Galen Howard Breaks Character: Living & Thriving with Autism

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In this episode of the NF Podcast, we sit down with actor Galen Howard (known for roles in The Book of Boba Fett, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine) for an honest and deeply personal conversation about life on the autism spectrum.

What if the secret to thriving as a neurodivergent person isn't about changing yourself, but finding environments that embrace who you already are? Actor Galen Howard takes us on a deeply personal journey through his late-in-life autism diagnosis and how he found his sanctuary in the structured world of acting.

Galen's story begins with childhood confusion—labeled with vague terms like "non-verbal learning disability" and "pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified"—essentially what he calls "a big shrug" from medical professionals. Only as an adult did he discover these diagnoses fell under what's now recognized as atypical autism. This revelation frames our conversation about navigating a world that often misunderstands neurodivergent minds.

The podcast explores the surprising safety Galen found in acting, where the clear structures of scripts, sets, and stage directions created an environment where his creativity could flourish without the anxiety of unwritten social rules. "It's not about finding a way to fit in," he shares. "It's finding an environment that fits you." This perspective offers a transformative lens for anyone who's ever felt out of place.

We dive deep into practical strategies for managing sensory overload on busy film sets, the function of those "vocal additives" like "um" and "you know" that pepper neurodivergent speech, and how medication at its best creates space between physical anxiety responses and emotional spiraling. Galen also unpacks his breakthrough role in an independent horror film where he channeled his lived experience of feeling isolated into a character searching for belonging.

For anyone feeling behind or struggling to find their place, Galen's parting wisdom resonates powerfully: there's no deadline for discovering your path. Understanding your neurodivergent needs takes time—and that's okay. What environments help you thrive? Where do your unique perspectives become strengths rather than challenges? Join us for this conversation that will leave you rethinking what success and belonging truly mean for neurodivergent minds.

Episode Transcript

Jaxon Rosa (00:00):
Hey everyone and welcome to the Neurof**ked
Podcast.
I'm your host, jackson Rosa,and over here we have Hayley
Olivia Wonderful.
Well, let's not waste any ofyour precious time, let's get
right to the episode.
Hit it, terrence.

Voice Over (00:14):
It's time for Neurof**ked Podcast with your
host, jackson Rosa, thatmischievous mother******.
Hayley Olivia, what's your name, girl?
You on the spectrum andTerrence.
We've got autism, adhd, ocd,all the D's.
We've got stories and artistsfrom all walks of life.
It's time to get f***edNeurologically.

Hayley Olivia (00:40):
We have the amazing Galen Howard right here.
Oh yeah, that's right, he's asuper talented actor such a
great party.

Galen (00:51):
Everyone had the best time.
I mean, except for Linda.
Linda wasn't happy.
Yeah, it was strange.
He was passing through theliving room.
I asked him if he wanted alittle HG, but he just ignored
me.
I mean, who doesn't want an HGfrom from their cousin?
Hold up an HJ, a head job, amassage, isn't that what
everyone calls it?
I don't have any siblings, butif I did, I don't think I'd

(01:13):
protest against them.

Voice Over (01:15):
Let's go back.

Galen (01:19):
Boba Fett, do you have an appointment?

Voice Over (01:23):
I found one of his stray pets.
I'm here to return it to itsmaster.

Galen (01:31):
Well, I don't see your name in the schedule, so you'll
have to Okay.

Hayley Olivia (01:37):
He's actually had a podcast of his own before.

Galen (01:40):
I've done podcasts before .
I've tried to do my own, but Ihave no patience for editing.

Voice Over (01:49):
That's the one thing .

Galen (01:52):
And especially on the audio side.
I would get really anal aboutediting out a lot of own like
neurodivergent additives, youknow that I would add in, and so
then I would just get like no,no, and then I would just have
like a big like, a big likeexistential crisis, and then

(02:14):
just stop so it's much morefunded to to guest on other
people's like this one.
You know where they get tohandle all the post production.

Jaxon Rosa (02:23):
I have to already edit out so many of Haley's
mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, but it'sokay, yeah.

Hayley Olivia (02:31):
I already did 50 million and thought oh my
goodness, amazing.

Galen (02:35):
Yeah, all the little additives.
They're so fun, I'm going todevelop it.
All the false start sentencesyeah, yeah.

Hayley Olivia (02:43):
I think it was developed.
Yeah, Don't tell me more.
I'm excited.
I mean I'm excited.

Galen (02:49):
I'm excited at this new revelation in podcast recording,
you know yeah.

Jaxon Rosa (02:56):
Yeah.

Galen (02:59):
If vocal additives are the trend now, I'm in.

Hayley Olivia (03:02):
Yeah, exactly.
Actually, let's talk a littlebit more about vocal additives,
because that's actually a greatsubject to segue off of.
Why do we feel the need and whyis it especially big among
people who are neurodivergent?
In that case, do this when?

Galen (03:24):
can we show that?

Hayley Olivia (03:32):
You know, is my big one.
Oh, you know, you know, youknow you know you know, right,
that's mine I go right, oh yeahyou know what?

Jaxon Rosa (03:37):
that one screams you're asking for validation.
Oh right, okay, right, wow, sojust no, no, no, that's how a
normie would interpret it.
I feel like you knowpotentially, but you know, no,
yeah, mine, I think I can do.
I'm picking up the.
You knows, I pick up them fromthe environment.
Of course that makes sense.
I do have the uhs Totally.

(03:59):
I think most people around theworld have a version of uh.

Galen (04:03):
Mm-hmm.
Most people around the worldhave a version of uh right, yes,
I think they're more yeah moreprominently than others.

Jaxon Rosa (04:11):
But yeah, absolutely , I think more most likely, I'll
have a word of the month whereI'll just insanely use, I'll
just, it'll be like a thesaurus,I'll somehow get fixated on
that one adjective I do thatdescribe everything.
I do that a lot yeah, I'll getthat.

Galen (04:25):
I'll get that kind of thing.
Yeah, I think I would.
Yeah, like little littlecatchphrases, little little
things, that little um littleplaceholders, you know, yeah,
that um right, where it's likeyou, you have the thought that's
formating and you want to havea, you want to have like a
response.
So it's kind of it's your,those little things of like you

(04:46):
know I'm getting to it.

Hayley Olivia (04:48):
Exactly.
It kind of takes the pressureoff of formulating your thoughts
later.

Jaxon Rosa (04:53):
It's a template in a way.

Hayley Olivia (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, a template that makes sense.

Galen (04:57):
I use a lot of like affirmatives, like an absolutely
or right or 100%.
You know I do those a lot.

Jaxon Rosa (05:05):
It's very politician-like 100% 100%.

Hayley Olivia (05:09):
When we distract you with these words that seem
like they mean something, butthey don't.

Galen (05:14):
Right, right, because I'm still figuring out what the
fuck I'm going to say Exactly.

Jaxon Rosa (05:19):
Yeah, there's a lot of filler words 100%.
Yeah, the filler words Exactlylot of filler words and I think,
yeah, the filler words exactly,I tend to um.
I mean, one of the things aboutthat I kind of relate it to
would be um impulsivities andand just overall attachment to
um.
Speaking sporadically, speakingextemporaneously, you have.

(05:40):
I come from a background whereI had Tourette's, like physical
t, and I'm on the spectrum aswell, sure, and the feeling of
having a tic.
I feel like sometimes peopleattach that anxiety to their
words, so like if it becomes acompulsive nature to repeat the
word or the phrase, you're noteven in control of it at a

(06:03):
certain point, it's justcompulsive and it actually might
be comforting to have that wordin a way, the repetition of it
that's what I was gonna say.

Hayley Olivia (06:12):
Kind of does feel comforting when you say them
yeah, you're still involved inthe conversation, but you're not
like relied upon.
I guess that's how it feels.
Let's talk a bit more about youand your background.
That makes sense and kind oflike introducing you to our

(06:35):
audience and everything.
So tell us a little bit aboutyourself and your acting career,
or even anything else that youwould you feel is special to you
.

