Welcome to a sneak peek into The International Autism Summit 2024 with special guest speaker Devin Morrisey
When doctors told three-year-old Devin Morrissey he would never graduate high school, attend college, or live independently, they couldn't have imagined he would one day help transform how the world sees autism. In his powerful presentation "Bringing Autism to the Center Stage," Devin takes us on a journey from his childhood diagnosis to becoming a Netflix personality, podcast host, and fierce advocate who consistently defies expectations.
Growing up in Danville, California in the 1990s when autism was often viewed as a "death sentence," Devin didn't learn about his own diagnosis until age twelve. This revelation explained why he had been pulled from recess for various therapies and why certain aspects of social interaction felt challenging. Though initially struggling with this identity, Devin eventually embraced that "being normal is completely overrated" and that his differences were strengths to be celebrated.
Devin's accomplishments speak volumes: bachelor's degrees in liberal arts and music from Whittier College, a master's degree from USC completed during the pandemic, experience as an elementary school teacher, and now working as a recruitment coordinator at Sabacon, a neurodiverse recruiting firm. Perhaps most recognizably, he appears as Dani Bowman's best friend on Netflix's Emmy Award-winning "Love on the Spectrum US," offering dating advice and support while helping bring authentic autism representation to mainstream media.
Beyond the screen, Devin amplifies autistic voices through his blog "Autistic Superpower" and podcast "Autistically Unapologetic," where he interviews other autistic trailblazers about their experiences. Most recently, he's returned to his performing roots by joining Epic Players LA, a neurodiversity theater company, combining his passion for performance with autism advocacy.
Ready to embrace your own authentic story? Follow Devin's journey at www.autisticsuperpower.com or on Instagram @DevinMorrissey and discover how one voice can help break stigmas, defy limitations, and inspire a movement of acceptance.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The SJ Childs Show is Backwards' 13th season.
Join Sarah Brafford and the SJChilds Show team as they explore
the world of autism and sharestories of hope and inspiration.
This season, we're excited tobring you more autism summits
featuring experts and advocatesfrom around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Go to sjchildsorg.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Looks like Devin is backstage.
I see his face this time, so wedon't want to take any more of
his time.
Let him get going.
And we're so want to take anymore of his time.
Let him get going.
And we're so excited to haveyou here, Devin Hi.
Thank you so much for lettingme come on.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Thank you so much, Hi .
How are you?
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Good Nice to meet you .
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Thank you, I must admit I have thoughts for the
delay.
Thank you, I must admit I havethoughts for the delay Camera
problems at 7.30 in the morning,camera not the greatest, so
I've been fighting a little bitall morning.
But I'm so excited to be hereand thank you guys so much for
letting me help kick off thesummit.
It's an honor really.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Oh, it's so great to have you and we're just going to
let you get to it and thenwe'll be back on.
Jeff will give you a littlenotice when it's times, you know
, but we're flexible.
We have some time flexibility,I think, here.
So we will be back after alittle bit and we'll be here
(01:43):
enjoying your presentation.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
All right.
Well, thank you so much, sarah,once again for allowing me to
be a part of this.
Danielle, it's very, very, verynice to meet you.
So hello to everyone out there.
For those of you that do notknow me, my name is Devin
Morrissey.
I am an autism advocate, I'm ablogger, I'm a podcast host and
I'm a public speaker.
Some of you out there mayrecognize me from a little
(02:09):
Netflix show that I wasfortunate to be on for the last
two seasons, called Love on theSpectrum US.
My life has completely changedas a result from partaking on
that show, even if it was justas a supporting cast member.
So this particular presentationI have presented and I'm about
(02:29):
to share for everyone is calledBringing Autism to the Center
Stage.
It's pretty much a story aboutmy life, from very humble
beginnings, growing up in theBay Area, to overcoming a
variety of obstacles to what Iam doing now in relations, to
work and in terms of autismadvocacy and much, much, much
(02:52):
more.
So if I can try to share myscreen, I will be able to start.
And again, my sincerestapologies about the lateness.
Let's just say the camerassometimes, let's just say that
they can have a mind of theirown.
So, with that being said, I'mgoing to share my screen with
everyone.
If you guys can see it,fantastic.
(03:13):
And with that being said, herewe go Again.
This is bringing autism to thecenter stage and this is
basically a story about my lifeand sort of what I'm doing right
now.
So, as many of you know, thisis the face from season two,
(03:39):
quite, the friend right therethat didn't realize that he was
about to be seen doing ameditation technique in front of
all of you out there watchingthe show.
So you know, let's just saythat sometimes you don't always
get the choice of, you know,choosing what Netflix airs, but
you know what.
