Can an Aspie be athletic??

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Despite being only 19 years old, Armani Williams is already making history. Before he’s even old enough to drink, Williams is already a professional race car driver. Not only that, but he is officially the first NASCAR driver with autism.

Williams was born in Detroit and was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at the age two. He was also considered non-verbal. So, when Williams expressed his dream of becoming a NASCAR driver, many people believed that his disorder would be a serious obstacle. One of the main symptoms of ASD is difficulty in focusing on and processing different tasks simultaneously, anticipated hindrances for Williams in the sport.

Although many of his family and friends didn’t believe he would make it, Williams constantly proved them wrong. According to BlackBusiness.com, when he was 8, Williams started participating in go-kart racing competitions before moving on to professional competitions. It wasn’t long before he was breaking records, becoming the black American to have the highest finish in a series race and the highest finish in the series championship in the ARCA Truck Pro Series.

Finally, in 2018, Williams was able to compete at the NASCAR K&N Pro Series in which he became NASCAR’s first openly autistic driver. From then on, he competed in prominent races in the United States and Canada. Williams now uses his success as a platform to spread awareness about the stigma and research surrounding autism. He also uses his platform to provide opportunities to people like himself who have autism and their families.

In addition to competing in NASCAR racing, Williams is also a motivational speaker, encouraging audiences to take action in their communities. Williams continues to spread awareness about autism and giving hope to those like him. He aims to inspire individuals with autism that the sky is truly the limit.

Alex “Chikorita” Roudayna, an ultramarathoner who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, became the first woman to climb three volcanoes in less than 24 hours.

Roudayna, with a support crew from Red Bull documenting the feat, climbed Mount Pico de Orizaba (18,490 feet), Mount Iztaccihuatl (17,158 feet) and Mount Nevado de Toluca (15,354 feet) in 22 hours, 22 minutes, despite a 2½-hour traffic jam in Mexico City between the second and third climbs.

One thing I learned these days in the mountains is that I’m capable of doing things I never thought before, to feel comfortable with people around me,” the native of Mexico City said in the video shown below.

“People have to live it to understand it. I’m thankful for everyone behind this because I’ve seen each one of them give the best of themselves, truly giving their body and soul. Personally, they’ve changed my life.”

The Three Peaks challenge was finished in the early hours of Dec. 5, 2019, but the details, photos and video were just released Thursday by Red Bull.

The first climb up Pico de Orizaba started at 4 a.m. in darkness and 19-degree weather. Once complete, it was a five-hour drive to the next peak, Iztaccihuatl. When she started running up the trail, 10½ hours had elapsed.

“What’s the difference between trail and high-altitude running?” a producer said in the video. “Here, if you slip you are very vulnerable and far from help.”

Upon descending, it was a five-hour, 137-mile drive to Nevado de Toluca.

“There is no way to get to Mount Nevado de Toluca without going through Mexico City’s traffic,” Roudayna said. “We could use this time on the mountain.”

At 10:45 p.m. and wearing a headlamp, Roudayna began the climb to the top, which upon reaching she broke down in tears. She then hurried down to the bottom to complete her feat just after 2 a.m.

“I would like this to be a moving force, right?” Roudayna said. “To get out there and get our butts kicked, to make something cool but also to make that energy vibrate and make someone get up and say: you know what? I wanna be more than I thought I was; to break my limitations. I believe that’s the point of all this.”

Roudayna, 30, practiced taekwondo and rowing as a child before becoming obsessed with running as an adult, which led to a training regime of eight to 10 hours a day in a sport that “stops her from thinking.” She won the 2016 and 2017 Spartan Ultramarathon Races in Mexico.

Invergordon strongman Tom Stoltman has opened up by sharing his thoughts on autism, living with the condition and how it affects him by sharing two videos on his Facebook page.

The 26-year-old gentle giant, who is the world's second strongest man and known professionally as The Albatross, is a campaigner for people living with mental health issues and autism.

In the shorter video he is pictured talking directly at the camera and in the second he speaks with his wife Sinéad about living with someone with autism.

