How autism freed me to be myself

“People are so afraid of variety that they try to fit everything into a tiny little box with a specific label,” says 16-year-old Rosie King, who is bold, brash and autistic. She wants to know: Why is everyone so worried about being normal? She sounds a clarion call for every kid, parent, teacher and person to celebrate uniqueness. It’s a soaring testament to the potential of human diversity.

I haven't told many people this,

but in my head, I've got

thousands of secret worlds all going on

all at the same time.

I am also autistic.

People tend to diagnose autism

with really specific
check-box descriptions,

but in reality, it's a whole
variation as to what we're like.

For instance, my little brother,

he's very severely autistic.

He's nonverbal. He can't talk at all.

But I love to talk.

People often associate autism

with liking maths and
science and nothing else,

but I know so many autistic people

who love being creative.

But that is a stereotype,

and the stereotypes of things

are often, if not always, wrong.

For instance, a lot of people

think autism and think
"Rain Man" immediately.

That's the common belief,

that every single autistic
person is Dustin Hoffman,

and that's not true.

But that's not just with
autistic people, either.

I've seen it with LGBTQ people,

with women, with POC people.

People are so afraid of variety

that they try to fit everything
into a tiny little box

with really specific labels.

This is something that actually

happened to me in real life:

I googled "autistic people are ..."

and it comes up with suggestions

as to what you're going to type.

I googled "autistic people are ..."

and the top result was "demons."

That is the first thing that people think

when they think autism.

They know.

(Laughter)

One of the things I can do
because I'm autistic —

it's an ability rather than a disability —

is I've got a very, very vivid imagination.

Let me explain it to you a bit.

It's like I'm walking in two
worlds most of the time.

There's the real world,
the world that we all share,

and there's the world in my mind,

and the world in my mind
is often so much more real

than the real world.

Like, it's very easy for
me to let my mind loose

because I don't try and fit
myself into a tiny little box.

That's one of the best
things about being autistic.

You don't have the urge to do that.

You find what you want to do,

you find a way to do it,
and you get on with it.

If I was trying to fit myself into a box,

I wouldn't be here, I
wouldn't have achieved

half the things that I have now.

There are problems, though.

There are problems with being autistic,

and there are problems with
having too much imagination.

School can be a problem in general,

but having also to explain to a teacher

on a daily basis

that their lesson is inexplicably dull

and you are secretly taking refuge

in a world inside your head in
which you are not in that lesson,

that adds to your list of problems.

(Laughter)

Also, when my imagination takes hold,

my body takes on a life of its own.

When something very exciting
happens in my inner world,

I've just got to run.

I've got to rock backwards and forwards,

or sometimes scream.

This gives me so much energy,

and I've got to have an
outlet for all that energy.

But I've done that ever
since I was a child,

ever since I was a tiny little girl.

And my parents thought it was
cute, so they didn't bring it up,

but when I got into school,

they didn't really agree that it was cute.

It can be that people
don't want to be friends

with the girl that starts
screaming in an algebra lesson.

And this doesn't normally
happen in this day and age,

but it can be that people don't want
to be friends with the autistic girl.

It can be that people
don't want to associate

with anyone who won't
or can't fit themselves

into a box that's labeled normal.

But that's fine with me,

because it sorts the wheat from the chaff,

and I can find which people
are genuine and true

and I can pick these people as my friends.

But if you think about it, what is normal?

What does it mean?

Imagine if that was the best
compliment you ever received.

"Wow, you are really normal."

(Laughter)

But compliments are,

"you are extraordinary"

or "you step outside the box."

It's "you're amazing."

So if people want to be these things,

why are so many people
striving to be normal?

Why are people pouring their
brilliant individual light into a mold?

People are so afraid of variety
that they try and force everyone,

even people who don't want
to or can't, to become normal.

There are camps for LGBTQ people

or autistic people to try and
make them this "normal,"

and that's terrifying that people
would do that in this day and age.

All in all, I wouldn't trade my autism
and my imagination for the world.

Because I am autistic,

I've presented documentaries to the BBC,

I'm in the midst of writing a book,

I'm doing this — this is fantastic —

and one of the best
things that I've achieved,

that I consider to have achieved,

is I've found ways of communicating

with my little brother and sister,

who as I've said are nonverbal.
They can't speak.

And people would often write
off someone who's nonverbal,

but that's silly, because
my little brother and sister

are the best siblings that
you could ever hope for.

They're just the best,
and I love them so much

and I care about them
more than anything else.

I'm going to leave you with one question:

If we can't get inside the person's minds,

no matter if they're autistic or not,

instead of punishing anything
that strays from normal,

why not celebrate uniqueness

and cheer every time someone
unleashes their imagination?

Thank you.

(Applause)