By Cathy Brauner The Wellesley Townsman, Wellesley, MA, April 9, 2019
Aaron Levinger knew from a very early age that he was different from the kids around him. Daily routines that didn’t bother other students posed challenges for him.
“The cafeteria was really hard for me,” he remembers. When lunch was over, a staff member would dismiss the tables in Wellesley Middle School one by one. The kids were supposed to be totally silent, but of course, that didn’t always happen and Levinger found the noise disturbing.
When he was in sixth grade, he saw a newspaper article about Asperger syndrome, and thought, “That’s me.”
He was right. He was still in middle school when he was diagnosed.
Those difficult school days are in the past, and Levinger is making his way in the world. Now 30 and sharing a house in Wellesley with roommates, he works three days a week at the Asperger/Autism Network in Watertown as an office assistant and data entry specialist. “AANE has helped me and my family in countless ways in supporting me in my efforts to learn to live with AS,” he wrote in an email asking for help in promoting the group’s gala on April 27.