It was even an honor to be onthe show for the last two
seasons to begin with.
So, before I even got to centerstage, this is sort of where my
(04:04):
life took place.
So I was born and raised in theBay Area my whole life.
I was born and raised in thesmall town of Danville,
california.
It is about 30 minutes east ofOakland in San Francisco.
I grew up there all my life.
So for those of you that do notknow what Danville is, if
you've ever seen the movie MrsDoubtfire and have ever seen the
(04:25):
Bridges Restaurant.
That was my hometown, so wehave little history with Robin
Williams there.
So after graduating from highschool in 2012, I moved out to
Los Angeles right away to attendWhittier College and within the
span of four years, I receivedmy bachelor's degree in both
(04:47):
liberal arts and music in 2016.
After working for quite a fewyears in education, I decided
that I wanted to continue myeducational journey by getting
my master's degree from USC in2021.
I will say it was definitelyquite the journey getting my
master's degree from USC in 2021.
I will say it was definitelyquite the journey getting my
(05:07):
master's degree because halfwaythrough our program, as we all
know, the world shut down due toCOVID.
But if there's one thing that Ilearned about myself at that
time, it is that perseverancereally pays off and that
resilience goes a long way interms of ethic.
And that resilience goes a longway in terms of ethic,
determination, drive, and itjust shows that if you're able
(05:32):
to do a master's program on theautism spectrum during a global
pandemic, then you can prettymuch do anything at this point.
So that's a little bit aboutwho I am as a person.
You know just a little bit ofstuff about me.
So my autism journey actuallybegan when I was formally
diagnosed at the age of threeyears old and, from my
understanding, when I wasgrowing up I was nonverbal until
(05:56):
I was actually two or threeyears old.
I was singing a lot, I washumming a lot, and so music
actually helped build language.
But around the time that I wasaround nine, 10 years old, I
began to suspect that somethingwas up.
I had been in special edclasses in preschool, but
(06:17):
kindergarten through fifth gradeI was completely in a public
school setting.
But I noticed that certainthings were not meshing.
I was having AIDS fromkindergarten to fourth grade.
There were times where I wastaken out of particular
classroom activities to go todifferent therapies at school.
It actually got to a pointwhere I was actually even taken
(06:38):
out of lunch recess, which ifyou're a kid back in the late
90s and early 2000s then youknow recess and lunch recess was
lit and it was the place to be.
So I was pretty angry aboutbeing pulled out of that time in
my life because I was actuallygoing to speech therapy and
occupational therapy.
(06:59):
But it wasn't making any sense.
So when I was 12 years old Iwas about to head off to middle
school and my parents sat medown and they just showed me a
book about autism and they saidhey, devin, so we have been
hiding something from you for avery long time.
(07:19):
And do you see this child righthere?
And I said yeah, yeah, yeah,and they're like well, this is a
book about autism, which iswhat you have, and at that point
I will say it made sense.
But it did have me ask a lot ofquestions and I struggled a lot
(07:40):
with figuring out how to fit inwith being normal.
I think that, as any child andas a particular preteen, I was
only 12 years old when I foundout that I was autistic, so
feeling like you were never,ever going to be normal and that
you had to figure out how towork with that in a public
(08:03):
school setting with a bunch ofother neurotypical kids.
It was rough and it was a sadrealization for a preteen like
myself, and I had a lot ofobstacles thrown at me
throughout Midland High Schoolin terms of fitting in,
socializing, communication, andit was an extremely difficult
time.
But as I grew older and as Ileft the nest for the first time
(08:25):
on my own, I began to realizethat being normal is completely
overrated and being differentand being unique is the right
trend to go.
So that, for me, is sort of alittle bit about how my autism
came into play.
And you know but I will say,though, a lot of what the
doctors had told me growing whenI was first diagnosed they were
(08:49):
I had a lot of odds that werestacked against me.
I was told by the doctors when Iwas three years old that I was
never going to graduate highschool.
I was mostly going to be inspecial education my whole life.
I was never going to go tocollege.
I will probably just do sometransitional classes or some
vocational services after highschool.
(09:10):
I was never going to work fulltime.
If I was lucky I could havemaybe just done, you know, the
simple grocery store orwarehouse work and I was never
going to live independently.
So the doctors basically saidthat with my diagnosis and you
have to remember this was 1996,1997 when I got diagnosed so at
that time autism wasn't reallyseen as a positive thing.
(09:33):
Autism in that time and thatyear was actually seen more as a
death sentence, like if youhave this, you're basically
going to struggle the rest ofyour life, life.
