into suicidal thoughts and let severe mental illness take over my life. I have developed more confidence and want to use my talents and gifts to fight for others going through similar situations. I want to make my grandfather proud, and show that no matter what my father did to me, everything would be okay and I would come out stronger than ever.

I want to continue to pursue higher education to learn more about psychology and how to help in advocating for social justice and the lives of people around me. Mental health has always been a big part of my life and I want to help in lowering the stigma around it to get people the help and diagnosis they need without feeling like a monster due to society's label. I want to combine my passion for mental health and social justice to be the best advocate I can be. I want to use my white privilege and any platform I have to amplify the voices of people of color. I want to give them a place to speak when no one else has. I want to work to change society in their institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia, and stigmatization of mental health. I currently participate in extracurriculars such as theatre, writing music, singing, guitar, piano, and ukulele. I used to dance for 12 years before getting a severe knee injury that prevented me from continuing. It was my passion and my escape from the harsh society and mental illness that I dealt with. Being forced to quit sent me into a spiral of depression even deeper than I was already in; this is what led me to writing music. I had always loved singing and piano from a young age but never had enough time to pursue it as dance took up the entirety of my life from day to night. This allowed me to start pursuing it deeper and eventually became my new outlet for stress, mental illness, and the many other things I was struggling with at the time. This is my current passion. I have written over 30 complete songs that have my heart and soul poured into them. I want to share them with the world and people around me to show that they are not along and what they are feeling is not abnormal. It is not wrong. It is completely normal and they are not alone. Being a creative person and writing music has saved my life. Pursuing these things is what makes life worth living, at least to me. Pursuing higher education and the rest of my life is nothing without having other passions to make your life exciting. I want to combine my passion for music and creativity with my desire to be an advocate to help those around me in every possible way I can. I want to show people how music changed my life, and hopefully change theirs in the process.

I spent around 12 hours a week for 12 years studying dance. It was my passion. My escape from my mental illness, my father, and anything else that came my way. It made me feel alive and free and it was everything for me. I studied ballet, jazz, tap, modern, hip hop, and lyrical. I grew up in dance and didn’t see how toxic the environment was as it created intense body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and lots more. I was blinded by my genuine passion and did not see it until I obtained a knee injury that caused me to stop dancing for the rest of my life. It was never fully diagnosed and no doctor or physical therapist could understand what it was or how to fix it. I couldn’t go back to my passion and escape from the world, and that is when I turned to music. I had been singing and playing piano my whole life, and was something I enjoyed. I never thought of it as a passion but more as something I enjoyed as a hobby. After my knee injury I started to write my own music, and that's when it became my new escape and my sole passion as dance once was. I wrote lyrics that flowed out of my deepest pain and it became my life. I wrote about everything in my life and the horrible things I had to go through at such a young age, including sexual assault. I learned ukulele, guitar, and advanced in piano after that. To this day I have written around 30 complete songs with countless unfinished ones. I want to share my music with the world and convey my emotions and struggles to those feeling the same. I want to build a platform to use for advocacy - fighting for the destigmatization of mental health, women's issues, the oppression of people of color, and so much more. I want everything in my life to have been worth it and to make a difference in the hateful world we live in. I want to my music to be a moment of relief for those going through terrible experiences. I want someone to tell me I saved their life, as many artists did that for me. If I can't share my music with the world, I don't want to do anything. I want my raw emotion to flow out of each song I write and sing, like smooth velvet and deep wine.

I spent around 12 hours a week for 12 years studying dance. It was my passion. My escape from my mental illness, my father, and anything else that came my way. It made me feel alive and free and it was everything for me. I studied ballet, jazz, tap, modern, hip hop, and lyrical. I grew up in dance and didn’t see how toxic the environment was as it created intense body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and lots more. I was blinded by my genuine passion and did not see it until I obtained a knee injury that caused me to stop dancing for the rest of my life. It was never fully diagnosed and no doctor or physical therapist could understand what it was or how to fix it. I couldn’t go back to my passion and escape from the world, and that is when I turned to music. I had been singing and playing piano my whole life, and was something I enjoyed. I never thought of it as a passion but more as something I enjoyed as a hobby. After my knee injury I started to write my own music, and that's when it became my new escape and my sole passion as dance once was. I wrote lyrics that flowed out of my deepest pain and it became my life. I wrote about everything in my life and the horrible things I had to go through at such a young age, including sexual assault. I learned ukulele, guitar, and advanced in piano after that. To this day I have written around 30 complete songs with countless unfinished ones. I want to share my music with the world and convey my emotions and struggles to those feeling the same. Below I attached a link to a rough demo of a song I wrote called “Jawbones & Jaybirds.” I chose this recording because it is raw and unedited. I cannot record well with the equipment I have but it is full of emotion and is in the most pure form. Without music, I do not know who I would be as a person or where I would be in my life. Music grounded me and became my reason for living at some times in my life.

