This guest post is by Daniel Preston, a young man on the autism spectrum who was diagnosed with autism at 10 years old and has been accepted to the University of Houston. Daniel is applying for the Spring 2022 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.
My name is Daniel. I am eighteen years old and have autism. I definitely don’t let autism define me, but I feel so much better knowing my neurodiversity. I always knew I was different. I am very shy, and it is hard to put myself out there. I am afraid I might say something wrong or weird so a lot of times I keep to myself. There are also a lot of qualities about me that are really great. I am quite honest; sometimes I’m told a little too honest.
Most of my teachers compliment how I have the uniqueness of seeing outside the box. I have an eidetic memory, which means I can memorize things well, and I also think visually. I have a sister that is fifteen months younger than me and we both live with our father and mother in League City, TX. League City is between Houston and Galveston. For most of our lives, we have struggled because my parents tried to get me help for my autism and anxiety. My parents both work very hard and live paycheck to paycheck. I will be the first one in our family to go and complete college. I am very studious and make good grades and will be graduating Cum Laude in my senior class. I have been accepted to a few colleges, but have decided to go to school close to home and will be attending the University of Houston-Clear Lake and will be in the STEM program.
My major will be in Chemistry and Engineering and I want to become an Engineer, but not quite sure what type of engineer yet. The University of Houston-Clear Lake had a Space Ops Career Day in which Engineers, Astronauts, and NASA volunteers came to talk about different careers in their field. They also had a contest in which you could build your own spacecraft and I won first place. I am currently waiting to hear about an intern opportunity at NASA for neurodiverse students that I applied for this summer.
My parents are so proud that I am going to college. I know I am supposed to go to college and I really want to make this happen, not only for myself but for my family as well. I’ve seen the struggles and I don’t want them to have to worry about me as I get older and I would like to help them as well if I could. I know there is a great plan for me and I would love the opportunity to show other people on the spectrum that we can do great things even though we have different abilities.
Follow my journey on Facebook, my Facebook Fan Page, Tiktok, Youtube & Instagram,
My name is Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum. I started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue post-secondary education. Help support me so I can continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
Autistics on Autism: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams was released on March 29, 2022 on Amazon here for our community to enjoy featuring the stories of 100 autistic adults. 100% of the proceeds from this book will go back to our nonprofit to support initiatives like our autism scholarship program. In addition, this autistic adult’s essay you just read will be featured in a future volume of this book as we plan on making this into a series of books on autistic adults.
