Hello, my name is Isaac. I’m autistic and I have been playing video games for almost 24 years. When I was born my immune system did not work, and I spent the first 7 years of my life in and out of the hospital. I had a portacath installed and this meant I spent lots of time getting tested and having surgeries. The hospital I went to had a little push cart with a Nintendo Entertainment System on it, which is how my love for video games was first ignited. In almost every photo of me I had a controller in my hand. After I was dismissed from the hospital when my immune system started working, my parents noticed there was still something different about me. They wanted answers but did not have any, because at the time there were none. I was thought to be schizophrenic, and the term ADHD was used for a while. At one point I was told I had Aspergers. I was on so many meds at one point in my life, that I can’t remember 5 years of it. I lived in Colorado for a while but I hardly remember any of it because I was taking so many medications. However, I had one thing as a solid foundation, and it was video games.
I played video games almost every day if I could. All the way through my school years I always went home after school and played video games. The more I played, the more I started to understand the unspoken logic of them, and the more I understood the patterns of the games. As I grew, my brain matured in spurts, and only when I hit my early 20’s did my mind bloom. I’ve been told I always was a bright child, but at this point in my life I could feel the gears turning in my head. I could feel my mind clicking, and things just started to fall into place for me from there.
I reached out to the local fighting game community and went to a ranbat (a small local tournament) to play Guilty Gear with them. I was a nobody, but I showed up and ended up beating one of the players who had been playing the game for a while. It was the first time I had played against someone other than the CPU. I only got better from there. I practiced and worked hard at bettering myself. I traveled, competed, and met many people from different communities and groups from around the country. I’ve met and played with people from Alaska, California, Florida, New York, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Idaho, and many more. The more I played, the better I understood the game; and the better I understood the game, the more I enjoyed teaching other players. I started inviting players over who wanted to learn, and I started playing with entry level players online to help them out. This became my new pastime because I grew tired of the competitive environment of tournaments. That’s why I chose to step down and no longer compete.
Now that my life is starting to take hold and I’m starting to see the foundation grow from the seeds I’ve planted years ago, it’s time for me to move on. I do, however, want to make it to EVO, which is the largest fighting game tournament in the world, as it stands to be the only big event I’ve always wanted to go to but was never able. I don’t want to go to win, but just for the experience. I have noticed in my years of life, that people think that Autism is this crippling thing. I want to do what I can to change this idea. I want to stand as living proof that disabilities don’t have to hold you back. I struggle with the same things every other person does. I struggle with confidence. I struggle to wake up at 3 AM to go to work each day. I struggle to remember to turn off the oven when I’m done making dinner. The only thing that makes me different is my brain, and I don’t believe being different is bad. I believe the world needs many different kinds of minds in order to work properly.
Evo is coming up and I would like to attend and represent people with disabilities. The problem is I can not afford the trip without help. Any help would be appreciated. I will also be updating my You Tube channel with videos throughout my journey. For more information on my story please watch the video I linked.
Thanks,
Isaac
http://www.gofundme.com/sbn22d5
Please help me in anyway you can. share the link donate some money. anything would be greatly apreciated. Notable people who have donated so far are james chen, and gootecks. Thank you for your time.