Galen (06:43):
OK, cool, yeah, I mean certainly um as um.
You know, in relation to, tothis podcast, I was um, born on
um, I was, yeah, I was.
I was diagnosed on the autismspectrum as an adult, I think.
As a kid I was um, you know,kind of misdiagnosed with a

(07:04):
variety of different you know,as they call them, learning
disabilities.
You know, learning differences,learning conditions, however
you want to call it now.
But but yeah, ultimately it wasdesignated, as you know, what,
what we now call atypical autismand and so, you know, because

(07:25):
of that, I was had a lot of, youknow, trouble like processing
information as a kid, going, youknow, doing anything that was,
you know, completing any taskson a, on an, an, an efficiency
based matrix.
You know that any tasks on a, onan, an, a, an, a, an, an

(07:46):
efficiency based matrix, youknow that sort of thing Like
that's, yeah, that was out thewindow for me and I and, and,
and, you know, and then justsocializing or relating to, you
know, to, you know, my peers,and that sort of thing.
You know I was, you know Ifound I was able to socialize, I

(08:07):
was able to relate more to myparents', adult friends, and
that sort of thing because theyhad more patience.
It wasn't just everythingimmediate.
They were able to just be likeoh great, let me listen to you,
let me hear what you have to say, that sort of thing, and I had
the safe space to, like, expressmyself.

Hayley Olivia (08:27):
You know that actually that kind of gave me a
realization when you said that,yeah, um, because I was
diagnosed, not diet, I was uh,let's cut that out I'm not
cutting anything out more.

Jaxon Rosa (08:40):
Don't make more work for me, just keep going.
Just if you, if you mess up,just keep going I've had a long
day.

Hayley Olivia (08:50):
I'm I'm flubbing up right now no, just don't
worry, but anyways, I was.
I went to a therapist likeprobably a year and a half ago
or so, yeah, and they said, oh,you tested positive for all of
these personality disorders andall of these things.
And I was like I can't possibly.

(09:11):
What are you talking?

Galen (09:13):
like all of them, am I okay?
Like, am I?

Hayley Olivia (09:15):
okay.
And then the next time I wentto see them they were like okay,
did you ever think that maybeyou were on the spectrum?
And we started diving into thatconversation and so I mostly
got into that realm and startedunderstanding myself as being
autistic way later in my life.

(09:37):
So you saying that, talking tothe adults and everything people
who are older- who have thepatience for you.
I had the same experience.

Galen (09:46):
That's awesome.
I just didn't know it wasbecause of that right yeah, yeah
, I mean I was, you know, I wascoming of age in the you know
80s and 90s when there reallywas no um, uh, you know kind of
um kind of context for a lot ofthat, or very, very, very
limited.
And yeah, so, yeah, so, when Iwas, you know, as I, as I got

(10:12):
older, I, you know, I found, youknow, you know, again, would
have a lot of trouble relatingto my peers, a lot of trouble
kind of expressing myself.
I, my kind of my stammering andstuttering was even more
pronounced when I was younger,when I was still kind of having,
you know, kind of grapplingwith how I express myself and
dealing with a lot of things and, and I'm sure, my anxiety of my

(10:35):
social anxiety, compacted thatas well.
But, um, I, you know, that isto say, I found, um, you know, I
, you know, I had a very activeimagination and so I found that,

(10:56):
you know that, when Idiscovered, when I discovered
acting, I think you know, myparents enrolled me in like a
summer, like a summer program orsomething when I was a kid, and
you know, I realized that, youknow, like, oh, this is a like,
this is like a structuredenvironment in which I can
express myself, in which I can,you know I was, I mean, I think
what all acting comes down to isis, you know, I think, a love
for storytelling, and you know,so, I think that you know that

(11:18):
was a great, it was like a greatkind of structure for me, able
to be be able to explore myimagination and kind of express
myself in a structuredenvironment.
Otherwise, you know, in the,you know, in the normal social
setting, you know the, I thinkfor a lot of us on the spectrum
it's, you know, you know thethere's a lot of that anxiety of
not having that structure oflike, how do we, how do we

(11:40):
socialize, how do we expressourselves, how do we do those
things?
And and having that, um, youknow that structured environment
, um, in acting, was like a real, you know, kind of a real
breakthrough for me when did youum journey into acting?

Hayley Olivia (11:55):
when did you find it was your safe space really?

Galen (11:58):
I mean definitely when I was, um, yeah, when, when I was
probably you know preteen, youknow I think, yeah, I started
that when I was startedexploring that more, you know
preteen 11, 12.
And then you know, started, youknow taking, you know taking
classes doing, you know kind of,you know, you know plays in

(12:21):
school and that sort of thing,and it was, you know, gradually
from there realizing like oh, oh, yeah, this is, this is where I
need to be.

Jaxon Rosa (12:30):
That's awesome.

Galen (12:31):
Wait, you get in the zone like cause yeah, in the zone
Exactly I was going to kind ofget into that we?

Jaxon Rosa (12:36):
we talked in different like aspects.
For me it's music or it's alsogoing to be filmed.
But when you are in your kindof zone of focus from a
neurodivergent perspective, whatdoes it take for you to get
there?
Or is it actually easy?
Does it click that part of yourbrain where you're just like
I'm in acting mode, I'm on set?

Galen (12:57):
What is the transition between you in your kind of
current energy, and you, theactor in your kind of current
energy and you, the, the actor,yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, I
think it's definitely, itdefinitely helped having that
the environment of like, eitherlike being on on this, you know,
on the stage, in the theater oron the set, because there's all

(13:20):
those, all those kinds ofreminders of just like, just
like, kind of in you know, like,oh, I'm, you know, I, you know
I'm in a work environment, I'min a classroom, whatever, it's
like, those things, that kind ofclick in of like, oh, this is
where I need to be, but you know, but it's like, but it's
finding the place that's safefor you and like, not the place
and the, and the place where youknow, where your strengths are

(13:43):
emphasized instead of yourlimitations.
And I know, you know, for me, Ithink, for a lot of people, you
know, growing up that's what,that's what school was, was
where their limitations wereemphasized and not their
strengths yeah, and so to findexactly.
And so to find a place like youknow, to find your that, that
safe space, to find you know,you know, know some kind of

(14:06):
creative or structuredenvironment where you can thrive
is just you know.
It's the breakthrough foreveryone.

Jaxon Rosa (14:11):
Do you feel like?
So, I was.
You mentioned things about likethe school system and the kind
of conversations around mentalhealth in the 80s or 90s.
I was diagnosed in like 2001.
I was kind of the precipice 90s.
I was diagnosed in like 2001.
I was kind of the precipice.
I probably fit somewhere inbetween where you were at, where
hailey, you know as far as likeyou know, but the point is is
that I was seven is when thosethings sometimes start to show a

(14:34):
little more, apparently.
Yeah, start to show in kids.
Um, but we had to like drive,my mom had to become like a
private investigator.
Yeah, right, my mom had tobasically take the reins and be
like what, what's going on?
Like the parental involvement,how do you feel like?
Uh, what do you think?
The importance of parentalinvolvement in discovering the

(14:55):
strengths of a child, or the,the discovery of like, not just
well, maybe not just that, buthow you know, figuring you out?

Galen (15:04):
That's a good question.

Hayley Olivia (15:06):
Yeah, boy how long do we have?
We can do it anyway.

