TRAVERSE CITY — Meet Brian Mitchell. If he looks familiar, you’ve probably seen his smiling face at Tom’s West Bay Deli in Traverse City.
He’s been working there for almost six years now, and his coworkers tell me he’s a ray of sunshine.
“Always been such an outgoing person. But with the happiness of ten people. I mean, he just brings everybody’s morale up when he’s around us,” said Kelly Switzer, Tom’s Food Market Assistant Market Director.
Brian was diagnosed with autism at the age of three and a half, and doctors told his parents he’d never catch up with his peers. But today, he’s defying all odds.
“We never really thought this would happen. I didn’t know yet what life would be like if in the future for me,” said Brian.
Not only does Brian have a full-time job, but he also has a driver’s license and bought his first home in February.
“I was just living in an apartment at the time and my dad said, well, how would you feel? I wasn’t ready the first time to own a condo yet when he had first brought the idea up. But then the second time, I said, okay, I’m ready. And I didn’t feel comfortable about it first because it seemed so big. So I was used to something so small. And finally, I said to my parents, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, and it was meant to be, and that’s how I came to own the place,” Brian said.
Brian says along with his job, he also loves the color yellow, road signs and trains. Brian tells me that the support from his parents helped guide him in building the life he has today.
“They encouraged me. They told me not to let autism stop you, to keep going, and that’s what my grandpa also said,” said Mitchell.
One thing that was evident to me in my time with Brian was his passion and kindness. That shows through in just seconds of meeting him.
What would you like to say to maybe someone else who has a similar diagnosis to you, or is going through something that they’ve been told, hey, you’re not going to be able to do this or that. What would you tell them?
“You can do it. Autism doesn’t define a person. And there’s hope for us, like you and me,” said Brian.