But and I say this with a bigbut throughout all of the trials
and tribulations, I ended upsurpassing everyone's
(09:58):
expectations, but not only justpursuing everyone's expectations
and surpassing them.
I literally took the ball andthe bat and just smashed it out
of the ballpark and the bat andjust smashed it out of the
ballpark.
So, as you can see, there aresome photos of here of me.
I have my high schoolgraduation there in the green
gown.
I am still trying to figure outwhy my school decided to go
with the green gown and cap,even though green was
(10:23):
technically our school color.
You see my college graduationfrom Whittier College, all the
way to the left, bottom left,with the long blonde hair.
Back then I was trying to gofor the whole hippie look
because I don't know why.
And then at the top right, thatwas my most current graduation
photo from USC During the globalpandemic.
(10:45):
I'll be honest with you, I wasprepared to do the whole virtual
graduation because I alreadyhad two in-person graduations
with my bachelor's and my highschool diploma and I was good
with that.
So to even go that extra mileand to do it in the USC Memorial
Coliseum, where they've had theOlympics in the 60s and the 80s
and a good chance they'll do itagain in four years, in 2020.
(11:06):
I'm just like, wow, this isincredible.
In the middle you actually seeme in Washington DC.
I've had the honor of workingfull-time at a tech talent
transformation firm and some ofmy business trips in the past
have actually required me to goto Washington DC.
So that's me with theWashington Monument.
It's actually a lot more biggerthan it looks, far more bigger
(11:30):
than what you see on TV and whatyou see in the movies.
And then you see a photo of meliving in downtown Los Angeles.
I had the privilege of actuallyliving in downtown Los Angeles
for four and a half years and itreally kind of shaped me into
realizing, you know, I canactually live in this crazy
(11:51):
world called life, and it'sfunny because a lot of people
don't think that people on theautism spectrum can live in big
cities.
But they can, and if you canlive in downtown Los Angeles
during a global pandemic, youcan do anything with your life,
pretty much.
So, in other words, I like tosay with these photos that I
proved all the doctor'sexpectations wrong and I'm
(12:13):
continuously doing stuff, butthat's what I love to do.
I love showing people.
I'm like you know what?
You say that I can't do this.
You watch me, you watch me.
So, taking a look at the nextslide, my current position is a
very special honor and this hitsreally close to home.
(12:34):
I'm now working as arecruitment coordinator at a
neurodiverse and disabilityrecruiting and career consulting
firm called sabacon um it.
I was brought on to their teamum just a few months ago and we
held, we helped sponsor, thevery first autism and
entertainment conference in losangeles and, to be honest with
(12:55):
you, I would have never thoughtin my wildest dreams I would
ever given be given the chanceto pay it forward, and it helped
get back to a community thathas literally given me so much
growing up and so now being ableto help literally put on an
event within just three monthsand help bring more inclusivity
(13:16):
and more neurodiversity into theentertainment industry, which
is so long overdue.
But that's actually not all.
I have had previous roles.
I've actually worked as anelementary school teacher in the
school district that I grew upgoing to, as well as the Los
Angeles Unified School District.
I taught kindergarten,transitional kindergarten, fifth
(13:37):
grade, so I taught the biggestof the elementary school kids
and the littlest of theelementary school kids and it
definitely takes a lot ofpatience.
It definitely takes a lot ofthick skin like elephant
rhinoceros thick skin but Ireally really, really enjoyed my
time working as a teacher and Ilearned a lot.
That then was introduced intosales.
(13:57):
Sales, I have to say, wasprobably one of the toughest
roles I've ever had because youwere consistently communicating
24-7, 365 with other clientsthat may not always necessarily
want to answer your phones ormay not always want to answer
your emails that you've sentthem, but it really also helped
(14:18):
me develop thick skin andactually work more on
communication and employeeengagement that I also had the
chance to work at.
It was also getting a chance towork with other fellow
employees and sort of learn moreabout their experience.
So I've had the opportunity nowof hosting a variety or holding
a variety of different roles,but this recruitment coordinator
(14:39):
position with Savicon had, Ithink, been the most meaningful
for me.
As you can see right there, thisis me our latest autism and
entertainment conference, andfor me, this was a really,
really, really, reallymeaningful way of giving back in
many ways.
So, as I mentioned before atthe beginning of this
(15:00):
presentation, I'm an autisticadvocate, I'm a public speaker,
I'm a blogger and I'm also apodcast host.
So in 2017, I launched my blogcalled Autistic the spectrum,
and I felt that writing it inthe journal is great.
(15:28):
However, as I've soon as Irealized as I was graduating
college and I was workingprofessionally full time that
there was a lot more that Iwanted to share with the world
about autism.
