Chloe Hayden, who was diagnosed with autism at 13 and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at 22, is an award-winning actor, disability activist, motivational speaker and influencer. | Jewel Topsfield
It annoys her that 95 per cent of disabled characters are played by non-disabled actors.“This cisgender white guy in his 40s who is a neurotypical actor googled autism for 20 minutes and then decided to be my entire life. And it sucks because now people don’t understand what autism really is.”
“The sad thing is a lot of autistic people’s stories are the exact same, because we’ve all gone through the same prejudice and ableism and all that sort of stuff our entire lives.”One scene, in which love interest Sasha tells Quinni she was “too much”, was like an excerpt from Hayden’s diary. “I think it’s an experience that a lot of autistic people relate to.
“I want my old teachers to read this,” Hayden says. “I want to send this to the schools that bullied me.” “When I googled it, the only articles that would pop up were by parents or by doctors and they were always really scary and bad and speaking about autism in a really deficit way,” Hayden says.Credit:“It was like parents on forums going, ‘My kid’s been diagnosed autistic, my whole life has ended’. And I was like well shit, what’s even the point my being here?”
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How Chloe Hayden became one of the first autistic actors to play an autistic character in a major TV seriesThe author, actor and influencer drew on her own experiences as an autistic young person when playing the autistic character Quinni in Heartbreak High.
Read more »
How Chloe Hayden became one of the first autistic actors to play an autistic character in a major TV seriesThe author, actor and influencer drew on her own experiences as an autistic young person when playing the autistic character Quinni in Heartbreak High.
Read more »
Wong calls for UN Security Council overhaul after Russian walkoutIn her first major speech to the UN, Wong outlines Australia’s ambition to be a significant player on the world stage. | By Farrah Tomazin FarrahTomazin
Read more »
Forget Picasso, the National Gallery of Australia's summer blockbuster is an underrated localCressida Campbell is one of the most successful Australian artists you've never heard of — but that's about to change, with a major exhibition covering her four-decade 'journey of beauty'.
Read more »