I grew up as the only one in my household with severe mental illness. I felt as if I was a burden, an abnormality, and as cliché as it sounds, a monster. I was told I was lazy, not trying hard enough, and pathetic for the serious mental health crisis I was having. I struggle with depression, anxiety, derealization/depersonalization, tics, and am currently awaiting a diagnosis for a personality disorder. Some days I feel as if I am on top of the world and shortly end up crashing hard, being unable to do anything much less get out of bed. With my disassociation, there are times that I can no longer talk or move because of it. It is incredibly debilitating, and is frustrating to live with. Without these illnesses overtaking my life, I would be a complete different person, but I don’t think I would change it. Going through what I have with these illnesses has been more than difficult, but has allowed me to better understand everyone around me. I empathize with people on a much deeper level, I can help them from drowning as I almost did myself, and I am an advocate for mental health awareness. I have always felt that I love on a deeper level than those around me, and have found out recently that it is because of my mental illness. When I was younger I would sabotage these relationships as I would manipulate them into giving me more attention. It was the only way I thought I could receive love. There was always one person that my world revolved around. My one attachment, more commonly known as a 'favorite person' in borderline personality disorder. My moods, my word, my self-image, and everything in-between revolved around how this person felt about me. It ruined my life. Though that is hard to hear, it has severely impacted my relationships in a positive way. I have been able to grow to understand what I struggle with and how I can avoid situations like those I experienced in the past. I can meet people and form deep emotional bonds with them quite easily, as well as make those around me feel loved and not like a burden in regards to their own mental struggles. The stigma around mental illness is gigantic, and most people are uneducated about most mental illnesses as well, which is why I want to talk about my personal experiences with it and be a safe space for others to do so as well. Borderline Personality Disorder is one of the most stigmatized of mental illnesses, which is why I want so desperately to tear that down. To make people understand that people's actions stem from their mental state. If someone acts in a way that appears "sociopathic" or "horrible" - it is highly probably that it is from undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. Approaching it with hatred will only make it worse. My mental illness has inhibited a lot of things in my life but also opened many opportunities for me as well. It is a part of me and is something that I accept as my identity. It will always be challenging, but makes me who I am.

I have been exposed to many different forms and genres of music from a young age. My grandfather introduced a large majority of this to me as I was growing up as I was extremely close in relation to him. He was my father figure in life. He meant the world to me and the music he showed me only contributed to that. When he passed in 2016, that was an extremely difficult time for me as I had to accept that the one father figure I had in life was gone. I constantly listened to the music he showed me from Buddy Holly to Janis Joplin to The Drifters and much more. I was always a creative person growing up. I danced competitively for 12 years, and studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip hop, lyrical, and company. That was my passion since I was three years old, and was an outlet to me through my grandfather's death, my mental illness, and any adversity or stress I encountered. However, when I was 14, I sustained a knee injury that was never able to be fully diagnosed nor fully healed, making dance extremely painful and seemingly impossible to pursue company/career wise. Having to stop my study of dance so abruptly sent me into a deep depression. It was my life. That is when I turned to music my freshman year of high school. I always loved music and would always sing growing up with my family; my mother studied music and my father was a piano prodigy. But this was the first time that it became my sole passion as dance once was. I began to write my own lyrics and come up with my own melodies instead of singing ones already constructed. I wrote about everything in my life and the horrible things I had to go through at such a young age, including sexual assault. To this day I have written over 30 complete songs. I play piano, guitar, ukulele, and sing. It is my dream to share my music with those around me and convey my emotions and struggles through song for others to relate to. Being able to write my life in song form is what helped me cope with the entirety of it. Without music, I do not know who I would be as a person or where I would be in my life. Music grounded me and became my reason for living at some times in my life.

My cat is named Dante. He is an extremely energetic and friendly tabby cat who LOVES anyone he comes in contact with. Despite his unproportional body (he has jackrabbit feel and really long legs) he is an amazing climber. He loves to be held and purrs quite loudly. You can just look at him and he starts purring! He is quite a troublemaker but makes me extremely happy. He cuddles with me every night when he isn't crazy hyper. He is obsessed with food to the point that he's thrown up multiple times from eating too fast!!! He's adorable though.