Mr Stoltman, trains with brother Luke – who is known as The Highland Oak and is also a hugely successful strongest man competitor – at their specially built fitness centre in Invergordon.

However, speaking frankly, he said that he had found the past couple of months particularly tough during the latest Covid-19 lockdown.

He said: "Obviously I've opened up and tried to get autism out there around the world but people don't see what's going on off camera. They see the lifting weights, the fun stuff we do on You Tube, but they don't see if you are depressed, sad or stressed etc.

With my autism the last month or two I have been struggling big time. I think this is the worst it has been since maybe I started Strongman."

Mr Stoltman said he liked to make a plan for each day and he would go over it two or three times, to put himself at ease, but lately this had been getting worse.

He said his wife had helped and added: "Sinead, she is an amazing person, she's lived with me for eight or nine years and knows how I function and obviously people who have autism and people who live with people who have autism do really struggle sometimes.

"I can frustrate her with the things I go over for example I will go over, over, over things – there's a bill to pay and we have to pay this Monday and this could be a Friday and Saturday, Sunday, every day I will keep saying it until it's done.

"It's just getting a bit worse just now you know? I am lucky I have the gym and lucky I am keeping my mind busy because I can see it in myself that people are getting frustrated with me."

He admitted that even during the video he was repeating himself which could be because he was nervous talking to the camera. He added: "But now I just want to put this out there and to anyone that has got autism to reach out and if there are any carers, parents or partners living with anyone who has autism reach out to me as well because I know so much about it because I have got it."

Carrie Daignault is comfortable riding horses — something she's been doing since she was young.

"I think they are gorgeous animals. I love the way they move. I love their personality," Daignault said.

As a kid, Carrie was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. And through the 4-H program, Carrie not only learned about herself, but she found a way to connect — not only with people, but the horses she rides.

"The big misconception with autism is that we don't have empathy and we don't connect with others," Daignault said. "And actually, there are more studies that are showing the opposite. That we actually feel empathy, sympathy more intensely than normal people."

At her side all those many years teaching her how to ride was her coach, Chrystal Barrigar, who after a decade of teaching Carrie, probably knows her as well as anyone. But there's one moment that stands out to Chrystal the most where the two of them cemented their bond.

"Carrie is not a hugger. That is something that is difficult for her," Barrigar said. "And she would always say 'I'm not a hugger, but I'm letting you know I'm saying goodbye.' And then the day she came up to me and she goes 'alright, bring it in. And she wanted a hug.' "

As that passion and confidence in horse riding in Carrie continued to grow, Carrie defied the stigmas that surrounded autism and rode in competitions. And she ended up winning.

"You've heard of the Triple Crown. Well, she'd end up winning in English, Western and Gymkhana, which was a really rare thing to do in 4-H," Barrigar said. "And so we joked that she got the Triple Crown."

After school, the air is thick inside the Chico High wrestling room. Wrestlers pair off honing their takedowns and mat skills. Music blares through the speakers.

Shane Blocker and Isham Parea-Hood take turns shooting at each other’s legs. The two are entangled practicing with intensity. Both are slightly out of breath and sweaty but are still putting in maximum effort at practice.


Blocker and Parea-Hood are both grapplers for the Chico High wrestling team, but wrestling is much more to them. It’s not just a sport, it’s become an essential part of their lives for their social and emotional growth. Blocker and Parea-Hood have both been diagnosed with autism.

There are now three wrestlers — Blocker, Parea-Hood and Darian Cox — as well as one assistant coach — Joe Wesley — who are on the autism spectrum and are part of the wrestling team.


“Some of the things that might hold them back are really a strength in wrestling. They’re obsessive about working hard and getting their drilling in and doing things right. They never miss practice,” said Chico High wrestling coach Keith Rollins.

Rollins, who’s been teaching within Chico Unified School District since 2006, has often encouraged those diagnosed with autism to join the wrestling team. Rollins said he wants kids to find their niche.

“(Wrestling) is not just practice during the week and watch your team play Friday night. You get to participate and compete,” Rollins said. “Those sports that are individual sports are the ones for kids if they just want to be a part of something. The kids that are on the spectrum that have joined wrestling here, not only have they done well, they’ve really started to excel.”

