Becoming More Than I Thought I Could Be

— Noah Dinner

Since I started my internship I have learned so much on how organizations work and how hard the people go through just so they can help out the ones who need it the most. I spent my whole life helping people but not in any big way. When I was younger I cared about people. As I got older I still care about people( a lot annoy me though) but I never thought to myself to help people on a bigger scale. 

I grew up with a mum who relentlessly always thought of the other person, she advocated for other people’s rights even before I was born. And once my parents found out I was neurodivergent she made it her mission basically to make sure I was able to get the right help in and out of school and that once I finish school and move out that I will be stable to be on my own. This was my first major advocating for other peoples rights just like mine.

I never wanted to be neurodivergent, I never wanted to be different growing up, never wanted to extra help the fact that even growing up I was treated like a child still because of my learning disabilities. I resented that I had these with me but as I got older I started slowly coming to terms that even though younger me didn’t want this, I was going to keep it and I could use it as an advantage (in any way, unless someone else figured it out before me). 

From February till now I have understood how to work in an office and to also do work that will greatly help people. I went to the Virginia general assembly back in February. It was fascinating to see how the people in our own state stand up to fight for us. We gave them bills and not all but a lot of them got passed. It made me feel good knowing that even though I didn’t do any work on the bill or do much at the assembly, I still contribute to the work by being there and showing support to the hard work The Arc of Northern Virginia puts in. Advocating for rights for everyone is something that shouldn’t have to be a thing in the first place. 

We all should have the same rights as everyone else in the beginning but because of the prejudice, the way society was created to be, how people view each other has made it impossible for the disabled or neurodivergent people to be treated as humans instead of “special”. Nowadays we are treated as humans but we still get the same looks from people who judge us. 

As I have stated in my previous paragraph, I have never really advocated at all like this much. I don’t see myself being a really big advocate, like working in an organization, but what I do see myself doing is being a part of it, joining the events, donating, still supporting their goal no matter what. I can never do what my mum does, be on the board, make all these decisions on who gets what, or what company gives us grants because if it wasn’t for her and the people like her who really really want to make a difference, we wouldn’t have as much as we do now. I am proud of the work I did during my internship and am proud to say that I will continue in my own way to advocate and support. 

So in my final post, I say be proud of who you are, stand up for what is right, advocate for what we humans are meant to already have, because: We aren’t their “perfect god’s creation” that they say, and so what if we aren’t what they want. We are who we are!

Noah comes to us by way of the BroadFutures 2026 Winter Internship. He is spending twelve weeks observing and participating in The Arc of Northern Virginia’s operations and programs and bringing his own perspective and contribution to our work.