Chris Parrott

Chris Parrott joined Autism Empowerment’s Board of Directors in 2014. Chris was born and raised in Texas, and was a resident of Oregon from 2011 to early 2022, when he relocated to North Carolina. Chris identifies on the autism spectrum with an Asperger’s syndrome diagnosis.

He currently works remotely as a Development Tech Software Engineer for NVIDIA, where he helps position their high-performance computing software products to be competitive in the marketplace.

As a self-advocate, Chris has assisted Autism Empowerment in various ways, including training others about Autism and ADHD.

Chris is married to Heather, who is also passionate about working with children and families with issues on the autism spectrum. Heather previously served on the Editorial Advisory Board of Autism Empowerment’s Spectrum Life Magazine. Together, Chris and Heather have two sons and a daughter, all of whom are on the autism spectrum and/or neurodivergent with sensory-related challenges.

Chris holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Computing has been one of Chris’s special interests since his very first computer as a child, way back in 1982: a Commodore VIC-20. In addition to computing, Chris also enjoys cooking, music, Scouting, and aviation.