This guest post is by Tai Lin, an autistic high school senior, farmhand, musician, athlete, and 4-H and FFA member from Wisconsin. Tai will attend Beloit College in fall 2026 to study Environmental Science and earn a certificate in Poultry Science, with the goal of becoming a wildlife educator. He is applying for the Spring 2026 Making a Difference Autism Scholarship through KFM Making a Difference, the nonprofit founded by Kerry Magro. Kerry was nonspeaking until age 2.5 and was diagnosed with autism at 4.
Autistics on Autism: The Next Chapter shares stories from more than 100 autistic adults about what helped them while growing up and pursuing their dreams. All proceeds support KFM Making a Difference initiatives, including this scholarship program. To invite Kerry to speak at your school, company, or organization, submit an inquiry here.
I’m Tai Lin, a high school student on the autism spectrum who lives on a farm and shows my animals at the fair—it’s like my Super Bowl. Someday, I want to be a wildlife educator, teaching children and adults about animals, because they’ve taught me so much about patience, hard work, and never giving up.
When I was little, doctors said I might never talk and would probably never have a normal life. I was diagnosed with autism, and everything felt really hard—talking, making friends, loud noises, bright lights, or when anything changed from what I expected. I didn’t speak until I was six. I spent years in therapy learning things most kids don’t even think about—like how to look someone in the eye, ask for what I need, or understand what people are feeling.
It wasn’t easy. Sometimes it still isn’t. But I’ve never given up—and neither has my family. My mom and stepdad always told me that autism isn’t an excuse to stop dreaming. My mom, especially, is really stubborn when someone says “no,” and she wasn’t going to let anyone say I was unteachable. My old school said I couldn’t learn there. Mom didn’t like that at all. She wanted me to have a place where I could grow. She found an old farmhouse far away from our family and brought me with her to check out the school before even buying the house. I remember meeting the principal, my new teachers, and my therapist. They all smiled at me. Mom looked at a few other houses that were nicer, but the schools didn’t feel right. So we moved to that old farmhouse in a really small town—and it changed everything.
My stepdad said he would help me get farm animals and pay for their feed, but only if I did well in school, worked hard on the farm, and always tried my best. He knew how much animals meant to me, and he wanted to make sure I learned responsibility and hard work. That promise became super important to me. It taught me that effort matters, and if you work for what you love, you can get it.
Animals have always been my motivation. They calm me and make me happy in ways nothing else can. Taking care of them taught me patience, consistency, and responsibility—and I started using the same work ethic at school. Cleaning pens and feeding animals every day in winter, summer, rain, or snow made me understand that if I put in effort and didn’t quit, I could succeed. I started applying that to homework, projects, and tests. I learned how to study in ways that worked for me, how to plan my time, and how to keep going even when things were hard.
Now I’m in high school, on the honor roll, and I live on a small farm where I take care of chickens, ducks, turkeys, goats, pigs, and rabbits—and I help with our honeybee hives too. I’m in the Richmond 4-H Club and show my birds every year at the Walworth County Fair. Showing animals at the fair is like my Super Bowl. I work all year in all kinds of weather to get ready. While some kids are athletes and go to state, this is our big event. Last summer, for the first time, I won two grand champion awards—the highest award you can get—for two of my ducks after six years of showing. Being at the fair is wonderful but also hard. You have to break out of your comfort zone, talk to people, stay calm, and explain yourself to judges. It’s scary, but it has helped me improve my speaking skills a lot.
I know what animals have done for me, and I believe they can do the same for others. That’s why my career goal is to become a wildlife educator and have my own business traveling to libraries and schools with live animals—both wild and farm animals—teaching children and adults about them. I’ve already done this once at my local library, and I loved it. Everyone was so excited to meet my animals and learn more about them. I want other people to feel the same connection I feel with animals—to learn, explore, and care for the world around them.
At the end of my sophomore year, I told my special education team I wanted to finish school without aides. I wanted to see if I could be independent, like I will have to be in college. They were worried. It was hard at first. My grades went down. But I worked through it, stayed on the honor roll, and proved to myself I could do it. I was proud because I did it on my own. I studied hard and asked teachers for help when I needed it. The next semester, I did better. The school I attend is small and supportive, so that helped me a lot.
Autism doesn’t hold me back—it’s how I see the world. I might not learn things as fast as some, but I work harder than most. I have a memory like a steel trap. I remember animals, facts, habitats, and endless details. I love making lists of everything I see or learn. My brain likes patterns and order, and animals and nature make sense to me in ways that people sometimes don’t. It’s how I organize my world.
My journey has been full of challenges, but it’s also full of learning and growth. From being called unteachable to helping run a farm, completing 4-H projects, winning awards at the fair, and teaching others about animals, I’ve learned that hard work and care are more powerful than any label.
I’m ready to take what I’ve learned—the hard work, the love of animals, the patience, and the determination—and bring it to a new community. I want to show that someone once told they would struggle to speak or lead can rise, thrive, and inspire. I’ve already proven it to myself. Now, I want to prove it to the world.
By Tai Lin
Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also autistic, founded KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help autistic students receive scholarship support for post-secondary education. Help us continue this work by making a tax-deductible donation here.
You can also invite Kerry to speak at your next event by submitting an inquiry here. Kerry speaks with schools, businesses, government agencies, colleges, nonprofits, parent groups, and conferences on autism, employment, college success, mental health, inclusion, and bullying prevention.
