Autistic Salutatorian Delivers High School Graduation Speech: Rhode Island High Schooler Leads Class Despite Speech Struggle

Eric Duquette is the salutatorian of his high school, an honor student, a musician, and he has autism.

Despite his early struggles with speech, today he speaks both English and Spanish. He's a member of the Spanish National Honor Society and placed 93rd in the nation on the Spanish V exam.

"Daniel Webster wrote that 'if my possessions were taken from me with one exception, I would choose to keep the power of communication, for by it I would soon regain all the rest,'" Duquette said at the podium.

"For me, learning to communicate did mean regaining all the rest." [http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Broadcast/student-autism-class-salutatorian-delivers-high-school-graduation/story?id=10933858 ]