Galen (15:10):
Yeah, I mean that is to say, I mean that was huge for me
.
I mean my parents, you know, Imean the number, I mean with all
the parent-teacher meetings andall that you know, I mean my
parents were on campus justabout as much as I was, you know
, I mean it was um and just, andthen just, yeah, um, you know

(15:33):
me, you know meeting with um,you know with counselors and
learning specialists andeveryone you know, and, and for
me at that time, everyone hadtheir idea of what, of what it
was.
Everyone had their differentidea of you know, of what was
wrong with me.
You know, and I'm sure, a lotof people, yeah, like you, you

(15:56):
have like five different people.
They all have somethingdifferent to say and it's like,
ok, great, that's a help, youknow.
But, yeah, I think, because Ithink, yeah, when I was in high
school, you know the likeAsperger's was the big, you know
big buzzword, and so they werelike, oh, it must be Asperger's,
you know, and it's like, yeah,maybe, and you know, and then

(16:18):
it's just, and then it also.
But it still would come down tolike, yeah, okay, what's what
are we?
You know what, what, what'swhat's like the optimal
situation.
What's the optimal educationalsituation?
I mean, I think the, the, the,the, the biggest thing that my,
my parents, you know, the, the,the or the, the, the, the, the

(16:39):
approach they took to me and asfar as kind of as I was, you
know, you know, you know getting, you know, getting through um,
getting through high school andgoing and pursuing higher
education and all of that, Imean it was that, it was.
You know.
What they would always say iswhat do you want to learn and
what's the best way for you tolearn it?

Hayley Olivia (16:59):
you know, I just asked you what you needed.

Galen (17:01):
What you need, yeah, and then, yeah, it's so simple,
right, and so it was yeah andand a lot of it was just was all
of us kind of learning togetherlike what were the alternatives
?
You know, because you know, atthe time when I was starting
college in the early 2000s, yeah, there wasn't, there weren't a
lot of um, of, of differentresources and um, and so, yeah,

(17:23):
figuring out what were what werethe kind of, what was the kind
of structure that I would best,you know, thrive in.
And it was, and we were allkind of you know, kind of you
know kind of fumbling togetherand like, okay, maybe this,
maybe that, and you know, and,and you know, I think I went to
like kind of a kind of analternative, like like, kind of

(17:46):
like hippie, off-campus kind ofcollege system.

Jaxon Rosa (17:51):
Where did you go to college if you don't know what
I'm?

Galen (17:52):
asking Well, I attempted to go to college out of Goddard
in Vermont and they had kind ofa self-driven kind of academic
program which, on the surface,seemed awesome.
And then when I was actuallytrying to, you know, create my
own structure on my, you know,day to day was a nightmare.

Jaxon Rosa (18:17):
And so I went to do.
You know that what theEvergreen State College?

Galen (18:20):
Yes, yes, yes.

Jaxon Rosa (18:21):
So that's where I went to school.
I also had learning plan.
Basically, you could write yourown curriculum like that.
Yeah, exactly I thrived off ofthat.

Galen (18:33):
Cause I cause.

Jaxon Rosa (18:34):
I thrived off to creating the own, my own little
pocket of structure, as opposedto the moment I was told
something to do or a professor.
That was just the slightest bit.
The moment I was told somethingto do from a professor, that
was just the slightest bit likelike, I just was not, I'm just
anti-authority, and so I waslike I was just ready to just do
my thing.

Hayley Olivia (18:52):
I think most of us are, though because we I know
from my perspective I always Iwas always the good kid, like I
was always the teacher's pet.
But I remember also thinkingbut why do I have to do this?
I guess I'm supposed to yeah um,it's not necessarily that I
felt that it was fair or the waythings were supposed to be, and

(19:14):
as I got older too, being atthe jobs that I've done, it
frustrates me so much because Ifeel like, um, everyone what
everyone thinks is who areneurotypical thinks it's
supposed to happen or how thingsare supposed to work.
Or, for example, they think, ohyeah, you have to follow these

(19:36):
specific rules to the T oryou're the one in the wrong.
I'm like what?

Jaxon Rosa (19:42):
Yeah, it's the way you get the work done is wrong.
But yeah, you could both cometo the same conclusion.
You can both come to the samefinished product like.

Hayley Olivia (19:50):
I'm glad that you had that experience where your
parents and them wanted tofigure out, yeah, how to help
you, because I think it's reallylacking, especially even now,
even though they're learning somuch about it.
There's a lot more talk aroundit, it's being more understood

(20:12):
how did I know you were going tosay something?

Jaxon Rosa (20:14):
like that.
We're mind melding on this now,I lost my train of thought.
Thank you, it was such a goodtrain of thought man.
It was so great, the good trainof thought man.
It was so great the greatesttrain of thought, best when was
I, though you have to help me.
Ok, I'm going to bring you backinto it.
I'm bringing you back in.
You were talking about theconversations around the

(20:38):
spectrum, the current state.

Hayley Olivia (20:40):
Yes, ok, I'm back .
And schools and things do nottry to figure out how they can
help you.
They try to figure out how theycan get you to do the way they
want you to do things.
Yeah, exactly.

Galen (20:54):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
That's exactly how it'sstructured.
They, yeah, it's all about.

Jaxon Rosa (21:00):
Yeah, right, how can we help you conform to, you
know, to the system that we have, and poor teachers, just like,
honestly, the funding if you, ifI really look back because I
was also, you know, placed intothe special needs kind of class
in elementary school, right,when you get taken away from the

(21:22):
, the main class, and you'rejust kind of brought to the side
and you're brought in thatclass and looking back on it I
was it was very frustratingenvironment to be put in there
and then have kind of a teacherthat was not only like trying
her best to be patient withthese kids that were in there,
that were really jumping up,bouncing off the walls and going

(21:42):
through emotional turmoils orcertain things, to basically be
like like there was that oneperson at school for that Right,
and so like, at the end of theday, I look back on it.
That's a lot to a lot for oneperson to do, and I look back on
it now and I you know, with thein a different light of just
like, what a like, what a way totake it, like you want it, like

(22:04):
you're going out of your way tohelp kids that you're.
You're doing this for a reason.
Obviously you're here to helpkids that are in these different
states of mind and differentthings happening at, either at
home or at school or whatever.

Galen (22:15):
But you know it's so a lot of those people have to have
who they're.
You know their, their, theirintentions were correct and
their heart was in the rightplace, but it's like they have
the.
They're not getting the, thehelp from the administration.
They're not.
They're.
The deck is stacked againstthem too.

Jaxon Rosa (22:34):
Exactly it trickles down.

Hayley Olivia (22:35):
Like so many people have really good
intentions, you know, when itcomes to that, they're not given
the tools.

Galen (22:41):
They're not given the tools to be, to be, to be, to be
, to truly be of service, and sothen that's that's frustrating
for them, then they getdiscouraged, it's yeah, it's a.

Voice Over (22:49):
You see that happen a lot.

Galen (22:50):
Unfortunately you still, yeah, I mean, it seems, yeah, it
seems like, sadly, that's stillhappening to a degree, you know
.
You know, though, it seems likethere are a lot of advances
we've made in the last, you know, 20 years.
Yeah, yeah, and when did yousay that you figured out that

(23:12):
you were on the spectrum?
It's interesting, I you know,because it was.
It was again.
there was a lot they were usinga lot of um yeah, they were
losing a lot of different terms,you know I think, um, um, you
know that they didn'tnecessarily, you know, you know,
couple with autism, or, youknow, equate to autism, to
autism, like you know, I thinkyou know for a while I was, you

(23:33):
know I, you know they would usethe terms, like you know, like a
nonverbal learning, disability,things like that, or and and
then I think you know what they,what they really identified is
that, you know for me, was that,you know I, I had, you know my,
that, you know for me was that,you know I, I had, uh, you know
my, you know my, level of mylevel of processing was very

(23:57):
high, but the, the speed atwhich I processed was lower, you
know, was much lower.
And so it, you know it's acreated this discrepancy.
And so then they, ultimately,you know, you know they, and I
think they, you know kind, youknow they were giving it a name,
I think you know which, I thinkat the, at the time they called

(24:19):
it but pervasive developmentaldisorder, and then, and then,
and then with an, and then I gota special additive not
otherwise specified, so so myentire diagnosis was a big shrug
.

Hayley Olivia (24:36):
Oh, wow, okay.

Galen (24:38):
That's what doctors do.

Hayley Olivia (24:39):
They're like we have no idea what this is, so
we'll just say unspecified.
We'll just say fuck if I know.

Galen (24:44):
Yeah, that's it, and yeah .

Hayley Olivia (24:46):
Fucking, figure it out yourself.
Figure it out yourself.
Good luck.