Blocker, a senior, started wrestling his sophomore year.

Blocker said his autism affects his time management and his communication skills. He said he struggled to get down the basic moves of wrestling like the shot, where a wrestler attacks the legs. However, he was still determined to keep getting better and didn’t give up learning the maneuver.

“It doesn’t matter how you start out. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you were in your first year. If you keep working hard you can get better,” Blocker said. “My first year I didn’t win many matches. I lost way more matches than I won. By my second year, I was much better. It felt great to get my first win. It felt like I accomplished something.”

Parea-Hood discovered wrestling on the internet when he was in eighth grade. He joined the Chico High wrestling team as a freshman.

“I get to take people down and throw people around without getting in trouble,” Parea-Hood said. “It was intimidating at first. When I got my first match I thought ‘Hey this is fun.’”

Cox is a junior who’s balancing both running track and wrestling.

Cox said wrestling has helped him make friends. The sport has helped him thrive socially and physically.

“Darian is off the charts strong,” Rollins said.

Joe Wesley was a freshman at Chico High when Rollins made the pitch for him to join the wrestling team.

“He might struggle with written school work but he can kinesthetically do things so well and so quickly,” Rollins said.

Wesley first declined to join the wrestling team thinking it wasn’t for him.

“Why are people picking each other up with their legs and throwing them on the ground? It looks like it hurts,” Wesley recalled saying. “I wanted to go home and play video games.”

But Wesley has always liked incentives and a promise made by a family friend of a dozen peanut butter cookies after each week he stayed on the wrestling team couldn’t be turned down.

“It was my first time getting slammed on the ground. But I got my cookies. I stayed another week,” Wesley said. “It’s good exercise. It’s something to do between football and track season. I was hooked.”

Growing up, Wesley was originally diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.

“In elementary school when you had signs like I had, you’d be sent to the principal’s office because no one knew what to do about it,” Wesley said.

It wasn’t until he was in eighth grade when he was diagnosed with high-functioning autism.

When he joined the wrestling team, he could socialize with others and it became a relaxing environment. After he graduated high school, he became an assistant coach in 2012. Wesley helps run practice and often live streams matches and tournaments during the season.

“It helps me relax just a little bit. I get to hang out with my friends and knowing that someone cares about me. That’s pretty cool,” Wesley said. “Keith Rollins and (coach Jordan) Mathews they’re like fathers to me.”

Rollins said Wesley, Blocker, Parea-Hood and Cox have never missed a practice. The wrestling room and being part of the team have helped each of them thrive, Rollins said.

“I think it’s going to be a great thing for some kids down the road who felt like they were held back with autism. They see this and think maybe I can do track or wrestling and really succeed,” Rollins said. “It just shows that kids on the spectrum can really succeed in the right environment.”

As a youth, I thought that physical effort was a sign of technical incompetence. I had no problem about always running last in PE warm-up laps.

Her Olympic dream began at the age of nine and now 23-year old Juanita Webster-Freeman is moving closer to making that a reality.

The Santa Barbara Track Club rising star is competing this weekend at the U.S. Olympic track and field team trials in the heptathlon in Eugene, Oregon.

She has Asperger's syndrome which is part of a broader diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Among other things social interactions and nonverbal cues can be difficult.

"It's really hard to connect to people on the outside world so I have to really put on a mask and try to be normal because I am not normal I am actually different and it's ok," said Webster-Freeman.

But she shines on the track where the high jump and javelin are two of her strengths in the heptathlon which consists of seven-events.

She qualified for the team trials in May even though she is still rather new to the heptathlon.

"Juanita is by no means even scratched the surface of what she is capable of if she were to as we say in the sport put it all together," says Santa Barbara Track Club Executive Director and Head Coach Josh Priester.

Juanita first saw the Olympics on television as a kid and now she wants to make it for herself and for others who have autism spectrum disorder.

"We don't have that many resources for people on the autism spectrum and honestly the little help that we have from people is a really big thing," began Webster-Freeman. "I am one of those people that is going to be big for people for me."