In May 2017, The Musical Autist collaborated with Anne Arundel County Public School's Performing Visual Arts program to put on a huge fundraising concert event at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. This event was called, In The Light, based on Jordan Smith's original song, Stand in the Light, which was performed as the concert's finale. This piece was custom arranged for full orchestra and choir, specifically … [Read more...]

The Musical Autist is officially 10 years old today. At least this domain name and the start of the blog, which we do consider the start of the organization itself. We didn't get our 501c3 status until 2014 though... whew that took some work. When I launched this website a decade ago, I had no idea this would turn into a full fledged nonprofit organization. You can read the 4/1/2011 post here. I've added … [Read more...]

My name is Mitchell Matthews, and I’m an autistic singer-songwriter from St. Louis, MO, currently based in Springfield, MO! Two years ago, in August of 2019, I read about Jair Bolsonaro, the incumbent president of Brazil, facilitating the intentional deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, which would disrupt its effect on the Earth’s temperature/ecosystem, and put the indigenous peoples still living there in … [Read more...]

I was 12 the first time that I got on a roller coaster at a theme park. We were given tickets to the theme park at school for reading a certain amount of books. I was just happy to be included in something, so I went along with the group. It started out pretty fun, but then we got in line to ride the roller coaster. I was already extra nervous about it because I did not like heights and did not like the … [Read more...]

As a child I knew that I was different. I struggled academically in school and just plain didn’t fit in. Basic things such as being able to tie my shoes, put my hair in a pony and ride a bike were delayed by more than a few years. I often heard people say “something is wrong with her”, at first I ignored it, then when I got older I wanted to find out. I so badly wanted to unlock the secret to what this meant. … [Read more...]