Galen (24:49):
Good luck in the world.
Yeah, fucking, figure it outyourself.

Hayley Olivia (24:50):
Figure it out yourself.
Good luck.
Good luck in the world, yeah.

Galen (24:52):
And so I think that's a diagnosis that now has been kind
of grouped into what we nowcall atypical autism.
Okay, and so for a while I hadno idea that that random,
useless diagnosis was in factautism.

Hayley Olivia (25:09):
Yeah.
Yeah diagnosis was, in fact,autism.
Yeah, yeah, and I think that'salso what they're discovering
now coming across.
Why so many people are nowfiguring out, when they're much
older, that they are on thespectrum is because it's a
spectrum like they should callit late onset.

Jaxon Rosa (25:27):
Autism is what?
No, I don't know.
Okay, first, should we not?
Should we come up with lessterms?
Do we need more?

Hayley Olivia (25:36):
they didn't do studies on girls they did
studies on boys, so you'll finda lot more I didn't know that
that's wild yeah, a lot moreboys were diagnosed way early on
and that because they didn't dostudies on girls, they didn't
know what it looked like.
In girls, autism comes acrossdifferently a lot of the time.

(25:58):
For example, autism in a boythey come off as more so, um
more so, sometimes laid backnecessarily, than autism in a
girl makes them seem more analand needing to get things done
and being on a very like kind ofschedule even though it.

(26:20):
It's very similar in a lot ofways, of course, and there's a
lot of like, like in boys, ofcourse.
It's like I, I need to getthings done at a certain time.
Again.
It's a spectrum, but that'skind of just like the very
beginning of it for me, of mekind of trying to understand, um
, how, how, how it come acrossfor me or how I work necessarily

(26:42):
.

Jaxon Rosa (26:43):
Yeah, no, that's I mean honestly cause, at the bare
minimum, it was even hard todiagnose in the first place in
men.
So you add on top of that thelack of a data right that they
collected.
Um, I and I think this issomething I kind of bring up on
the podcast from time to time,but it could even just be
interpreted as from the outsideras anxiety, right At the bare

(27:04):
minimum.

Hayley Olivia (27:04):
I was told I had severe anxiety.

Jaxon Rosa (27:07):
Yeah, sure, yeah, and which?

Galen (27:13):
is which, honestly, is like yes, but you know it's like
, yes, I feel like there's a bitmore.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's wildto me that, um, yeah, that that
anxiety is still it's like itsown diagnosis, because I think
it's so often symptomatic ofsomething completely different.
It's something else entirelyand you know this, you know it's
like, certainly in our case,like, yeah, that's just, that's

(27:35):
just, that's just like a, youknow, like symptomatic of
navigating the world, being on ayou know, being neurodivergent,
being on the spectrum the crazypart too is anxiety can even be
a symptom of, for example,something that's getting really
like heavily diagnosed now potslike it could be anything, but

(27:55):
it's it's easier for them tojust go.

Hayley Olivia (27:57):
I don't know, it's too generalized.
You have anxiety, sure like yougo to the doctor.

Jaxon Rosa (28:02):
Oh, it's anxiety well, it's because it's probably
in that sense because it's veryblack.
When a doctor needs to diagnosesomething, they have to make
sure it's black and white.
And anxiety drugs, certain onesin particular, can work in
correlation with, you know,autism or antipsychotic right.
So it just depends, likebecause I think, at the end of

(28:23):
the day, the reason thediagnosis is going to happen is
to write the prescription.
We have to be honest withourselves, like it's, like that
is the end goal of you know, ourfor-profit, you know medical
system and I was medicated for along time so I do know that
that was like the target of itis like an antipsychotic or
anti-anxiety meds actually helpto, like with Tourette's right.

(28:46):
The interesting thing about itis I think you're right, um,
anxiety is like it's so whenthey say it it's so general, but
I think it's actually just abuilding block.
It's like a structural buildingblock of most neurological
things, not everything, but it'slike the base layer of the cake
and then on top of that cake,you, you add the other

(29:09):
ingredients.

Hayley Olivia (29:09):
But often it's made to seem like it's the main
issue.
And then you're trying tograpple to figure out how to
help yourself.

Galen (29:18):
Right, yeah, because again the anxiety is coming from
just the stress of navigating aworld you weren't.
You weren't wired to you know,naturally navigate so then it's
like so, so if we can spend moretime just focusing on that part

(29:40):
of it, like that, you know,yeah, that's really where where
a lot of it is helpful.

Hayley Olivia (29:45):
Because when I was told I had severe anxiety,
they asked me three questionsand I taught them for five
minutes.
You have anxiety, here you go.

Galen (29:55):
That was it.
It was based on a five minuteconversation.

Hayley Olivia (29:59):
They didn't do anything else, and that was it.

Galen (30:04):
I was going to say.
I was talking to a psychiatristrecently for anxiety and we're
talking about switching upmedication and I was trying to,
because that's always very scary, trying to adjust your meds and
all that and I was saying whatare the things I should look for

(30:29):
as far as if it's working?
How will I know if it's working?
And she said, well, if you feelbetter.

Jaxon Rosa (30:35):
Oh, that's so descriptive of her.

Hayley Olivia (30:37):
Thank you, thank you, you just go, I give up.

Jaxon Rosa (30:42):
Well, you know what's interesting about that
feeling If you've takenmedication in which I have for
the Tourette's specifically, butit kind of trickled around, it
helped with other things withspectrum related.
The Tourette's is a cousin ofthese, you know, neural, all
these things we're talking abouttoday, um, but it actually um,

(31:07):
I don't think anxiety ever wentaway when I took those drugs.
It always felt like, you know,you have the pit in your stomach
and all it really does is likeif you shook a bottle of
champagne, like, and you open itimmediately, that's what the
anxiety would be like withoutthem, like it'd be whatever
burst of energy that needed itsoutput, its output.

(31:33):
But with, um, if you just shookit and just let it sit, and
then it's similar like the, thepressure, yeah, got caught at a
threshold and then was likeright, so that's, I think, what
those drugs really do and in away it kind of is it's
suppressing those things.
Yeah, I know for me.

Hayley Olivia (31:48):
I take um citrulline.
I've taken citrulline since Iwas a junior in high school and
at this point it's more so thatyou get withdrawals from it when
you sometimes I feel like I'm adruggie.
No, not really, but like sureyeah, we can take the withdrawal
is is actually pretty bad wherelike if I miss, like one day,

(32:13):
you get.
I don't know if you guys haveever experienced this before,
but your vision goes.
It's like a weird, like it's asif you forced your eyes
sideways and the whole worldjust shifts.
It's like called brain zaps.

Jaxon Rosa (32:26):
Oh, is that what they're called?
I've had that once.
I thought it was just vertigo.

Galen (32:30):
Crazy.

Jaxon Rosa (32:31):
No, I had that actually called.
I've had that once.
I thought it was just vertigoCrazy.
No, I had that actually.

Hayley Olivia (32:33):
No, I had that when I you said it with such a
straight face.

Jaxon Rosa (32:36):
No, no no, I had it when I Okay.
Fun fact, I jumped into a pool,skinny dipping naked an Olympic
sized pool in the middle of thenight.
It was at a spa in Ashland.

Galen (32:55):
Oregon, aptly named.

Jaxon Rosa (32:55):
Jackson Hot Springs actually.
Oh, it was a nude spa and so,um, you felt comfortable because
it's named after you.
Yeah, exactly, it was my place.
I could walk around like I ownedit so so obviously I stripped
down and I'm with a cousin ofmine who was introducing me to
the area and we're out there andthen I remember, um, yeah, I
went from the hot tub to the ofthe hot springs, to the cold
pool.
You know it's very wakes you upand I got in there and I went
from the hot tub of the hotsprings to the cold pool.
You know it's very wakes you up.
And I got in there and I thinkit was enough of a shock to the
system and yeah, I had like arecord spinning style like a.

(33:21):
DJ was like, but my eyes werelike.
It was over and over.
It was like if a CD startedskipping on that one section.