I grew up as the only one in my household with severe mental illness. I felt as if I was a burden, an abnormality, and as cliché as it sounds, a monster. I was told I was lazy, not trying hard enough, and pathetic for the serious mental health crisis I was having. I struggle with depression, anxiety, derealization/depersonalization, tics, and am currently awaiting a diagnosis for a personality disorder. Some days I feel as if I am on top of the world and shortly end up crashing hard, being unable to do anything much less get out of bed. With my disassociation, there are times that I can no longer talk or move because of it. It is incredibly debilitating, and is frustrating to live with. Without these illnesses overtaking my life, I would be a complete different person, but I don’t think I would change it. Going through what I have with these illnesses has been more than difficult, but has allowed me to better understand everyone around me. I empathize with people on a much deeper level, I can help them from drowning as I almost did myself, and I am an advocate for mental health awareness. I have always felt that I love on a deeper level than those around me, and have found out recently that it is because of my mental illness. When I was younger I would sabotage these relationships as I would manipulate them into giving me more attention. It was the only way I thought I could receive love. There was always one person that my world revolved around. My one attachment, more commonly known as a 'favorite person' in borderline personality disorder. My moods, my word, my self-image, and everything in-between revolved around how this person felt about me. It ruined my life. Though that is hard to hear, it has severely impacted my relationships in a positive way. I have been able to grow to understand what I struggle with and how I can avoid situations like those I experienced in the past. I can meet people and form deep emotional bonds with them quite easily, as well as make those around me feel loved and not like a burden in regards to their own mental struggles. The stigma around mental illness is gigantic, and most people are uneducated about most mental illnesses as well, which is why I want to talk about my personal experiences with it and be a safe space for others to do so as well. Borderline Personality Disorder is one of the most stigmatized of mental illnesses, which is why I want so desperately to tear that down. To make people understand that people's actions stem from their mental state. If someone acts in a way that appears "sociopathic" or "horrible" - it is highly probably that it is from undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. Approaching it with hatred will only make it worse. My mental illness has inhibited a lot of things in my life but also opened many opportunities for me as well. It is a part of me and is something that I accept as my identity. It will always be challenging, but makes me who I am.

Music has been my passion for quite a long time. In the song 'Apartment' by Young the Giant, one of the lyrics is "On my way to your apartment, I write for fear of silence." The very first moment I heard that line it stuck with me. Writing for fear of silence. It's what keeps me sane. It's what keeps my brain from bleeding out through my skin. I write a lot of music and lots of lyrics/journaling. As a lyricist, I am proud of the words and ideas I can convey through my words. That quote is always in the back of my head, encouraging me to write and write until my head is completely empty. I write for fear of silence. I write to have my emotions on paper. I write to describe emotions others are feeling in a brand new way. I write to live my dream of being a singer. There are constantly new words and phrases popping up in my head that I will write down on my hand or on a post-it note so that I don't forget it. Music is my dream. Writing is my outlet. And that quote is my inspiration and encouragement for what I want to be.

My greatest inspiration in life that pushes me to be better everyday is my lovely girlfriend. She is the love of my life. I have never met a person who has gone through as much adversity as she has and still be as loving as she is. She has been on her own since she was 15 years old as her mother was a drug addict in Hawaii and her dad was incarcerated for sexual assault of her step-sister. She has clawed her way up and currently attends University of North Texas with a steady job and an apartment. I am so unbelievably proud of her and her story is what pushes me to do things I never thought possible; It shows me that everything is possible and that I shouldn't let fear stop me. We write music together and are planning our future as she has a double major in French and Communications and I am planning to major in Psychology and minor in Political Science. We push each other to be better people every day and we battle adversity together, head-on. We face a lot of discrimination for being a lesbian couple in a southern state, but we do not let that get us down. We love each other and she makes me feel ready to battle anything that comes my way.

Music is my passion. I have always been a creative person and music is what I turn to in times of adversity as I have written over 30 complete songs. It is my dream to perform them for people around the world. This piece I have written is called "Jawbones & Jaybirds." I wrote these lyrics as I was analyzing comparisons through many different emotions and objects. The recording of this song is nothing professionally done, but has my emotion and passion within it. I have two complete songs on my soundcloud, the other of which is called "once upon a time" if you would like to listen to it. Both songs have my emotions deeply intertwined in it and I hope you enjoy it!

