Meet

My name is Austin Trayer and I am the founder of Bigger Than Autism, LLC. I am an artist here at BTA, podcast co-host at Mountain Woman Radio & Faith Led Healing Podcast, and office manager at Faith Led Healing, LLC working alongside my mom.  I was high-functioning autistic, but as you can also see, I am not defined by my diagnosis!

My favorite bible verse is Matthew 19:26 “…with God ALL things are possible”. I was very fortunate to have a mother that taught me to step out of my comfort zone and to believe Matthew 19:26 with all my heart! My hope is that as a result of Bigger Than Autism, you will learn to believe these things too!

My life has not always been easy, but I have been blessed to have people in my life who believed in me! I believe in you!

At age 7, I was still unable to speak in full sentences, I did not handle change well or not getting my own way, I was on a roller coaster ride of emotions, I did not enjoy being in large crowds, and once I was overstimulated it was very hard to control or calm.

My mother worked tirelessly to find answers and help me, as many of you have or are doing now for your loved ones. God always sent us angels and guided our next steps.

My Mom found out about hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and we did an hour session twice a week for 7 1/2 months. During those months, I also started a gluten-free and dairy-free diet. I was in 3rd grade then and went from a pre-primer reading level to a high 2nd-grade level. I also started speaking in complete sentences, and because I removed the dairy from my diet, the roller coaster ride of emotions, anger, and fear began to subside. To be very transparent, dairy was unhealthy for me. I not only ended up very rageful and on a roller coaster ride of emotions, but I also lost the sensation of my bowels, which was very embarrassing.

In 2010, my family and I moved 2,500 miles to Idaho, where we set up a canvas tent that we called home for 8 1/2 months on overgrown wilderness land while we built our off-grid solar-powered homestead. I was thirteen at the time. This was a wild time (pun intended) and a time of great freedom for me. I learned and, at times, was forced to step out of my autism shell while I learned all sorts of traditional skills and how to raise animals. The animals on our homestead were part of my chores. I would feed, water, and care for them. I even witnessed the birth of many babies – goats, kittens, chicks, etc. I also started to homeschool rather than be a part of the public school system, which immensely helped me. I was able to learn much better in this environment because I was no longer overstimulated by my surroundings, and I could work at my own pace. The public school was much harder for me.

I started to make elk hide moccasins and paracord survival items when I was fifteen and it was a great way to start making money, but I had a great desire to work on motors. I have always enjoyed working with my hands. I started out playing with dominoes, Legos, Transformers and I enjoyed repetitive movement. I also loved to sing. It wasn’t unusual to hear me before you saw me!

I tried getting jobs locally, but the jobs at the small motor shops were hard to get into because they would not give me a chance. I worked locally at the Water and Sewer District doing odds and ends jobs and tried getting into other places, but I just didn’t have any luck. We were very open with my autism so that they were aware and so that if they felt I needed to adjust in any way they could let me know, but I never got passed the interview. I had the opportunity to go to Job Corps in 2019 for big equipment repair, but I found out pretty quickly that such an environment was not for me. I stuck it out and worked hard, but then the COVID-19 started and Job Corps was closed. While I was home and doing distant learning I decided that it was time for me to start looking for another trade school. While I was doing my research, my Dad mentioned that Moody Bible Institute had an aviation program, and my eyes lit up, and that was all I needed to hear.

Another one of my desires was to repair planes and learn how to fly. We started doing our research to find that we only had two weeks to get my application in for the next Term. My mom and I worked extremely hard to pull all the information together and I got my application in. Now, we needed to wait to see if I was accepted. I really felt that God was telling me this was the direction He wanted me to go in, and the doors just seemed to keep opening. I got my confirmation on June 11th, 2020, when I received an email from Moody Aviation that I was indeed accepted into the program! You could probably hear us all over the world celebrating that day! God is good ALL the time!

Now that I was accepted the next whirlwind began as I needed to get a more efficient car and would you believe that the truck that I had for sale for three years all of a sudden sold? Would you believe that the car I found was the exact amount that I sold my truck for? Would you also believe that God gave my Mom detailed information on how we could make the money to fund my education?

My Mom and I were getting ready to head out to pick up my new car when God started just dumping ideas into my Mom’s head. The ideas were down to the finest of details, and while we drove that day, we discussed God’s guidance, and both felt this was a divine opportunity for me to change lives and to pay for my education. I have had an online presence since I was fourteen at MountainBoyJournals.com, where I shared my life and my products, but now that I am an adult, we purchased BiggerThanAutism.com in 2018, and I started sharing there, not knowing at all what God truly had in store for it.

That day on the road, we discussed how we could expand BiggerThanAutism.com from not just being an educational site and a journal of my life but also a marketplace for other individuals on the spectrum to showcase their wares and talents as one of our artists to give them a chance to have something they can call their own, something that they can be a part of, and something that they can be successful at. We had to imagine that I was not the only autistic person who was having a problem finding a job and being able to be who I and God wanted me to be! My Mom, a web designer and programmer by trade, jumped on this project and has been working tirelessly to bring together God’s divine ideas and our finishing touches. I welcome you to Bigger Than Autism, LLC, and I encourage you to share this with your friends and family who are on the spectrum. This is a place where they can share their handcrafted wares, artwork, downloadable e-books, and even their music in the form of downloadable mp3’s! Hence my tagline – Educating, Creating Opportunites, & Changing Lives!

So although I will be starting my education at Moody Aviation on August 3, 2020, my mom has agreed to run BiggerThanAutism.com in my absence and help individuals on the spectrum to get their storefront setup and to embrace success moving forward! You will still see and hear from me from time to time!  My Mom will connect with me for special videos and interviews and she or I will be sharing my photos and videos that I am taking on my journey on Instagram and Bigger Than Autism’s YouTube channel. Together, we will seek success and share in the excitement! I look forward to seeing you all SHINE!

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