At the time, you know, thewhole actually autistic movement
and the whole storytellingabout autism was just beginning.
So I launched my blog in 2017,and it really follows my life
(15:52):
and experiences growing upautistic.
It really has been sort of likea project that I'm working on
that I kind of consider like achild, like a baby.
You just watch it grow andblossom, and blossom, and it's
been really awesome to talkabout a variety of different
stories that I have experiencedgrowing up.
Some of the experiences thatI've actually talked about have
(16:14):
been great focus topic pointssuch as bullying, masking,
autism awareness and acceptancemonth, et cetera, et cetera, and
acceptance month, et cetera, etcetera, and really it has been
a labor of love talking about mystory to a wide variety of
people and it actually was sortof kind of the launch of many
more things yet to come.
(16:37):
So this and so with AutisticSuperpower that I launched, it
was also the brainchild, it'ssort of the motivation to launch
another project that I launched.
It was also the brainchild,it's sort of the motivation to
launch another project that Ilaunched last year called
Autistically Unapologetic, withDevin Morrissey.
So, in other words, I launcheda podcast this past year and it
(16:57):
has been so much fun being ableto do.
After doing quite a few publicspeaking appearances, after
doing a variety of differentpodcast interviews, I was told
by my girlfriend, actually, thatI should start a podcast of my
own, and she was 100% right thatI should do so.
So, with her encouragement andwith her inspiration and with
(17:21):
the support of a variety ofother people besides my
girlfriend.
I actually launched my podcastAutistically Unapologetic, with
Devin Morrissey last year, in2023.
And this time it's still aboutstorytelling, but I also wanted
to put the spotlight on otherindividuals and other autistic
trailblazers and their lives andtheir accomplishments.
(17:43):
I think that if there's onething that I have learned
growing up autistic is that ifyou've only met one person with
autism, you only met one, andthe way that I've seen is that
there are so many differentstories out there to share and
there are so many differentstories to tell, and I think
that what is special about thispodcast and what it's done is
(18:04):
that it's opened eyes to whatlife is like for other autistic
people.
And some of the guests thatI've actually had on this
podcast include Layla Weiner.
She's a supporting cast memberon the highly critically
acclaimed Netflix seriesAtypical.
I had the chance to interviewEileen Lam, the owner of the
(18:25):
Autism Cafe, chloe Hatch, whowas on the original Love on the
Spectrum in Australia from bothseasons one and two, and Danny
Bowman, the owner and founderand CEO, ceo of the animation
entertainment, who also was onthe US version of Love on the
(18:45):
Spectrum, us Henceforth.
Why I was even on Love on theSpectrum?
To begin with, because Dannyactually asked me to come on,
and then for the second seasonshe asked me to return, and so
did Netflix as well.
So, with this particular podcast, I love talking about other
autism-related topics, and whatI also love doing is getting
other people's opinions on thosetopics.
(19:07):
So, with a lot of the varietyof different guests that I have,
I actually just taped anepisode yesterday and so that
will be dropping sometime nextweek I love getting people's
opinions on other autism-relatedtopics in regards to the
entertainment industry, masking,et cetera, other autism-related
topics in regards to theentertainment industry, masking,
et cetera.
Because even though we mightnot always agree on certain
(19:31):
things and we live in such adivided world these days, it's
so important to at least respectpeople's opinions.
And, coming from someone thathas experienced a lot growing up
and has experienced everysingle autism-related topic that
you can think of, I'm alwayscurious to know and learn more
from other autistic point ofviews.
So learning from autistic pointof views actually are kind of
(19:52):
going into this next slide,which I'm sure you all know by
now.
I'm sure that you've heardabout it from everybody,
everywhere, from Bradley Cooperand Carey Mulligan to Kelly
Clarkson.
It is the three-time EmmyAward-winning docuseries US
version of Love on the SpectrumLove on the Spectrum US.
(20:15):
I am a current cast member in asupporting role on both seasons
one and two of the docuseries.
A supporting role on bothseasons one and two of the
docuseries and um for those ofyou that probably have already
known by now, or in case youdidn't know, um, I am danny's
best danny bowman's best friendon the show for both seasons, um
, and basically I was giving heradvice and cheers on finding
(20:38):
love.
Considering that, I also foundlove myself outside of the show
with my beautiful girlfriend ofthe last three years, and if you
watch this season and if yousaw a crazy best friend with
blonde hair doing meditationtechniques and kind of making
himself look like a fool, thatwas me.
(21:00):
Being a part of Love on theSpectrum has been truly a life
changing and very fun experience, because when we shot this show
back, when we shot the firstseason back in 2021, all those
years ago, I would have never,ever, ever thought and none of
us had ever thought of just howhuge the show was going to
(21:22):
become.