Hayley Olivia (33:32):
My eyes were just like but that's literally what
it's like only it's sideways oh,that's wild and then you feel
like you have the flu oh, that'sso annoying, that's so wild.

Jaxon Rosa (33:42):
I'm so glad I don't.
Well, I got off my medicationsis because I had the form of
Tourette's for that stuff.
That um that I was able to growout of.
I still have mild ticks,physical ticks, but um, I, the
concern over the course of mylife was, like you said, going
off of medication is the act ofdoing so is scary and, just in

(34:05):
the sense of your body,chemistry is about to shift in a
hydrara, in a, in a prettystrong direction and I was able
to, but you have to, they haveto get you down to a pretty
small dose before you can dothat totally, yeah, I, yeah, I
mean, I think, for for me themain, the main benefit I found

(34:25):
it when it's at its, when it'sworking at its best, is that it,
it kind kind of, you know,compartmentalizes my, my
physical reaction, my emotionalreaction.

Galen (34:35):
So it's kind of like you know, and in the past, like when
you you have, like you havethose physical reactions that
then immediately kind oftransfer into you, you know your
emotional reaction of freakingout or whatever it's you know,
then it's like you, you know itwent when it's working, you're
you're like you know when, whenit's working, you're you're like
, oh, my, oh, oh, my, my heartis racing, oh, my, you know, my,

(34:56):
my, my, oh, my palms aresweating.
Okay, oh, you know.
And then it just kind andyou're able to kind of separate
yourself from that, instead ofgetting getting kind of in lost
in the spiral it grounds you.

Hayley Olivia (35:11):
Yeah, yeah, we're able to separate that.
It's like oh, this is my bodyreacting to anxiety, you know,
contextualizes it.

Galen (35:20):
You're able to like figure it out rather than being
overwhelmed by it Gettingoverwhelmed by the anxiety and
the racing thoughts andeverything You're just like.
Oh, this is my body's reactingto the anxiety.

Jaxon Rosa (35:32):
Okay.

Galen (35:32):
I can step back and let that happen, and then move on,
you go into producer mode.

Jaxon Rosa (35:34):
You're just like okay, everyone, let's figure
this out.

Hayley Olivia (35:36):
You're stressed out.
Still, you're still anxious,but you're gonna figure it out,
yeah you can.

Jaxon Rosa (35:42):
You can step back and figure it out exactly we
talked with one of our guestsabout hyperstimulation and I
feel like it's a good thing togo into, especially since you're
creative, who works on filmsets and is around a lot of the
hustle and bustle.

Galen (35:57):
Yeah.

Jaxon Rosa (35:58):
What are some of your triggers, since, if you
have any like sensitivities tothat stuff, and how would you
describe them to people.

Galen (36:07):
I think you know.
Again, I think I think a lot,of, a lot of my overstimulation
comes from from like, from likenew, unfamiliar stimuli.
So I think when I once you know, I mean certainly I think a lot
of different stimuli at once is, you know, definitely that can

(36:28):
be, you know that that can bevery overwhelming.
It certainly was when I wasyounger.
I think I've found ways to kindof navigate that as an adult.
It was really hard for me as akid but I think you know, as an
adult, I, you know, I think onceI kind of once I'm familiar

(36:50):
with the environment.
I kind of know the rules of thesetting.
That's kind of why I wastalking about like you know,
kind of you know the structureof a creative environment, like
the set or the stage.
You know, you kind of once youunderstand some of those rules,
then it gets.
Even then, when there's a lotof stuff happening, you still

(37:11):
have like the those differentthings to hold on to of, just
like okay, the camera's there,okay, they're gonna, they're
gonna call me to set in fiveminutes, like so on day one, do
you feel like you're collectingthat information a lot of the
time?
yeah, just yeah, figuring thatout, getting getting you know
kind of taking in the entireenvironment, knowing you know
what's going on, what the rulesare, all of that and yeah and

(37:33):
then that that kind of helps youkind of navigate, you know, the
chaos and the overstimulationso because, um, and I I'm also
um, familiar with the sets andhow they work and everything,
and then, a

Hayley Olivia (37:45):
lot of times you even have a pa like guiding you.

Galen (37:47):
You don't eat like great, I love that so good yeah, it
makes it.

Hayley Olivia (37:52):
It makes it a lot easier because you're generally
gonna have the same situation,right?
Yeah, um, they bring you here.
You have a trailer, you eat.
They bring you there, youperform the best so also being
on sets very known for lastminute changes, last minute
minute, a lot of last minutethings right.

Galen (38:14):
Yeah.

Hayley Olivia (38:14):
So how, when you have that structure, how do you,
does it help you deal betterwith that change Sometimes?

Galen (38:21):
Yeah, and I think yeah, and usually I'm able to yeah
when there is that kind of um,yeah, last minute changes, yeah,
like, yeah, um, yeah, likefinding your point person
finding like is it's like thefirst or second ad, or someone
who's like yeah who's able tokind of like if you need those
check-ins, you know, becauseyeah, it can be hard sometimes

(38:41):
when you know they, yeah, theymight change up the entire setup
.
Or you know, and then the, youknow the, you know they, they
change the camera around andlike, and so now and then you
know your, you know, and thenyou know they change the camera
around and like, and so, andthen you know your, you know
your blocking is changed or whatyou, or kind of you know the
rules kind of change on you, ormaybe the, maybe the terminology
changes on you, even thoughit's the same thing.

(39:03):
They're just using differentterms it depends.

Hayley Olivia (39:06):
The set, but it generally means the same thing.
Yeah, yeah.

Galen (39:09):
But it's.
But sometimes it's hard for youto yeah when there's you're
getting all that information.
So, yeah, like just you know,you know, if, yeah, if you, if,
if you're, if you're luckyenough to have, like you know,

(39:34):
the, the AD or first, so thatthen you can just relax.

Hayley Olivia (39:37):
Yeah, do you?
Do you try to ask people tohelp you out a bit more with
that if you need it, or do?

Galen (39:46):
you feel like you can't or.
I've gotten better at that.
Yeah, there was definitely whenI was better at that.
You can't.
Or, I've gotten better at that.
Yeah, there was definitely whenI was.
Yeah, I mean when, when I wasyounger, when I was first
starting out, and you know, youkind of have that, you know that
you're less familiar.
You kind of when you get firstget your gigs and you know you
get your first jobs, and there'sthat feeling of like, oh, you

(40:06):
know, I'm, I like to.
You know, oh, I don't want toscrew this up like I don't want
to be, I don't want to be, um,you know, I don't want to screw
this up Like I don't want to be.
I don't want to be, I don'twant to be a burden on other
people, I don't want to.
You know and and you know,thankfully now I, you know I've
done it long enough that I havethat I'm, I'm able to have to
have that assertiveness of just,you know, be able to.
You know, if I, if something'snot not clear to me, I know that

(40:29):
I can ask.
I know, you know, I, you knowyeah, and it's just like yeah,
and you, just, you have that,you know that you have that
permission to do that Cause.
That's you know, that's yourjob.

Jaxon Rosa (40:39):
Do you feel like to to piggyback off of that?
Do you feel like um, the so wetalked.
You talked about like, thefeeling of like being a burden
or, you know, burdensome, um, Ithink like this might just
relate to a lot of people thatare on the spectrum or have some
sort of thing, I thinkespecially with parents, but

(41:00):
more so, even in the educationsystem.
You feel, um, you feel like umsorry, I got distracted by
terrence.
A shadow moved through theframe and I was like oh.
You were like, oh, are we good?
No, we're good, yeah.

Hayley Olivia (41:16):
He's checking.
He's just occasionally checking.
Amazing.
I love that.
It's good.

Jaxon Rosa (41:20):
Thank you, terrence.
Yeah, awesome, but yeah.
So, basically that, how do youfeel like it's time and
experience that helps people getrid of no snappy.
No, you can tell her down.
Oh hey, buddy, you can tell herdown snappy.

