This guest post is by Amber Parker, a young woman on the autism spectrum who was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of 4 and has been accepted into Otterbein University. Amber is applying for the Spring 2022 Making a Difference Autism Scholarship via the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference started by me, Kerry Magro. I was nonverbal till 2.5 and diagnosed with autism at 4, and you can read more about my organization here. Autistics on Autism: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams, our nonprofit’s new book, was released on March 29, 2022, on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults.
“She might not be in accelerated classes.”
“Amber is never getting a driver’s license.”
“Your daughter will never go to college.”
When a physician-diagnosed four-year-old me with autism, my parents were shocked and heartbroken. For three days, my distraught mother sobbed about how her special-needs daughter would struggle in life while my distressed father questioned what solution there would be. Finally, my mother’s emotions shifted from despair to determination, and my father swallowed his doubt. My parents decided to start working on how to motivate me.
It took years for my folks to urge my motivation. They encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone, but I refused to cooperate. I had no interest in reading to myself. Trying out for clubs and sports were not my style. All I preferred eating were chicken nuggets, cheese pizza, and burritos. Childish habits of watching useless tv shows and movies, reading books too easy for my level, playing obnoxious music, and throwing tantrums, went on for ages.
By early adolescence, the question of “What am I doing?” hit me. Figuring out how I wasted time with nonsense, my act shaped up. I transformed from an immature, picky-eater not wanting to complete her homework; to a young teenager willing to clean her plate and execute her schoolwork. My socialization still needed work, but I began befriending multiple people. What needed growth was my willingness to step out of my comfort zone.
Around late elementary school, a spark of wanting to be a writer ignited. The only problem was not feeling ready to push my limits. Even after winning an Ohio State Fair Agriculture Essay Scholarship in fifth grade, my opinion still did not change about leaving my comfort zone. Attending Thurber House writing classes and Power of the Pen never helped stimulate impulses in publishing novels. Unfortunately, my dream of becoming a writer faded.
One day in eighth grade, my algebra-one teacher mentioned the new college credit plus program. Initially, I wanted to decline. Later, my parents explained that I could skip a grade by taking college courses earlier. Those words “skip a grade” lit my eyes. Although most of my friends are younger than me, I used to feel uncomfortable being the eldest. That memory taught me that my wings would stay folded up for not challenging myself. I finally started appreciating my strong academic talents and joined this college program. Leading up to my high school junior year, I began enjoying mathematics and was encouraged to major in actuarial science. After watching ‘The Accountant’ movie and the adventures autistic protagonist Christian Wolff was involved in, I felt a dynamic feeling of inspiration and determination flow within me.
All my accomplishments happened because of perseverance and dedication. To this day, I do not want to be known as the autistic girl; but as a well-accomplished young lady. While a bit of quirkiness is still within my personality, I socialize more easily than years ago. Additionally, I successfully ended my final high school color guard season and will have my last National Honor Society meeting. Also, I am capable of completing my daily chores without help, applying my own makeup, and performing yoga a bit smoothly. Not to mention that I am done with my high school credits early, take all college classes, drive-by myself, occasionally practice French, Spanish, and Italian, and have been accepted into twelve universities. Due to my experiences and opportunities offered, I will attend Otterbein University’s honor college as a double-major in math and actuarial science. I will portray myself as a distinct, multitalented American citizen in society.
Follow my journey on Facebook, my Facebook Fan Page, Tiktok, Youtube & Instagram,
My name is Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum. I started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue post-secondary education. Help support me so I can continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
Autistics on Autism: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams was released on March 29, 2022 on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults. 100% of the proceeds from this book will go back to our nonprofit to support initiatives like our autism scholarship program. In addition, this autistic adult’s essay you just read will be featured in a future volume of this book as we plan on making this into a series of books on autistic adults.
