In May my immediate family and I sat down at one of our favorite restaurants for a very special occasion. This was the night I became a host of my own TV show. When I was diagnosed with autism, I never thought that this was going to be a possibility. Looking 23 years into the future I now can say I’m the host of the “Different is Beautiful Show” which looks at the beauty in everyday stories in our community.
I was offered my own TV in my hometown just a few months earlier based on my experiences as a national speaker in our disability community. There were many reasons I wanted to get behind this cause that I wanted to share with you all…
- There aren’t many shows focused on individuals who are different. Today, 1 in 5 Americans has a disability. It’s time that we start sharing these individuals’ stories. This is how the title of our show started.
- To show that greats things are possible. I wanted to show my peers and mentees who are on the autism spectrum that even though autism is defined as a social and communication disorder that you can still do great things.
- To break down barriers of what normal actually means in our society. The sub title of the show is called “Normal is just a dryer setting” because that’s exactly what it is. What does normal even me anymore?
- To provide an education for our community. There’s still a great deal of misinformation out there about a wide arrange of issues. With our show I hope to help the world get to understand the diversity that’s out there in our community.
- To highlight the voices that don’t make it into the spotlight. Along with disability this story is really about highlighting the little guys in our community who keep overcoming the odds. We want to make sure people who fight and pursue their dreams everyday.
Finally, the unofficial 6th reason we started this show is to give people if nothing else HOPE. We want to inspire those in our community much like sites like The Mighty do every single day. As one of the first TV talk show hosts with autism my mission is to make everyone who tunes in feel accepted for exactly who they are…
And that they are beautiful…
Until next time remember that different is beautiful and not less. Thanks for stopping by.
You can read more about the “Different is Beautiful” show here