And when the first trailerdropped and I see myself on
there, I'm just like wait, isthat me Like, what am I doing on
there?
I'm just a supporting castmember.
I really have no business beingon there, but I have made some
incredibly, really good.
I've made some incrediblefriends throughout my time on
(21:45):
the show, bonding with othercustomers as well.
And what people don't realizeis that what the show has done
is showcase autistic people inthe limelight, and that's
something that hasn't reallybeen done before, and we've
actually have had the success ofhaving some successful couples
(22:06):
um come from the show, such asum, abby and david and my best
friend danny and it's on um.
It has been awesome to watchjust the show take off in many
ways and seeing the success nowand everyone being so receptive
to the show.
The third season has beenrenewed.
They're looking for a cast, soif you're interested in applying
(22:29):
, make sure to reach out to knowthe pitchers and, who knows, if
you're watching out there,maybe you could be on season
three of Love on the Spectrum,who knows?
And so what I am up to now?
I have actually decided to takeanother leap of faith and kind
(22:50):
of return to my roots in termsof performing.
I actually what a lot of peopledon't know about me is that I
grew up basically singing in thechurch choir for many, many
years and then that kind oftransition going into high
(23:10):
school and middle school where Iperformed in very competitive
choirs and that also carried onin college as well.
I had the opportunity toperform with professional,
competitive choirs in Honolulu,hawaii, austin, texas and New
York City.
I also had the opportunity todo a lot of professional
pre-professional productionsgrowing up, such as Rent,
hairspray, fiddler on the Roof.
So there's a lot of great theMusic man.
(23:32):
There's a lot of greatperformances and performing that
into sales, going intorecruitment et cetera.
But recently I was invited tobe an inaugural player of the
(23:55):
slide that you're seeing rightnow, called Epic Players LA.
Epic Players is aneurodiversity company that is
originally based out of New YorkCity.
Epic stands for empower,perform, include and create.
And I actually went to go see afundraising show there in LA
(24:16):
with my girlfriend and I got totell you I was not planning on
auditioning.
I had left performing behindall those years ago, about
almost a decade ago, after Igraduated from college.
But one of the performers inthat show Rachel Barcelona, who
is a member of the New Yorkbranch of Epic Players, and
(24:36):
Danny Bowman, of course, fromLove on a Spectrum they actually
put my name, or they sent myname, over to epic players
because I got an email from themsaying, hey, we want you to
come audition and so I did, andnow I get to be a part of this
wonderful, uh, branch ofperformers.
Um, as you see, they are all soincredibly wonderful and so
(24:58):
incredibly amazingly talented.
Um, two faces you actually mayrecognize, um, actually are
lillian carrier from thefreeform sitcom everything is
going to be okay, and my fellowlove on the spectrum cast member
and sister, abby romeo.
Um, it has been almost a decadenow since I've been on the
stage on my own.
In fact, the last time that Iwas on a stage was for my last
(25:23):
choir concert in college and mysenior recital in college.
So it is so great to come backhome and come back to a place
where you really really, reallylearn so much about yourself,
and so I am incredibly excitedto help launch this branch of
Epic Players here in Los Angeles, and we actually have our first
showcase coming up on June 18th.
(25:46):
Tickets are on sale now.
So, if you're curious to youknow, come watch, perform or
even sign up for some excitingclasses that are going to be
coming up.
Come to the show on June 18that the Bourbon Room in Hollywood
.
It's going to be awesome andit's going to be talented.
I know that this particular,this particular part of this
(26:08):
summit which has been amazing,by the way and I'm so honored to
help launch today's summit andbe the first person to speak.
So there, I know that I havebeen asked a lot of questions
about, you know, embracing beingautistic and owning it,
especially since I have been sovocal and so open and honest
about being autistic for thelast 11 years.
(26:31):
So I actually came up with sometips and tricks for all of you
out there that are autistic buthaven't fully revealed being
autistic yet or are trying tofigure out ways to embrace it
and own being autistic.
So the first thing that I havelearned from my own journey is
that the journey is never ending, but I guarantee you it is
(26:53):
always worth it, and what I meanby that is you're constantly
learning something new aboutyour own autism every single day
, and you're also learning aboutother people every single day.
You know learning doesn't stopafter school.
You know just when you get adegree it doesn't mean that
you're done learning.
I've learned so much from somany different autistic people,
(27:17):
whether it's from Epic PlayersLA or it's from Love on the
Spectrum and I continuouslylearn more things about myself
and my autism.
I have learned about that.
