This guest post is by Quinn, an autistic student pursuing a career in optometry who hopes to represent the neurodivergent community and provide compassionate care to people of all backgrounds. Quinn 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.
Quinn is a pseudonym used at the applicant’s request. A stock photograph is used to protect their privacy.
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.
My passion for studying the brain and our visual systems is the oxygen to my soul. From the doubts instilled in me as a child to navigating and succeeding in the world, I have given myself a new perspective through studying sight.
Growing up on the spectrum is an experience that is very difficult to articulate in words. I don’t know what it’s like to not be on the spectrum but from my perspective being on the spectrum has always made me feel life more intensely. I have always been called tricky or odd and I tried to brush these things off.
For a very, very long time I have always felt like I am an actress and life is a theater performance that I am always being critically evaluated for. I remember coming home from school every day feeling completely exhausted because I was constantly pretending to be somebody who I wasn’t. I feel like I was trying to dilute myself to be more digestible for other people, but after a while, I learned that I am enough, and I am exactly who I am supposed to be. Just because I might be different than other people, doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Being unique is what is so great about being on the spectrum. Our minds are beautiful and unconforming to society’s structure. Our minds are creative and adaptive and think in ways that other people aren’t able to and I like to think that it is such a privilege to have a uniquely processing mind.
As I’ve grown up, I’ve learned that it is okay to take the mask off and be exactly who I am. I am glad that I am who I am and I did not have to change myself to conform into a version of myself that society wanted me to be.
Although it was extremely difficult at times growing up on the spectrum, it has given me the gift of empathy and the confidence to be proud and brave of who I am in my own skin. Being who I am is the best version of myself that I could be.
Because I grew up on the spectrum, I have always had a unique perspective on the world, and this has made me creative, intelligent, brave, kind, empathetic, and more gentle to the world. I think about the world in such a unique way, and I feel things so deeply, and I have learned that my feelings are not dramatic, they are intense, and it is such a gift to be able to feel life so intensely and fully.
So now that I am older, I understand that I wasn’t dramatic as a child, I felt life more intensely than other people can conceptualize.
My attention to detail isn’t an annoyance, it is a gift and it shows that I care deeply. My special interests are not a waste of time and they are not odd. My special interests are important, interesting, and are allowing me to have such a strong passion to allow me to make my impact on the world. Being autistic is not the only thing that makes me who I am, but is one of the best parts about who I am.
By Quinn
Featured image: stock photograph by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash. It does not depict the applicant.
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.
