This guest post is by Mateo Delgado, a young man on the autism spectrum who was accepted into various Engineering Programs around the country. Mateo 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 the Next Chapter: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams will be released on Amazon on 3/25/25 and looks at the lives over 75 Autistic adults. 100% of the proceeds from this book will go back to supporting our nonprofits many initiatives, like this scholarship program. Check out the book here.
Growing up Black and Hispanic in Nebraska is hard.
Add Autism Spectrum Disorder and Binocular Vision Dysfunction, and you’ve got a someone who’s fighting every single day— I fight stereotypes. I fight to get by. I fight to understand. I fight to be understood. All my life I didn’t just feel different—I was different because I am.
My autism means I think differently. I. THINK. DiFfeRrEnTlY. But the world doesn’t take time to understand kids like me—especially when we’re wrapped in black and brown skin.
My mom and I knew early on that something was different about how I saw the world and eventually, how the world would see me. We fought hard for me to be evaluated for Autism. But all of our pleas were ignored. At one point, I even had a mental health professional label me as “defiant.” Not misunderstood. Not in need of help. Just defiant.
Medical professionals and educators misjudged me for years. They said I was unfocused. Kids thought I was a weirdo. A quiet, spaced-out kid who wasn’t trying hard enough. In truth, I was trying harder than anyone knew—just to exist, just to get through the day. Instead, I was a square peg being shoved, minute-by-minute, into a round hole.
It was daunting and at the age of 16, I attempted to take my own life. It was only then that I finally got assessed. It took a mandatory psychiatric hold for professionals to stop mislabeling me. That’s when I learned what my family and I suspected: I am autistic and have Binocular Vision Dysfunction. And now, I’m being evaluated for Inattentive ADHD.
Briefly the news was validating. I’m not crazy, lazy or weird. My brain just works differently. But it was also painful because I had lost so much time, so many chances, just because people refused to look past my skin to give me the resources I need to succeed.
Getting diagnosed late in life put into perspective just how far behind I was academically—not because I lacked ability, but because I fight five times harder just to get half as far. I wasn’t allowed to grow up autistic. Instead, I grew up defamed, written off and neglected.
But here’s the thing: I’m naturally gifted in STEM. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. That’s the language I speak fluently. Humanities? Not so much. Reading and comprehension are especially difficult, and when multiple diagnoses work against you, classrooms become a battlefield.
Still, I fought. And I’m still fighting.
In July 2022, I started working at Chipotle. I put every paycheck toward my future—paying for college tours, ACT fees, and application costs. I took the ACT multiple times, over and over, until I got a score just two points shy of perfect. Please recognize that’s not luck. That’s relentless effort in a system not built for me.
Now? I’ve been accepted into several of the nation’s top engineering programs. I’m in the running for multiple scholarships, even ones I thought were out of reach.
But none of this comes easy. There is a deep exhaustion that comes with constantly having to self-advocate. With having to explain that I’m not “slow,” I’m not “lazy,” and certainly not “defiant.” I’m just wired differently.
With walking into classrooms or doctor’s offices and knowing, before I even speak, that people have already decided who I am. When you’re Black and Hispanic in a white world, people aren’t inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. They don’t assume brilliance. They assume brokenness, attitude, trouble.
That’s what made this journey so hard—but also what makes it so powerful. Because I’ve had to work hard and even harder than the next person. I’ve had to speak louder, even when my autism made that feel impossible. I’ve had to fight for support, for understanding, for help and resources to simply be who I am.
So, I keep fighting.
My greatest accomplishment isn’t just getting into some of the best schools in the country. It’s overcoming suicidal ideation. It’s choosing to wake up every day. To continue to show up even when I don’t want to. Maybe even when people don’t want me there. And it’s turning pain into power.
The world once saw me as a problem to fix. No, worse than that. It didn’t see me at all. It was much easier to let me fall. To let me fail. Now, I’m finally heading where I belong—not because anyone made space for me, but because I carved out myself.
So yeah…
Black + Brown = Misjudged.
Autistic + Brilliant = STEM Bound.
Next stop => Engineer That Helps Solve the World’s Challenges
Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue a post-secondary education. Help us continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
Also, consider having Kerry, one of the only professionally accredited speakers on the spectrum in the country, speak at your next event by sending him an inquiry here. If you have a referral for someone who many want him to speak please reach out as well! Kerry speaks with schools, businesses, government agencies, colleges, nonprofit organizations, parent groups and other special events on topics ranging from employment, how to succeed in college with a learning disability, internal communication, living with autism, bullying prevention, social media best practices, innovation, presentation best practices and much more!