I am a very strong person whohas been through a lot, but have
never, ever, ever, ever letmyself doubt myself ever again,
(27:38):
which leads me into my next tipand trick, which is believing in
yourself and believing in yourabilities.
I know that as autistic people,sometimes we can be very
critical of ourselves, have alot of self-doubt.
Believing in yourself andbelieving in your worth is so
important if you have a voiceand you speak up about it.
(27:59):
I truly, truly, truly believethat there are more autistic
voices that should be heard andI think that have a right to be
heard.
So self-confidence in tellingyour story is super, super,
super, super, super key.
This next particular trick,actually, and tip, is something
(28:21):
that I think is super important.
No autistic story is the same.
Yours is yours to tell only,and what I basically mean by
that is we live in quitedivisive times within our own
community.
People sometimes tend to thinkthat, oh, my story should be
everybody else's story to tell,but that's not necessarily the
(28:42):
case.
Every single person on thespectrum is different in his or
their unique way.
As I mentioned earlier, if youonly met one person with autism,
you've only met one person, andthat for me, has been a true um
trademark.
For me, it's really that youknow what my autism is, my story
(29:03):
.
It doesn't make anyone else'sright or wrong, but it's and I
it's hopefully a glimpse of whatautism can be like for some
people, but it doesn't representeverybody else.
So this particular next tip andtrick I think is super
important, because I've beendoing this all my life.
When people tell you that you'renot able to do something, just
(29:24):
ignore it.
Do what makes you happy anywaysand prove them wrong.
When I was told that I was notgoing to be able to go to
college and when people had said, oh, you might want to, you
know, stick something close tohome, stick something close to
their area.
I said no, I want to get out ofthe Bay Area.
I want to as much as I love theBay Area and that's always
(29:45):
going to be my home.
I want to see the world.
I want to see the world, and soI have a chance to look at
quite a few schools, and eventhough that I did look at some
out-of-state schools andactually got accepted into some
of them, I mean, let's be real,I could not leave California and
I could not turn away from LosAngeles.
I ended up proving the doctorswrong that diagnosed me by
(30:09):
moving to Los Angeles straightout of high school when I was
only 18, 19 years old, and Iproved them wrong time and time
and time again.
And this last tip and trick is atip and trick that I really
find to be incredibly powerfuland very special in my mind.
If an opportunity is handed toyou, do not doubt it, take it
(30:30):
and own it.
If the opportunity to auditionfor Epic Players was handed to
me, did I doubt it?
No, I took it and I ran with it.
And now I get to be back onstage for the first time in
almost a decade, which is anincredibly amazing feeling.
If I am given an opportunity tobe on a podcast, talk a little
(30:53):
bit more about my time of loveon the spectrum.
I take it and I own it.
So, really, it's about takingany opportunity that you are
given in life and owning it.
We are only given one life and,honestly, we're never
guaranteed tomorrow, and I thinkthat the biggest thing that I
can give to any autistic adultout there is your stories are
(31:15):
just as important to tell, andtelling your story is an amazing
opportunity to inspire the nextgeneration of autistic
trailblazers to tell their ownstories.
And so, if you ever have anopportunity to tell your story,
just do it.
It is so, so, so worth it, andI guarantee you that it is one
(31:36):
of the greatest gifts and one ofthe greatest journeys that you
can ever embark on.
And so, with that being said,that is sort of how I brought
autism, and so, oh, by the way,so if you are curious to know a
little bit more about my lifeand you want to catch up on the
latest blog post, catch up onthe latest podcast episode, as I
(31:57):
mentioned earlier, I taped oneyesterday, so that particular
podcast episode will be droppingsoon.
Um, you are more than welcome tofollow my blog at
wwwautisticsuperpowercom, mypodcast authentically
unapologetic with devinmorrissey.
You can find that on applepodcasts, spotify and on youtube
(32:18):
.
And um, my main social media isinstagram.
I'm not, um, you really can'tfind me on TikTok or Discord or
any of those other sites, so myInstagram is at Devin Morrissey.
If you see a profile picturewith someone that you recognize
from the show, the previousphoto that you saw at the very
beginning, that's me.
(32:39):
So I just want to thank you allso much again for coming to my
very first Autism InvestorSummit, where I get to share my
story about bringing autism tothe center stage, and thank you
so much to Sarah from the SarahJ Child Show for really inviting
me to come on here, and sothank you all so very, very much
(33:02):
, and I hope that you all enjoythe rest of the summit.
Every speaker that is going tobe coming on today is going to
be incredible.
So thank you guys so much, andit has been a true pleasure.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Oh, devin, it's so nice to Hold on a second.
