What really motivates me?

Honestly, I'm still trying to figure this one out. I've changed my mind a few times about what really compels me to move forward and take initiative. Autism has always been part of me and I embrace it now more than ever. It has been a controversial topic, although I don't know why, and I only see one "solution" to it. The only thing you could ever use as controversy is how to cope with someone who is Autistic. But even then, it's not really controversial at all. It's more of a discussion. I will never understand why there are bad people out there who like to put down people with Autism or simply deny them, as if they were putting themselves down as a person, an individual. I feel very strongly about the teachers and other people in my life (some specific people from my early childhood I don't know about) who think that its okay or logical to deny my Autism. They are usually very stubborn about it, often saying, "she doesn't have Autism, there's nothing wrong with her." There is nothing wrong with me, in a bad sense. In a more general sense, my brain is the only problem. Everything else works just fine.

I may ramble onto different topics... just have to bear with me. I found out what I'm passionate about, at least... Everyone says that I'm "too young" to figure out what I want to be or what I want my future to look like. Why? Is it because that's the overall societal "rule", that you shouldn't worry about growing up when you're 17 years old? It is only another 3 years until I'm 20. I feel it is my duty to start to plan out my future so that I'm not dawdling around when I'm in my 20's or early 30's. I want to at least start to plan my future. What am I even going to do for college? A good friend of mine gave me some eye-opening advice the other day:  is college even worth it? After all the money, the stress, the preparations, the classes, the struggle, the lectures, is it worth it? It would be an incredible experience, I won't deny that, but in the end, what do you gain from having gone to college? High school sure doesn't prepare you for college. I haven't been manually taught about independent living. I took a course online about it, but that doesn't really compare. There should be a mandatory class on independent living.

Overall, I think I know what motivates me. I hope I'm able to bring it to its full extent.