Hayley Olivia (41:41):
Go to bed she's in two episodes now incredible
stuff she's wrecking it.

Jaxon Rosa (41:48):
Snappy, go to bed, look at me, go to bed.
Look at me, go to bed.
Actually, no, she just wantsattention, there you go.

Hayley Olivia (41:59):
Anyways, what are you saying, jackson?

Jaxon Rosa (42:01):
Um, I want to unpack the feeling of Shame that some
people might feel Around Havingthese things and how it
Expresses itself, and how Do youget over that.
People might feel around havingthese things and it can, and
how it expresses itself, and howdo you get over that.
Is it experience, is it time oris it partially, that you know
the mechanisms, the tools thatyou're using to get through

(42:24):
those, to get through those days?

Galen (42:27):
Um.
Could you articulate that?
Yeah, yeah.

Jaxon Rosa (42:31):
So to explore, like if you were to give advice to
someone yeah, uh, who?
Who feels burdensome?
It feels like they're.
They're kind of likemisinterpreted or they're not
gonna be they're misunderstood.
What would that?
What would you say to them, aslike a from your experience
personally?

Galen (42:50):
yeah, you know, yeah it's , yeah I mean it's so hard again
, you know, because for me itjust it, it just comes from you
know, it, just it just comesfrom experience and it's like I
think you know the um, but whenyou're there to do a job, it's
like you know they've um, youknow they've, you know they've

(43:11):
hired you because they, becausethey trust your ability, and so
it's like you're, you're there,you know.
I think in a way you know, andespecially as an actor, I think
you know part of their job is tocreate an environment so you
can do the do your best jobenvironment so you can do the do

(43:34):
your best job.
And so I think you know, whenyou, you know talking about I, I
think you know letting thatenable you to um, you know, to
kind of get that, get thatinformation, know that you have
the.
You know have the.

Jaxon Rosa (43:46):
You know that's completely within your right to
do that that's awesome, yeah, somaking sure to ask questions of
the yeah and then.
But yeah also.
Yeah, you're right, thepositive affirmation, the, the
understanding that you werethere for a reason that you
actually you got in the door andit might be a pressure cooker
environment, but you're thereand so, yeah, no, that's along

(44:09):
there, just like everybody yeah,exactly yeah, and so on.

Hayley Olivia (44:12):
You belong there just like everybody else.
Yeah, exactly, I can say forsure too.
I've had many times where Ifelt very stupid and slow and I
did not know what was wrong.
I always thought there wassomething wrong with me and I
didn't know what it was.
Yeah, and grew up Sarah too, mytwin sister, have you seen?

Galen (44:34):
Yeah, maybe we met, maybe , maybe, maybe, maybe, yeah,
maybe.

Hayley Olivia (44:39):
What if?

Jaxon Rosa (44:39):
we switched you out with her, that'd be amazing.

Hayley Olivia (44:42):
I think people would know because we look kind
of different.

Galen (44:47):
There you go.

Hayley Olivia (44:48):
But both Sarah and I, like, struggled with that
and we didn't know why weshould.
Everyone thought we were odd.
They called us weird, yeah.

Jaxon Rosa (44:59):
I called you guys autistic before on the spectrum.

Hayley Olivia (45:01):
We were before we did.

Galen (45:04):
Sure, yeah, yeah, I've had that yeah.

Hayley Olivia (45:07):
And our parents tried to help us a lot.
Like they, they love us verymuch and they did a lot of what
they could, but there wasn'tenough information.

Jaxon Rosa (45:15):
They didn't know, right exactly that's actually so
.
So from like no.
Thank you for describing that,because I think that the
temptation to get in our ownheads about this stuff.
That's what this podcast isgoing to help do for people is
to like the, the temptation toget on her own heads about this

(45:37):
stuff.
That's what this podcast isgoing to help do for people is
to like be like, oh, shoot, like.
Not only can I, um, can Irelate to that.
You might have some have someas simple talk to the camera, as
simple as anxiety or somethinglike that Generalize anxiety.
But, you want to do.
You know you want to do thingslike act, or you want to perform
, or you want to do.
You know you want to do thingslike act or you want to perform,
or you want to do things, um,in the field of the arts or
entertainment.
Um, these are all helpful, likeit's almost like just practical

(46:02):
tips and tricks, so totally,that's pretty.
It's pretty cool, hayley.
Is there anything that we wantto continue to go and recover?
I, my mind is a little bit.
Um, I'm, I am reaching thatslow point.
We were talking about.

Hayley Olivia (46:18):
I sensed it a low processing well, what's great
is we can all understand eachother when it comes to things
like that.
It's okay, we'll work with it,um, but I guess.
So we've touched upon a lot ofreally cool things and actually
I the last thing you weredescribing like kind of giving

(46:40):
advice and everything made me.
I was like I don't need to beemotional, I'm fine, but it did
make me a little emotionalbecause I'm a very emotional
person, but it did touch me, sothank you for that.

Jaxon Rosa (46:52):
You know what I will add in post as a violin, he
always makes fun of me because Iget too emotional and he's like
Haley, bring it back in.
No, you're projecting.
No, no, no, no, no.
I'm okay with you beingemotional.

Galen (47:03):
You're projecting.

Jaxon Rosa (47:04):
I'm okay with you being emotional.
My mind went cinematic.
I thought lone violin, slowzoom for that moment.

Galen (47:12):
Very good, jackson.
Thank you, and Haley, how doesthat make you feel?

Jaxon Rosa (47:17):
See, this is what the problem is with our podcast
it's going to turn into atherapy session.

Hayley Olivia (47:22):
One of our interviewees was sitting over
there and was like it felt likea therapy session.

Jaxon Rosa (47:30):
She said it felt like couples therapy.
She said it felt like um, butanyways.

Hayley Olivia (47:36):
So a project that you worked on that made you
realize that you were capable ofanything.

Galen (47:49):
Oh, wow.

Hayley Olivia (47:49):
And that kind of turns that for you, let's see?

Galen (47:57):
Yeah, I think I definitely had a few.
I think one of my first featurefilms in LA was– um, a, uh it
was.
It was kind of at the end ofthe the, the found footage

(48:18):
movement, and it was a a foundfootage horror film called um
children of sorrow.
That it was kind of it's a, uhit's, it's kind of a, um, kind
of a first person camera, youknow, take into um, a, a,
basically like a, like areligious suicide cult kind of

(48:40):
like half Manson, half Jonestown, kind of thing, yeah.
And so I was like one of thelike, one of like the young
impressionable cult members inthat and it was.
It was one of those where theyhad written up, written up a
whole script and then were just,you know, because of the the
nature of how they were filming,they were finding that they

(49:01):
could just, you know, get a lotof things just from kind of ad
lib moments and things, and solike halfway through the through
the film, they just, they justlike threw out the script and
were just finding creating allof these moments.
And it was, it was, you know, itwas, yeah, it was really cool
because I, it was, you know, Iwas playing kind of a, you know

(49:24):
a character that I felt had, youknow, had a lot of similarity
to myself and it was, you know,my, my friend, one of my, my
best friends, ryan Finnerty, hadwritten the script, the script
that was um, and had come upwith all of these characters and
kind of, you know, you knowkind of knew that this was kind
of a character that I could, um,really come alive in and um,

(49:46):
and so so I was able to um, um,you know kind of uh, you know,
bring a lot of the emotion thatI had.
You know kind of, you know fromyou know you know a lot of the
emotion that I had, you knowkind of, you know from.
You know you know, growing up onthe spectrum and things like
that and feeling isolated andfeeling um and um and feeling
alienated in that way.