My thing is doing somethingweird.
There we go.
It's so nice to hear your storyand it was beautiful.
I loved it, absolutely All ofit.
And I love Danville, becauseI'm actually from Reno, nevada,
(33:33):
and I spent a lot of time in theEast Bay area.
Oh, there's Kat, well, hello.
Hello, louie, how are you doing, buddy?
Yeah, so, uh, that's fantastic.
It's always like feels likehome when you, you know, have
been kind of in the samestomping grounds as somebody
(33:54):
that you're talking to.
so that's great.
Um, it was a wonderful,wonderful and I'm just how
exciting to go from, you know,kind of just self-realization to
no more self-doubt, and I'm soproud of you for that.
That is just like a message foreveryone, right?
(34:18):
Like the worst you know hatersin the world is your own mind
and your own imposter syndromethat creeps in on you and, you
know, don't?
you can't ever worry about theopinions of others.
We know what that statement'slike.
So, uh, we, we only, can, youknow, be kind of putting
(34:40):
ourselves, uh, first as much aspossible.
I mean it's I am always tryingto kind of be the better version
I can be.
Next, what can I do next?
What can I do next?
You know, is it?
Maybe it's just this fervorinside of us or something?
I don't know, but oh, it'samazing.
Yeah, Thank you so much forwaking up so early this morning.
(35:05):
You know, on the West Coast,it's my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
It's my pleasure, it really is.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Oh, and what?
Speaker 4 (35:13):
a way to start the day.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Yeah, exactly, fiance , now girlfriend.
I said is she your girlfriend?
I wasn't sure no, um.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
So my girlfriend and I um actually met outside of the
show.
But if you watch season one, um, when danny asks me how's my
dating life been going, Imentioned I have myself a fourth
date coming up same girl.
Um, that same girl that I talkabout on the show is not my
girlfriend, and we've beentogether now for the past three
years.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
I love that yes, it's congratulations and um, you
guys are a beautiful couple.
I mean thank you just it's sogreat to you know, take those
people's stigmas and ideas ofwhat autistics can have in their
(36:08):
lives, can have love, can havefamilies and stuff and just say
let's rethink this, let's lookat this a new way.
Everyone and this is the waywe're going to do it by showing
up and being honest andauthentic and you know, it'll be
20 years for me and my husbandthis year and we're both
(36:28):
autistic and we have autisticchildren and let's show up right
Show up, show out, show out,share your story, and I think
that really does help break thestigma and you know who can
relate to your story and who can, you know, inspire them to
share their story and continueto break those stigmas,
(36:50):
especially with you?
Speaker 5 (36:51):
know the fortunate things that doctors say to
either individuals or theirparents when they're younger,
and I remember hearing a storyabout a family that was from
Poland and the doctor said youknow, don't even teach your son
to speak Polish, he'll be luckyif he speaks English.
And now fast forward,20-something years later and he
(37:13):
can speak English and understandPolish and French.
And you know, it's just.
People are capable of so much.
So we have to continue to breakthose big walls.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
It's to find the obstacles that people throw at
us every day.
It is consistently defyingthose every single day and
saying you know what, you justwatch and you see what happens
there you go.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
That's all we can do.
Right Is just keep doing that,and I love that we can do it in
this way too, where we're comingtogether, because we're even
stronger when we're together andwe're even louder when we're
together and we can really likebe this voice in this movement.
And we're so grateful for allof the people who came before us
(37:58):
, the pioneers of this journey,always so grateful to them, and
I love to share these messagesand journeys with them as well
as bring all of these newadvocates and new voices and
faces.
I think that's the mostincredible part of all is that
this year, in years past, fromsome of the other events I I've
(38:23):
I've known people that have beenon the podcast, or I, you know,
I've been in the community.
This year there are about 18people that I had never met
before.
That I'm like, oh my gosh, likethat's crazy.
Where have I been?
Where have you been?
Like, where have we been?
So I kind of joke that we'recreating this beautiful
(38:45):
playground to all play togethernow, because I think that's
something that we all missed andthat we all felt like we
weren't a part of in so much inthat part of our lives, and now
we can just embrace each otherand take this journey together,
so getting all the emotions in.
(39:07):
Oh great, devin.
Thank you so so much for yourtime and your beautiful
presentation this morning.
I think that people are goingto be able to just go click
right on it and rewatch it, soif you missed any part of it, go
back and you can rewatch itright away.
The replays are available foryou.
I'm thankful for our wonderfulproducer, jeff, who's doing so
(39:33):
much work back there to createthis.
Yeah and seamless.
He is just so kind and like, sotechnically, technically savvy.
It's, it's.
