I've reread your last line here multiple times. Have you ever told your daughter that pretty much everything she has achieved in life was due to you? I'm lucky enough to have a daughter working on her PhD along with a son in law school. My wife and I have given them a good stable home, however what they have achieved to this point belongs far more to them than anyone else. My experience anyway.
Of course not. I'm not a jerk.
My daughter was non-verbal until she was 5, and was still pooping herself in school.
I came up with the strategy to tap into her depth of knowledge of facts, which many autistic people possess, and helped her understand how to compare things that she knew to other similar data, to look for patterns.
For example, she liked Bugs Bunny cartoons. Bugs was based off Groucho Marx, so I introduced her to the Marx Brothers, which really helped her language skills, since so much of what they did were quick, snappy puns and double entendres. Typical male characters like Peter Griffin of Family Guy were based on Archie Bunker, who was based on Jackie Gleason.
She liked history, so I helped her explore that, and that is a subject area where comparisons of eras, politics and social movements is there for the picking, and enhances your understanding of movements and social dynamics to the present time.
I supported her interest in video, drawing, art, helped her get her first part-time jobs, helped her get her job at Wegmans where she works now. I take trips with her and act as her camera man and producer to help her shoot travel videos (new one coming out soon from our trip to New Orleans). I helped her learn to cook, learn to drive, get through college (7 years for an associates degree from OCC, which tried to kick her out once because they don't properly support disabled people as they claim).
If she only had her mother - a wonderful woman with a big heart, but someone who is manic depressive and basically quit working 35 years ago - she would not be where she is today, with an actual vision for her future.