SILVER SPRING, MD — Eric Blessed Carpenter Grantham has been on a mission to make a difference in the world while learning how to live a life with autism.
Now he's hoping to help others, like him, who live with a struggle you can't tell, if you're judging from the outside.
Eric used to tell his mom, Linda, he didn't want people to know about his disability so he wouldn't be subjected to judgment, but with her help he's gone from being quiet about autism to being a voice for others like him..
"We are amazing people and I just want to tell the world, we might be different but we are greatly different," Eric said.
In 2020, Linda's attention, like many, was captured by the death of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcment, but that actually made her start paying attention to another troubling trend.
She started to notice that more and more people of color living with disabilities were being beaten or even killed for failing to follow the commands of police.
"I realized I'm going to have a conversation with my son," she said. She had to talk to Eric about what to do if he and his friends ever found themselves in a tense situation that involved police.
Even though, as a young man with high functioning autism, he worried about his friends who might be more sensitive to things like loud noises.
"He started to cry," Linda recalled. "He said 'I can do that [mom] but the police would shoot my friends' and that's when it became a reality that something needed to be done."
They realized while states like New Jersey, had put certain protections in place for people who battle invisible disabilities, Maryland had not.
From that day on, Eric believed it was his calling to advocate for Autism and people living with other invisible disabilities and he wanted to take an idea to Maryland lawmakers.
He and his mom created special logos that can go on people's forms of identification. They wanted to call it "Eric's ID Law."
It went from something to just use for dealing with authorities, to something they can be used to bridge communication with anyone in the community.
"For example, If we were to go into the library and you get your library card and you were to get Eric’s logo put on that library card, they would already know this person has autism, or this person has mental health or this person is hearing impaired and would need assistance in the library or the store," Linda said.
Their original logo designs include the letter "A" made of puzzle pieces to represent autism, the silouhette of a head colored green, with a lighty shaded green heart in place of the brain to represent someone who struggles with mental heath.
They took their proposal for Eric's ID Law to local and state leaders and after meeting with several of them, started to gain some momentum.
Support from Montgomery County Council President, Andrew Friedson, Senator Chris Van Hollen and more got on board with the idea.
That's when a meeting with Senator Will C. Smith gave the push for the law a boost. After meeting with Eric, he decided to write the bill.
Eric remembered what he thought when Senator Smith agreed to push his idea forward to lawmakers.
"It's real," he said. "It's really shocking. I would've neer thought to get a bill written after my name. We have so many people involved in what we're doing."
Linda says even though most of the response has been positive, there have been some who oppose the idea.
"I think it comes from ignorance," she said. "They don’t understand you know to see someone like my son to be killed in the street or being beaten in the street because they have an invisible disability. It’s different for them. It’s not your people. It’s our people."
She says for those who've had the chance to meet Eric and see his passion in person, they've been convinced to get on board.
"It's because of my friends I'm doing this and people like me because we deserve to live," he said.
"This is his true passion," Linda added. "To make a difference in the world."
Eric is also driven by his faith, believing this journey is part of a divine assignment.
"I put God first and I thank him for Eric's ID Law."
The Granthams expect to hear about the next steps for the bill would be a hearing for the law between January and February. Their goal is for the logos to go on driver's licenses, school and college ID's, library and grocery store member cards and more.
They are also asking for as many letters of support from the community as possible.
To support, go to: EricsIDLaw@gmail.com