Once a taboo, autism is now recognized as a condition that does not make someone “disabled”. It is just a condition that causes a person to be different from their peers in some ways.
Some of the characteristics that autistic people have in common are, for instance, delayed milestones, trouble with verbal and non-verbal communication, lack of empathy, unusual reactions, and social awkwardness.
This last feature can make it difficult for autistic students to make friends, mostly because others cannot see beyond the surface and don’t bother to try harder in order to befriend them.
But for Mikal Bartosik and Jonathan Ramillo, things worked out perfectly during their high-school years.
The two became good friends and, by their senior year, Mikal knew that Jonathan had one wish for his last year in school. He wanted to go to prom.
Mikal had been to proms before and she knew exactly what it was all about. But for her friend (who has autism), it sounded like a dream. One that he feared would never come true since he had no idea who or how he should ask someone to be his prom date.
But, one day, just as Jonathan was in class, the door opened and Mikal entered the classroom, holding what looked like a big pizza box.
“I have a question for you,” Mikal said as she went in the classroom. “What’s the question?” asked Jonathan, standing up and moving towards her.
As he approached his friend, he saw that she was holding the box, and asked what it was. Then, Mikal opened the box and revealed a giant cookie with a question written on it with icing.
“Will you go to prom with me?” Jonathan read the message on the cookie, and immediately said yes.
The teenage boy was happier than ever. He started dancing around the classroom and shouting.
He then hugged his friend tight, who was also crying happy tears by then. As Mikal admitted, she doesn’t cry easily, but her friend’s reaction totally made her tear up.
Mikal told Inside Edition: “I’m not a crier, but [Jonathan’s reaction] brought tears to my eyes.”
As Mikal explained, she became friends with Jonathan when she sat next to him at lunchtime during sophomore year. As time went by, she became friends with several students from the special needs program and found out they’d never attended their high school prom.
“This year, Jonathan approached me saying, “I want to go to prom, I want to go to prom!” the cheerleader said.
And that’s when she decided to ask him to be her date.
When she asked her friends what they thought about it, some were positive, but others asked if she really wanted to spend her prom like that. Her answer was that it would be “awesome!”
Cheerleading coach Jeanne Ladner praised Mikal for her decision, and she wished more students would follow her lead.
“Students with special needs need to be looked at for their true personality, and not to be looked at for their disability,” Ladner said. “I hope that she set the pace and more people will follow her footsteps.”
prompromprom pic.twitter.com/MYUTKT7nI7
— meow (@mikal_bartosik) April 9, 2016
Watch Jonathan’s joyful reaction to Mikal’s promposal in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
