There are a lot of things I've learned from the books I've read, but I feel like the biggest thing I've learned from them is how to be creative. I love to read fiction, especially fantasy, science fiction, and adventure, and it's always been really inspiring for me. The first fanfiction I ever discovered was even based on books I had loved reading as a student in elementary and middle school! I was also able to connect to people on a message board for another series I loved as a kid. Because of that, I felt inspired to try coming up with my own stories based on these books, even if I never got very far at first. It was also through a love of reading and similar books that I met a friend who inspired me to want to become an author! On the bus ride to middle school, he and I would talk about his story ideas, and he even gave one of them to me to do what I wanted with it. We would also recommend different books to each other, and these books would inspire me further in my creativity. One of my most impactful experiences regarding these books was getting to meet the author of one of my favorite series, Richard Paul Evans! My family was able to surprise me with a visit to his house, and I got to hear some of the sixth Michael Vey book before it even released! It was such a cool experience and definitely inspired me, especially when I got to tell him about how I was trying to write my own stories based off of his. He was super supportive and kind, and really helped me feel like I could do amazing thing as a writer! While I haven't made any progress on writing my own original books at all, I have been able to reach out with my talents through writing fanfiction. I've managed to make new friends and even inspire other people the way I was inspired, and feeling like I'm able to effect people with my writing even in such a small way is one of the best feelings in the world. There's just something special about being able to pass along the inspiration, and to be the brilliant author in someone's life who inspires them to be creative just like what happened to you.

My disability has had a profound effect on me as a person, but I've done my best to not let it control me. I have multiple mental illnesses and difficulties, mainly Autism Spectrum Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. These three mental disabilities have made my life hard in multiple ways, but I've tried my best to learn how to cope.\ I often have trouble focusing for long periods of time without getting distracted or finding myself needing extra stimulation in the background to keep me motivated. For example, as I'm typing this right now, I'm also watching YouTube in the background to keep myself occupied! However, I have medication that, while it doesn't remove the issue entirely, it definitely gives me a boost in being able to at least try to focus. This has led me to figure out that I am not the best at a traditional structure of working hours, and will likely need some form of flexibility with whatever career I go into in the future, or at least I need to be allowed some form of stimulation as I work and far more lenient deadlines and such. My anxiety also can be a big problem for me. If I get too overwhelmed, be it in an emotional sense or through a sensory overload, I can start to break down, and if it gets too bad I can end up having a panic attack or even a full-on emotional meltdown. Thankfully, things like that have gotten rarer as I've grown up, taken medication, and learned how to calm myself down, but there's always the chance that I might have a breakdown in the middle of a taxing situation. Autism, meanwhile, doesn't have too many negative effects on me, but there are still a few. Most of these difficulties come during social interaction. I find it hard to read social cues sometimes, and I have a horrible time trying to remember people's names. Luckily, I've figured out tricks to help me handle these issues, but it's still difficult. Another thing I struggle with a lot is how I tend to dominate conversations with others and try to keep the topic solely on what I am interested in, all but forcing my special interests at the time onto those I'm with. I have gotten more aware of when I do this, but I still have a lot of trouble getting myself to actually sit and listen. However, despite all of these difficulties, I've figured out how to at least try to handle them, and I've used what I know about them and myself to figure out what I feel most confident doing in the future.

Math, as long as it's not too complicated, can be really fun. Being able to use numbers and equations to explain so much in a mechanical, physical sense is really powerful, and we learn how to start doing it around when we first learn to read! As long as you know the proper equations and how they work, you're able to do so much with just a handful of numbers and a graph. There's a lot of complexity to math as well, and different people have different skills in different parts of it. I know that I struggled a lot with Calculus and Trigonometry (where I got good grades, but it was harder for me to click with these and I was stressed), but I did well with Algebra, Measurement, and Physics (where it came easier to me, and I enjoyed it a lot more). By finding what you're good at, you and others can come together to figure out crazy equations and decipher natural laws in our universe. Math isn't by any means my favorite subject, but it's still one I've mostly found enjoyment in, and I'm glad that it exists. At the very least, we use basic math all the time in our lives, and all sorts of operations are used in my field of study, Computer Science.

