Thursday, August 7, 2014

T1D Aspie College Fund

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Keegan. I turned17 years old a month ago. I have Aspergers which is a form of Autism. I also have Type 1 Diabetes, which was diagnosed September, Friday the 13th, of last year. Since I was 4 years old, I've had serious immune system issues that specialists have not been able to accurrately diagnose. Since they haven't been able to diagnose me, you can't treat an undiagnosed illness. That means that I can't really get the help I need. For me personally, it means I get exhausted easily and sometimes end up in hospital for large amounts of time. I get sick easily also.
Something really cool is that I have Situs Inversus Totalis. This means that all my organs are on the opposite side. For all you Trekkie fans out there, Situs Inversus plus Aspergers means I'm a Vulcan because with Aspergers I think very logically. I also suffer from migraines (from mind melding too much). I have severe allergies to everything environmental (everything that has to do with outside such as trees, flowers, grasses, hays, molds, etc). Except penicillin.
Because of my Aspergers, I don't have common sense. So I joke around with everyone about it. When I do something that doesn't makee sense, people say, “It's not rocket science” and I say, “If it was rocket science, I'd get it!”
Because of Aspergers and my health issues, I have a hard time concentrating and I get distracted easily. I also stay pretty weak. This makes it hard for me to get a job, attend a full course load in college, drive, and take care of my own needs.
My dreams are to go to college so that I can have the knowledge to create video games. I want to create fun video games that will help people with special needs develop the skills they need in real life. For example, a game that will teach them to interact with neuro-typicals. Or, the game might help them to undersand facial expressions (we have problems with that). I want the games to be an exciting game that you'd find on a top seller list.
Also, as I sale these games, I will donate a percentage of profits to different non-profit organizations that help kids with special needs such as Aspergers, Type 1 Diabetes, Cerebral Palsy, etc.
As of today, I am OFFICIALLY enrolled in college. I have enrolled in an Associates Degree progam in Simulation and Game Design. I am excited. But, I don't have everything I need for college. Our family does not have the money needed to get my stuff for college. I also have a pell grant but it's not enough to cover everything I need. It will cover tuition costs though.
In addition to tuition, I also need the following:
*Basic school supplies (binder, notebooks, pencils, pens, sketch pad, etc)
*A computer that ideally will have an i7 processor, a nVidia 850 graphics card, and at least 16gb ram. This is needed because of the work we'll be doing in class on the computer.
*Transportation costs to get back and forth to the campus
*An external hard drive to back up all data
*Books for courses
I feel kind of bad for asking people for money because I never do. I am used to living on what little funds we do have so I can't really get the stuff I want or need. I really want to go to college because it will be something I can do that will help me make money and that I can do while resting (so I don't get to worn out). I will also be able to make money so I can help others instead of people offering to help us.
Any amount of money will be of help. Thanks in advance for helping out. Once able, I will always help people out.
Any extra funds that are left over in my educational fund when I'm done with my degree will be donated to anybody else I find that has special needs and needs help with college.
Thank you for your help in following my dreams.
Sincerely,
Keegan Duffy
PS: Courses start August 18th so I'd like to have my needed supplies by then!