Josh Sauchak – Why he’s so important to me.

This is my first post, I have moved it from the original location but you can still find it here.

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Today I bawled my eyes out, not out of sadness but out of happiness because I finally got to explain to someone what Josh means to Autistic and Aspergers people and I realised during that explanation that he’s my favourite character. Not just in Watch Dogs but in the whole of existence.

Now I feel a little weird writing this because I’ve never felt this way with a character before and if you read this and start to get a little confused please bare with me.

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Conventions and cosplay: easy, right?

This post is about my experiences with conventions and cosplays based on past events.

Back in July I finally got to do my first cosplay after years of wanting to do one but never having the confidence, time or money. I have been to conventions before, small ones near where I live and adored doing them. From conventions based on specific things (like The Warriors convention) or a general mix of games, anime, movies, comics and shows. These conventions have always been rather small though, with the largest one I had been in Bristol in 2016 until recently at Montreal Comic Con 2017.

Struggling with acceptance.

A lot of my posts have been rather positive in the underlying message or they have been directly positive. Sharing how I have accepted myself a little more thanks to Ubisoft and Jonathan Dubsky for the creation and portrayal of Josh Sauchak in Watch Dogs 2. I mentioned how much Josh means to me and how grateful I was. That post received a lot of positivity, hopefully, this one will receive the same amount of attention as it is important, yet sadly, a little negative in comparison.

Helping people and accepting responsibility.

Recently I was appointed a job of watching over a channel in the /r/Watch_Dogs server and I did my best to do so. The channel became extremely important to me as I had never been given the chance to have such responsibility of making sure that the chat stayed clean, the people were happy and no rude comments were made etc…

Aspie role on /r/watch_dogs

So previously I mentioned in my thank you letter to Ubisoft that I had gotten myself an Aspie role on the Watch Dogs 2, Discord server. I got it discreetly and didn’t tell anyone why other than the two members who helped me get it before the season was due to reset… the next morning. A few asked about why I wanted the role so badly other than the fact that I was Autistic in some way and I kept saying, “it’s personal” and that I wouldn’t share. This made me realise that is exactly why I should.

Thank you letter to Ubisoft – My gift.

Some of you reading this may have read my post: Josh Sauchak – Why he’s so important to me.

In the post, I wrote about how growing up without anyone like me was horrible, I was always made to feel like a freak because of myself being an Aspie. Media had attempted to portray people like me but it was always the stereotypical Autism that makes others say, “You don’t look Autistic.”
I wrote about my feelings when Ubisoft created Josh Sauchak in Watch Dogs 2 and how much it meant to have someone like him, someone that so accurately portrayed me and others like me. Josh and I in person are almost exactly alike, online I have a voice that I don’t have in the real world, online I can speak about Autism and Aspergers and raise awareness, especially now Josh has been created. So many love him, myself included of course and it gave me hope that people could love me too and after writing that post I found someone through Shawn Baichoo who accepts me exactly the way I am. I love them both dearly and I would be lost without them. I found my own DedSec through Watch Dogs 2.

Life as an Aspie.

This is a medium to long sized post that I wish to share to raise awareness towards young people, teenagers, and young adults by telling moments about my life growing up as someone who is “high functioning autistic” better known as Aspergers and how I was treated for it, as well as how I turned my life around for the better.