My mental health is important, just like my physical health. With good mental health, I am able to function far better in my everyday life and better handle the stress and anxiety that I feel, especially as someone with diagnosed Anxiety Disorder. Being able to keep myself healthy, happy, and calm isn't just a nicety, it's a necessity. If I don't keep a good mental health, it's easy for me to spiral until I eventually end up in a panic attack or a full-on meltdown. It's not always enough, but keeping it in mind helps to keep it from being a constant issue in my life and instead only an occasional issue, and even when it does come up, I can try my best to calm down and reassert a healthy state of mind using coping strategies, or at least that's what should happen. When I manage to remember my coping strategies, all is well, but more often than not I end up forgetting about them instead. I try to maintain my mental wellness by making sure to take time to myself every day where I can relax and do whatever to help me destress, allowing me to reset after the stresses of the day. While I've learned coping strategies in the past, I have a hard time remembering them on the regular, so I've found my own ways to destress throughout the day, and one thing that helps me out is playing games that exercise my brain, such as solitaire. I like to make sure to play some solitaire every day, to keep my brain active and working even on days where I don't have much to do. Another thing that helps me destress a lot of the time is writing stories or drawing, flexing my brain in a different, more creative way compared to the problem solving of solitaire card games. By keeping my brain active and working, it keeps my brain healthy and lets me vent my emotions through other ways than breaking down. I know that writing or drawing often allows me to project my emotions into what create, even if the exact emotions don't match what I create. It's more the principle of it, that by putting the negativity and stress into my art, I'm able to better process what I'm feeling while turning it into something constructive. Mental health is extremely important, sometimes even more important than our physical health because it can directly effect it in turn. Making sure to understand why it's important in my life can hopefully help others to recognize it in theirs.

There's a lot of different ways, both positive and negative, that digital accessibility has influenced my academic and career goals and experiences, especially as a person with Autism and ADHD. First, I'd like to start with some of the negatives. One of my greatest struggles brought about by technology has been a decrease in my ability to stay focused. I find myself checking Discord and tumblr almost constantly, waiting to see my online friends update and post and message so that I can respond. I've also found myself binging YouTube videos in bulk in the background of pretty much my entire day, trying to keep myself stimulated far more than I should be. Even right now as I write this, I keep getting distracted by the video I'm listening to in the background, but I can't get myself to stop. However, the positives of digital accessibility have also been a major help to me figuring out what I wanted to study in school and what I want to do as a career. In High School, I found myself taking multiple Computer Science and Computer Programming classes, and taking to them really well. I even took an electronics class and a couple robotics courses! All of this led me to decide on majoring in Computer Science, which has been going really well for me so far! Other positives of my digital accessibility is, wrapping back around to one of the negatives, my time on tumblr and Discord. Through these channels, I've managed to build myself an online support system who I can trust and who trust me in turn, and these friends have been a big help to my mental health. Having people I can vent to about my issues or share how I'm feeling with, or show my silly ideas to, has been a big help to me, especially in cases where I can't talk to anyone in real life about things like this. I've also been able to use technology to help me remember what to do throughout my day, like setting alarms and reminders for myself, or writing notes on what I need to do. I can remind myself where and when my classes are, set alarms for when I need to log onto my current job as an online tutor, and keep track of my to-do list all from my phone. After I graduate, or even before, I want to find some form of employment in the fields of Computer Science. I'm not entirely decided on what I'd specifically like to do, but I know that my dream job would be working on video games, probably at a smaller studio so that I wouldn't have to deal with big corporations and the poor working conditions. I might even try to release games myself as an indie dev on the side, with a more stable programming job or something similar. All in all, while I definitely struggle with technology taking over my life sometimes, it's been far more of a net positive in helping me figure out what I want to do in my education and career going forwards.

One of my favorite Nintendo games to play co-op is Kirby and the Forgotten Land, with my youngest brother (who's currently 11). I bought him the game for Christmas, feeling like it would be a good game to teach him how to play video games by himself due to how easy it is and how the co-op mode works. Over the course of about a year, we would play the game together on Saturdays, him as Kirby (Player 1) and me as Bandana Waddle Dee (Player 2). Occasionally we would need to swap controllers if he was having a hard time, for example if we were fighting a boss and he was having trouble with the fight, but for the most part he did an awesome job leading the game! It's hard to remember the specific moments, but I remember a couple specific things we would do repeatedly that were fun. One thing my brother loved to do was go into one of the buildings in the town where you could try out and power up the different Copy Abilities Kirby has in the game. He loved getting to try out the different abilities, and if we ever had enough materials, upgrade one of them. Another thing I remember having fun doing was the fishing minigame! We sat there just playing the fishing game for probably at least 15 minutes, maybe even half an hour, trying to land the biggest fish we could. I also remember my brother first trying out the Tornado ability, and how much he immediately loved it. It became his favorite ability--I don't know if it still is, but at the very least it was for a time! It was so fun to watch him fly around using it. All in all, I had so much fun playing this game with him. And not only that, but my intentions in choosing this game specifically ended up realized! Over the past few months, he's been playing Paper Mario: The Origami King all by himself, only occasionally asking me or our other brother for help with some of the battle puzzles. He's almost finished the game, and I'm so proud of how far he's come!