(50:06):
And you know you know character,you know as someone you know
who always wanted to find, youknow, you know your, you know
the people, you know you knowyour, you know the people you
relate to, you know alwayswanted to fit in, and so I think
it was a.
So that was something that, um,you know, you know there was
the, that emotional core that Ihad really, you know, connected
to at a level that I reallyhadn't, you know, in a, in a

(50:30):
character before, and so thatwas a real kind of breakthrough
moment for me of, you know, ofhaving a, having a performance
that I was really proud of andmaterial that I was really proud
of, and and that was definitelya moment where I was like, oh
well, this is yeah, like youknow, like, if I can, if I can

(50:51):
find, you know, a project likethis, in a role like this, you
know, then then there's, yeah,there's a lot that's possible
for me, you know that's awesomeyeah, so that was.
Yeah, so that was.
I would say that was a huge, abig.
That was like a breakthroughproject for me as far as you
know, for as far as me as anactor and knowing kind of what
the what was possible?

Jaxon Rosa (51:13):
you know in this career, yeah, that's actually
quite phenomenal, yeah any otherperson would be like oh, let me
tell you about mandalorian.
Sure, but I am interested.
But the fact that it was thatwas a very profound like that.
It's a very profound moment inyour acting career right where
you, where you tapped into theplace yeah that you got to.

(51:35):
That was was necessary for youto get there.
Yeah, that's real.
Do you think that there shouldbe and I say this selfishly, as
I have a script about kids onthe spectrum do you feel like
there needs to be a variety ofmore stories in this world, in,

(51:57):
um, you know, in hollywood aboutspectrum disorders?
and the reason I say this isbecause we only got a few right
now.
We got rain man and the reasoneveryone thinks autism is rain
man, like, so like we have a lotof misinformation out there.
No, I'm serious, no, no, butthat's we need.

Hayley Olivia (52:15):
We need content of people who are autistic but
are just living their lives andit's not completely centered
around being autistic.
100, it's like anything.
It's like you know, it's likeany kind of mind.

Galen (52:28):
You know.
Minority group it's like the,you know the the.
You know the.
The early content is all aboutputting the is.
It's the first time that that'silluminated, so it's just like
well, let me tell you all aboutthis.
And then it's like and so everykind of revelation is like the
big plot point, whereas in youknow, for people, you know

(52:49):
people living that life, that'sjust another day.
You know, and yeah, exactly,yeah you know and yeah, exactly
yeah, and so I think you know, Ithink we're, you know we're, I,
we're beginning to see more ofyou know the, you know where
that is, you know that's, um,you know where that's, that
that's more that's not like sokind of you know put, you know

(53:12):
put in the foreground and it'sjust more that where it's just
where that that thing kind ofthing is, is normalized and I
think, and our understanding ofit deepens.
And I think you know, becauseyou know, I think our I mean the
difficulty is is that, like alot of you know is you know, you
know, you know something likeyou know a, you know a neuro,

(53:34):
you know a, you know a neuro,you know someone who's
neurodivergent.
That's something you can't justcall out immediately of just,
oh, that person, oh, there's theneurodivergent character in the
film you know which is kind ofwhat's funny is all of the
characters that were written asquirky or whatever.

Hayley Olivia (53:54):
you rewatch it and you go they're just not,
they're just.

Galen (53:58):
Right, oh yeah, that weirdo.
Yeah, no, they're just, butthey didn't write them to be.

Hayley Olivia (54:03):
It's just now we have more of an understanding of
what is.

Galen (54:07):
Absolutely.
Yeah, there's so many.
Yeah, that is so fun of justgoing through and just being
like, oh yeah, they're justdisplaying neurodivergent
characteristics.

Jaxon Rosa (54:18):
I have to speak this into existence.
So we should have a segmenteventually called Ot or Not.

Voice Over (54:23):
Yes, and we should do it again Totally we should do
it again with Shaggy or Scooby.

Jaxon Rosa (54:30):
We could do it for fictional characters.
We could do it for whoever itcould be character-based.

Galen (54:35):
We don't have to do it to fictional characters.
Right, we could do it forwhoever it could be, you know,
character based, we don't haveto do it to actual people yeah I
still remember there was awhole there was a whole internet
thread when um when um the ryangosling film drive came out of
whether his character was on.
This was on the spectrum and no, they're just like.

Jaxon Rosa (54:50):
It'd just be cool if you didn't talk that much,
right, exactly, isn't ryangosling so cool in this jacket?
And you know, it'd be evencooler if we had no dialogue,
right?
No, no, that's.
That's the director making achoice, right?
That's an example of him beinglike we're paying him this much
money, but how about we justdon't give him lines, right?

(55:13):
Yeah?

Hayley Olivia (55:13):
Yeah, so now that we're kind of we're kind of
nearing more towards the end,right?

Galen (55:20):
More towards the end Should we bring in.
We were less towards the endbefore Now we're more towards
the end.
Now we're more.

Hayley Olivia (55:25):
More towards the end.
Thank you for the clarification.

Jaxon Rosa (55:27):
That's how that that's how that that yeah.

Hayley Olivia (55:37):
The end is Terrence.
Do you have anything to add?
Do you want to?
Ask or ask yeah Face thatcamera when you ask the question
.
I know that it's sorry.
It's been a day.

Jaxon Rosa (55:44):
Oh, oh man, I'm sorry.
Oh no, it's fine.
Can I put the audience sound inthere?
Totally, we're leaving that in,but they're good doing it Even.

Hayley Olivia (55:55):
Gannon was like no, no.

Jaxon Rosa (55:59):
We're getting a soundboard next.
Yes, I actually don't know if Iwant to give this guy access to
a soundboard.

Voice Over (56:09):
It might be helpful Responsible.

Hayley Olivia (56:13):
I was going to say conservative, okay, no, he
would not be, he would run wild.
What's your question?

Terance (56:19):
terrence.
What do you um?
What is something that you knownow, that you wish you knew, uh
, when you were younger andfiguring out about being on the
spectrum.

Hayley Olivia (56:32):
Oh nice, see, he was sweating and he asked a
great question that's a greatquestion.

Galen (56:38):
Now I just have to come up with a good answer.

Hayley Olivia (56:40):
You had great answers.
It's okay.
One can be mediocre.
Okay, okay, good, good.

Galen (56:45):
Thank goodness, oh yeah, thank goodness, as we talked
about before.
It's just that it's not aboutum.
It's not about finding um,finding the way to fit in.
It's finding an environmentthat fits to you, you know and
that's yeah I think that's youknow, that one.
That was a huge revelation forme once I figured that out.

(57:08):
I think it was it's, it's one ofthose that you can understand,
um, you can understandintellectually for a long time,
but like emotionally, reallyunderstanding like you know, no,
like you know, that's you knowand you know and that, and that
kind of learning to assert your,assert your needs, and saying
like no, this, like thisenvironment, doesn't work for me

(57:30):
.
I'm going to go seek somethingelse and not feeling like you
know because it's yeah, it's onething to say like, oh, yeah,
like I'm, you know, um, like I'mokay, I, you know all of that,
but I'm.
But it's another thing to youknow, to really you know, really
make those you know, you knowthe, you know those demands and

(58:01):
even when you, when it's youknow cause, you know, you know I
think growing up, we're alwaysyou know it would be an edge,
you know an educationalexperience or a work environment
or anything.
You know you're, you knowyou're constantly made to feel
like, yeah, you're not, you know, you're not.
Living up just was able toremind myself more of just like
no, this is just not my um, this, this, this is just not the
environment that's meant for me,you know yeah, yeah, hold for

(58:25):
ambulance hold for ambulance.

Jaxon Rosa (58:26):
Hold me this is my, like you know, studio slash
apartment right it is the spacewe.
You know I have surroundingsaround my lights and stuff like
that Soften the lights.
For example, what if you wereto create the perfect space for
yourself, a sanctuary like um?
Coming back after a long day ofum, a performance or a gig or

(58:49):
whatever, what would that spacelook like this?
Is like this is like youneeding to relax after an
overstimulus.

Galen (58:53):
like this is like you needing to relax after an
overstimulus, hyper stimulatingday yeah, I don't know, I mean I
think, like, like your, I thinkyour, I mean your dog, I think,
has got the best deal with thathuge bed.

Voice Over (59:12):
I would just have a bunch, I would just have a bunch
of those beds.

Jaxon Rosa (59:16):
Like those beds look super comfortable.
Do you want to try it?
Before we leave I might have to.

