I am an autism advocate, author, and a military child with autism

This guest post is by Andres Castillo, a young man who is diagnosed with autism and attends Fayetteville State University. Andres is applying for the Spring 2025 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.

Hello, everyone; my name is Andres Castillo. I am originally from Buffalo, New York. From kindergarten through my junior year of college, I had to move from state to state for another 2-3 years. However, I lived in Virginia for 6-7 months and in Puerto Rico for a year because my stepdad was on military, active duty. I learned Spanish and English at the same time as a young kid. I started to speak Spanish back at age 16. I began to speak Spanish fluently at age 18, at the beginning of my freshman year as a college student. I grew up with my Spanish-speaking family from Colombia and Puerto Rico. My birth parents are from Puerto Rico, and my stepdad is from Colombia. I considered my stepdad my dad because I grew up with him as his first child. I have been taking special education courses during my school years, and they helped to improve my grades while I was in school everywhere. I graduated from high school with a general education diploma in May 2016. My high school GPA was a 3.7 out of a 4.0 scale. My high school rank was in the top 8% of my graduation class. I went to 6 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 4 high schools, and 3 community colleges. I was in the Math Club at Harford Community College. I graduated from Valencia College with an A.A. degree in General Studies in May 2023. I graduated from Valencia with a 3.21 out of a 4.0 scale as an overall GPA.

I was on the Dean’s List for four semesters at Valencia College, receiving As and Bs per semester. I was in Valencia Math Club, Lambda Beta Phi (Business Club), and Latin American Student Organization (LASO Club). I am currently working on my Bachelor of Arts program in Communication and Media Studies at Fayetteville State University. My minor was creative writing, but it is Theatre at Fayetteville State University. I presented my first book in March at Charles W Chesnutt Library at Fayetteville State University. I received a National Society of Leadership Success certificate at Fayetteville State University in April of this year. My grade point average at Fayetteville State University is 3.5 out of 4.0 on the overall GPA scale. I finished my two semesters at Fayetteville State University with As and Bs, taking two courses per semester.

Next year, I will transfer my credits to the University of Central Florida in August 2025. My stepdad will retire from military service in September 2025 next year. He has been serving in the military service for 21 years. He has a year more to retire from the military service. After my stepdad retires from the military service, he will work in the business industry after completing a business internship. I will study Journalism as a degree at the University of Central Florida while minoring in Theatre. I will complete a degree in Journalism in December 2026. Additionally, I will complete my minor in Theatre in May 2027.

I am currently working on my Bachelor of Arts program in Communication and Media Studies at Fayetteville State University. My minor was creative writing, but it is Theatre at Fayetteville State University. I presented my first book in March at Charles W Chesnutt Library at Fayetteville State University. My first book title is called “My Life Journey with Autism as a Military Child”. It is already in Amazon.
My educational goals are to earn my bachelor’s degree in journalism. Sooner or later, once I have my bachelor’s degree; I will be working on my master’s degree in screenwriting at the age 30. My career goals are being an actor, writing my songs in Spanish, news-report, broadcast, and an author. The reason I want to sing and write my songs is that I want to work on the television is what I want to be someone in life on the industry of music. Additionally, it helps me to travel all over the world. I will get to meet new people in every place and visit many countries, it is my dream to be famous. In my high school years, I did not have an income due to my autism and I had to move every state because of my dad’s job of armed forces. I could not make a chance to make money because I had to focus on my education in eight different states and one Hispanic country. I had been through many of changes at school due to my moving experiences and my condition of autism. However, my condition has not stop me from having a better education and my parents always taught me that is okay to be different, and to achieve and work for my dreams. I will be going to a TV school to learn about a job with music and film industry to earn my certificate on music and film industry during this summer.

Hopefully, in this summer or next semester I will find me a way to get a job. If I can earn the money from a scholarship to pay for my tuition, that will help me to go up one more step to obtain my education from Fayetteville State University. We have recently lived in the state of North Carolina for two years, and that has been difficult to secure money to pay for my tuition, and books that I will need for my courses. All my expects are on the scholarships to able to achieve my goals and dreams to show the world that people with conditions or without conditions can be successful in life.