This guest essay is by Emmanuel Dominguez.
My life as an autistic person has had its up and down, a lot of people have see me as odd, weird, or sometimes a creep, but I am not that. Like everyone else I am a human being who feels the same as a every other person, I know I have autism and there are times were I can love hard and times were I can be kind or nice but I do have my meltdowns. However I always find a way to keep myself busy to keep moving forward in my life. I want everyone to see me as any regular person and to also accept that I have autism and to not treat me differently. I want people to care, love and to accept me. Being a person of color also is difficult because people can stereotype me even more and even within my community I feel left out, I want people to know I am a proud hispanic autistic boy who is not dangerous, awkward, or weird but someone who cares and loves people ,a human like everyone else. For college I want to learn more about mathematics because I know it will help me in the future. I can use math in a lot of jobs and I know with mathematics I can also learn computer science. Technology has always fascinated me and I have grown up a lot with technology. I have a wood engraving machine at home that I use and want to start my own company, going to college will give me the tools for my success. I love to swim, play the piano ride horses, go to work and do wood engraving. All these things keep me busy and help me develop the man I will become, I like to play video games, I like the franchises of MCU and DC, I collect action figures and Manga and comics too. I also like to watch anime, I play on my PS5 and my Nintendo switch and my super Nintendo too. I love watching movies going back into the 80s, 90s, early 2000, my taste of music also contains classic pop music form the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, 4. I like to volunteer for my church, I check the sound and help with the slide system, I help the microphone as well, I also participate in piano recitals for the senior canter. When I was thirteen I went to the kids making it program it is a place that helps kids with woodwork and you can build and sell what you make for profit. I have made cutting boards, bird houses and little boats for decoration. I was in the program for four years and everyone is super kind and nice, now I work there every Tuesday and Thursday. I am a person that likes to help everyone and I am a hard worker. I like to draw and embroider. When I was younger I went to speech therapy because i had difficulty in talking, even after going to school I still went to communication therapy, it has helped me a lot. When I interact with people I have therapy to thank and I want to prove and show that I am strong and smart to myself and to others. I hope to change the world in my own way, I have a loving family that encourages me and wants me to be successful in my education.
This essay was submitted to the KFM Making a Difference scholarship program, founded by Dr. Kerry Magro to support autistic students pursuing postsecondary education.