Galen (59:22):
She might get jealous.

Jaxon Rosa (59:23):
She has a bed over there.
She just is spoiled on this.

Hayley Olivia (59:26):
We'll end this with a photo of Galen just lying
In the dog bed.

Galen (59:31):
But yeah, I think Just Really Plush environments, like
as a kid I really I was like,definitely like, like when you'd
like go into the, like the, the, the counselor's office or
something, they had all thebeanbag chairs, like that was

(59:51):
awesome, the big giant beanbagchairs and stuff like that.
Just like, very like, like,just like, very like, like.
That to me is like a like amoniker of safety of just like,
okay, like big giant beanbagchair, like you're good.

Jaxon Rosa (01:00:04):
Did you ever have the the seams thing when you so
you're talking about sensitivitywhen you were younger, more or
less being more of a, and thatwas very true for me.
For me it was the seams onjeans, or like the socks, like,
do you?
Did you have anything that waslike that as a touch related?

Galen (01:00:20):
Sure, no, I would definitely I, I was.
I was always very tactile as akid.
I would always kind of, yeah,like you know, very, yeah,
respond heavily to texture andthat sort of thing.
You know, I would you know, I,you know, I would like,
absentmindedly, just like youknow I would, um, you know I,
you know, I would like,absent-mindedly, just like you
know, like you know um, like youknow like, let you know like,

(01:00:42):
pick paint off of the wall andshit like that.
You know like, I would get intothat kind of stuff, yeah, it
very, but yeah, I would, yeah,would get you know, or, or I
would you know, play with like,um, like a, like like the you
know like, the wrapper on, like,uh, on a water bottle or
something like that, or on alike a soda bottle or something
like that, like, just like, andjust pick that apart and that

(01:01:03):
sort of thing and just like,yeah, having that kind of
tactile thing would definitelyum, is is definitely kind of a
like, a sort of stemming, a kindof um, a kind of grounding you
know, tactic for me.

Hayley Olivia (01:01:16):
For me, it's just humming all the time humming
yeah without realizing it.
There was one time where I wentto universal this was in high
school went to universal um withthis group called opus.
It was like a traveling choir.
Wow, that sounds like a cult.
I know, yeah, the opus, yeah, onnetflix right interesting time

(01:01:39):
but yeah, we went to universaland we were all separated into
specific groups and I was inthis group with this kid named I
think his name was cole um andat the end of the day I guess I
was humming, but I did not knowand he went oh my god, hayley.
And I was like what?
You have been singing thescooby-doo theme song for like

(01:01:59):
10 hours and he waited until thevery end of the day to say this
to me and I was like I was.
He was like, yes, please stop.
I was like oh, I'm so sorry Idon't even know, and it was the
same song just all day.

Jaxon Rosa (01:02:15):
Over and over again.

Hayley Olivia (01:02:17):
I felt bad yeah.

Voice Over (01:02:19):
No, I'm just joking.

Hayley Olivia (01:02:24):
Anyways, they're both mean to me.
It's okay.
It's a great dynamic.
Is there Anything you feel it'sreally important?
Okay, is there anything youfeel that's really important to
touch upon or anything you wouldlike to tell people who will be
viewing or listening to thispodcast?

Galen (01:02:44):
Man, I mean I think you know, I mean I think we've
covered a lot of it.
I think again, just I mean youknow I get you know, just you
know, harping on it again, justlike I think you know I get just

(01:03:09):
you know, harping on it againjust like I think you know, I
think the you know, you know foranyone listening who's
circumstances and environmentsthat work for you, and just kind
of you know and is just is so,is so key and it like it and it
just it takes, it takes time.

(01:03:29):
I mean you know I didn't, youknow I didn't move out to LA
until I, I was in my late 30sand I think a lot of people they
feel like the other side ofthat is to say there's not a
time limit as far as when youfigure out, when you find the

(01:03:50):
path that's right for you.
It took me a while.
I mean I think I think part ofI guess part of it for me is I.
I always had a sense of what mypath was, but there was so many
, but there was so many outsideinformation telling me it should
be something different.

Hayley Olivia (01:04:05):
And sometimes people who are neurodivergent.

Galen (01:04:08):
everything need a little bit more time, but that doesn't
make you any less capable ofdoing amazing things.
Doesn't make you any lesscapable of doing amazing things.
Yeah, both to both, to like both, not just to find your path but
to find the way that you needto walk it, you know, and that
can find take time too, and so Ithink, and the way and how to,
how to navigate that, that canjust take time and it's like it

(01:04:31):
really there, you know, I think,as long long as you know, as as
long as you're actively doingthe work, you know there's, you
know it there, there, really,there is no deadline so in
reality, like, yes, work towardsyour goals, work hard, yeah,
work for it, but don't forget totry to understand yourself

(01:04:54):
absolutely and what your needsare, what your what your needs
are, what your needs are, andit's and You're important, yeah,
and it takes that and that andthat takes time and just you
might just you, you might needmore time than other, than than
others, to get specifically whatyou want, because you know what
you know our needs are more areare more specific and harder to

(01:05:15):
harder specific and harder toarticulate and harder to define.
So that's just inevitably goingto take time.

Jaxon Rosa (01:05:23):
Yeah, you and your art plus time.
It's one of those great thingsthat a lot of really talented
actors have also said, likeBryan Cranston, you know, like
people that have had later andlike really amazing careers
Incredible.
Yeah, cranston, you know, likepeople that have had later and
like really amazing careers, butthat they just know that they
love the work and they love todo what they do and one flop,

(01:05:43):
five flops, won't take them awayfrom doing what they love, so
that persistence is key yeah,well, thank you so much, galen
that was a great interviewAwesome.
Thank you for being on the show.

Hayley Olivia (01:05:58):
Thank you, thank you for having me.

Jaxon Rosa (01:05:59):
Yeah, everyone give it up for Galen.

Galen (01:06:01):
Everybody, everybody, the dog.
The dog is who we're talking to.
We have a crowd, the dogactually turned.

Hayley Olivia (01:06:07):
I think she is silently clapping.

Galen (01:06:08):
She is.
She is she.

Jaxon Rosa (01:06:13):
For you guys.

Hayley Olivia (01:06:14):
Sure, do you want to close out with a song?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go on ahead.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

Galen (01:06:19):
Okay great Well, I'm excited.

Jaxon Rosa (01:06:21):
Okay, I'm just trying to recoup in my head what
we were talking about.
Life in the 80s was so serene.

(01:06:46):
School was tough but, likeeverything, I was never
diagnosed.
But I found the thing that Ilove the most.
They sent me away to actingcamp.

(01:07:10):
I know it was okay.
When I saw that camera I tookthe stage.
I know it was okay.
When I saw that camera, I tookthe stage and the lights shone
down on me.
That's when I decided it wastime to leave and I went down to

(01:07:32):
California.
After I went to that hard artschool.
That was kind of interesting.
And then I went and I got inthat cult film.
I dug deep and I tried to getin it.
It was so good.

(01:07:54):
And then I was cast the nextday In a Lucasfilm project.
It wasn't the next day, yeah.
Then I got diagnosed and it madelots of sense.
I don't think this shit isHeaven sent, but it's okay and I

(01:08:21):
don't know.
It's not something that I'mFeeling deeply in love, but it's
something that makes meNeurofuck Peace or neurofucked.
And I'm so neurofucked when youfind you got autism and you

(01:08:49):
can't do long division.
That's why you're neurofucked,that's why you're all fucked.

Hayley Olivia (01:08:59):
It's not that bad dude, I don't know.
That was great Amazing.

Galen (01:09:06):
Awesome, fuck yeah.

Jaxon Rosa (01:09:08):
We are incredibly excited to be launching this
podcast and we have some superinteresting guests Planned for
the next episodes, so stay tuned, follow us on social media.
And we have some superinteresting guests planned for
the next episodes, so stay tuned, follow us on social media.
Find us on YouTube for someextra visuals.
Well, we'll see you in the nextepisode.
Peace and love.