I spent around 12 hours a week for 12 years studying dance. It was my passion. My escape from my mental illness, my father, and anything else that came my way. It made me feel alive and free and it was everything for me. I studied ballet, jazz, tap, modern, hip hop, and lyrical. I grew up in dance and didn’t see how toxic the environment was as it created intense body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and lots more. I was blinded by my genuine passion and did not see it until I obtained a knee injury that caused me to stop dancing for the rest of my life. It was never fully diagnosed and no doctor or physical therapist could understand what it was or how to fix it. I couldn’t go back to my passion and escape from the world, and that is when I turned to music. I had been singing and playing piano my whole life, and was something I enjoyed. I never thought of it as a passion but more as something I enjoyed as a hobby. After my knee injury I started to write my own music. This became my new escape. I wrote lyrics that flowed out of my deepest pain and it became my life. I learned ukulele, guitar, and advanced in piano after that. To this day I have written around 30 complete songs with countless unfinished ones. I want to share my music with the world and convey my emotions to those feeling the same. Below I attached a link to a rough demo of a song I wrote called “Jawbones & Jaybirds.” I chose this recording because it is raw and unedited. I cannot record well with the equipment I have but it is full of emotion and is in the most pure form.

I grew up as the only one in my household with severe mental illness. I felt as if I was a burden, an abnormality, and as cliché as it sounds, a monster. I was told I was lazy, not trying hard enough, and pathetic for the serious mental health crisis I was having. I struggle with depression, anxiety, derealization/depersonalization, tics, and am currently awaiting a diagnosis for a personality disorder. Without these illnesses overtaking my life, I would be a complete different person, but I don’t think I would change it. Going through what I have with the illnesses I have has been more than difficult, but has allowed me to better understand everyone around me. I empathize with people on a much deeper level, I can help them from drowning as I almost did myself, and I am an advocate for mental health awareness. I have always felt that I love on a deeper level than those around me, and have found out recently that it is because of my mental illness. Though that is hard to hear, it has severely impacted my relationships in a positive way. I can meet people and form deep emotional bonds with them quite easily, as well as make those around me feel loved and not like a burden in regards to their own mental struggles. The stigma around mental illness is gigantic, and most people are uneducated about most mental illnesses as well, which is why I want to talk about my personal experiences with it and be a safe space for others to do so as well. My mental illness has inhibited a lot of things in my life but also opened many opportunities for me as well. It is a part of me and is something that I accept as my identity. It will always be challenging, but makes me who I am.

I grew up as the only one in my household with severe mental illness. I felt as if I was a burden, an abnormality, and as cliché as it sounds, a monster. I was told I was lazy, not trying hard enough, and pathetic for the serious mental health crisis I was having. I struggle with depression, anxiety, derealization/depersonalization, tics, and am currently awaiting a diagnosis for a personality disorder. Without these illnesses overtaking my life, I would be a complete different person, but I don’t think I would change it. Going through what I have with the illnesses I have has been more than difficult, but has allowed me to better understand everyone around me. I empathize with people on a much deeper level, I can help them from drowning as I almost did myself, and I am an advocate for mental health awareness. I have always felt that I love on a deeper level than those around me, and have found out recently that it is because of my mental illness. Though that is hard to hear, it has severely impacted my relationships in a positive way. I can meet people and form deep emotional bonds with them quite easily, as well as make those around me feel loved and not like a burden in regards to their own mental struggles. The stigma around mental illness is gigantic, and most people are uneducated about most mental illnesses as well, which is why I want to talk about my personal experiences with it and be a safe space for others to do so as well. My mental illness has inhibited a lot of things in my life but also opened many opportunities for me as well. It is a part of me and is something that I accept as my identity. It will always be challenging, but makes me who I am.

Growing up in a southern state laced with racist, sexist, and homophobic beliefs, made for a long journey of self-discovery and self-love. From a young age I was indoctrinated with beliefs that were full of hatred and judgement which quickly led to feeling hatred and judgement for myself that I projected onto those around me. Within middle school, I started to question a lot of what I was being taught and truly started digging within myself to discover what I believed to be true. Throughout that process, I not only discovered that I was bisexual, but I discovered that the Christianity shown across America is not at all accurate. People use the idea of Jesus and the Bible to fuel their hatred and racism as far as they can. They use it as a weapon. Though it is widely taught as such, throughout my own research I uncovered the reality of Christianity, which is opposite of what is projected. Over time I became confident in myself and my identity as a woman, a bisexual, a true Christian, and a growing advocate for those who do not have a voice. It is my passion to use any platform I have to project the voices of minorities and people of color. I want to fight for them and are constantly unlearning racial biases ingrained in me from such a young age. I am no longer afraid to be who I am. I am no longer afraid to speak for what is right. I am no longer filled with hatred towards myself. I love myself and it has changed how I view the world as a whole and what I do with my life for others.