I couldn't have anybody betteron my team, you know.
So I'm so proud of that.
Yeah, it doesn't look like ournext guest has arrived yet, so
(39:56):
we still have some time and,devin, you're so welcome to stay
.
You're also welcome to, ofcourse, join and in the watch
and and go and see some of theother sessions that will be
today.
Make sure to say hello in thecomments and we'll um catch up.
We do have some people in thecomments that we could say hi to
Um.
Andrew Bennett is in thecomments.
(40:18):
Hi, andrew.
Um, let's see who we have MiaDawson, and Mia is one of our
sponsors from the SuperpowerRadio Show.
She is incredible.
Her story, her journey with herson and a really like true
(40:39):
friend of theirs.
It's beautiful story, Just somoving Um.
We also have um, a student thathad reached out to me and said
how do I come to the summit?
Uh, eliana, she's um in thecomments.
Thank you so, so much for beinghere and I really hope that you
gained so much from from thisevent and just really see all
(41:04):
the value that everyone is willbe sharing throughout the two
days that we'll be here.
So, yes, I, isn't it great?
Oh, my gosh, can't even believeit.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
It's fantastic.
Well, I actually have to run.
Um, as you guys know, I work anine to five job at Tavacon and
my job, my job.
It is a lot of fun but it isalso very demanding, so I do
need to get prepared for the dayahead.
But thank you so much forallowing me to come on and to
help kick off this internationalautism summit.
I'm so honored that I get to bethe first speaker.
(41:37):
That's pretty incredible andbest of luck to all the other
speakers today and tomorrow, andyou guys are going to do
amazing and kill it thank you,thank you thank you everyone,
bye bye, see you
Speaker 3 (41:52):
soon.
Bye, oh, wow, I just uh.
I love this already.
I'm gonna be like need to goget a fresh tissue box.
I don't even know if I have one.
My neighbor has a store for me.
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Yes, Uber delivery or some type of door dash.
There you go, delivery.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Got it.
Oh my gosh, it's so much fun.
I love bringing us all togetherlike this.
If you are in the audience andyou haven't said hello in the
comments, say hello so that wecan say hello back In the heart
(42:42):
of a city.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
She's shining bright.
Oh yeah, stories of love andcourage.
All throughout the night, hervoice resonating An anthem for
all.
Through the trials and thetrials, she answers the call.
A mother and a fighter,breaking barriers and strife.
Love is her guide.
(43:16):
She'll never hide.
Thank you.
Followers gather like stars inthe night.
So bright, 44,000 voicessharing in the light.
She stands for family,advocates for more, movement of
compassion, ways we'll soarPodcasts together, symphony of
(43:38):
support In life change.
And rapport.
She's changing the world foryou with a heart that's fierce
and strong.
Empathy's a melody in a journeywe all belong.
To her eye, a vision clear.
Together we rise, sheddingfears.
(44:01):
In every heart, she plants theseed of understanding and love
for dearly me.
She's changing the world foryou With her heart that's fierce
(44:24):
and strong.
Empathies and melodies In ajourney we all belong.
The SJ Childs Show is Backwards' 13th season.
Join Sarah Brafford and the SJChilds Show team as they explore
the world of autism and sharestories of hope and inspiration.
This season, we're excited tobring you more autism summits
featuring experts and advocatesfrom around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Go to sjchildsorg.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Looks like Devin is backstage.
I see his face this time, so wedon't want to take any more of
his time.
Let him get going.
And we're so want to take anymore of his time.
Let him get going.
And we're so excited to haveyou here, Devin Hi.
Thank you so much for lettingme come on.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Thank you so much, Hi .
How are you?
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Good Nice to meet you .
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Thank you, I must admit I have thoughts for the
delay.
Thank you, I must admit I havethoughts for the delay Camera
problems at 7.30 in the morning,camera not the greatest, so
I've been fighting a little bitall morning.
But I'm so excited to be hereand thank you guys so much for
letting me help kick off thesummit.
It's an honor really.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Oh, it's so great to have you and we're just going to
let you get to it and thenwe'll be back on.
Jeff will give you a littlenotice when it's times, you know
, but we're flexible.
We have some time flexibility,I think, here.
So we will be back after alittle bit and we'll be here
(01:43):
enjoying your presentation.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
All right.
Well, thank you so much, sarah,once again for allowing me to
be a part of this.
Danielle, it's very, very, verynice to meet you.
So hello to everyone out there.
For those of you that do notknow me, my name is Devin
Morrissey.
I am an autism advocate, I'm ablogger, I'm a podcast host and
I'm a public speaker.
Some of you out there mayrecognize me from a little
(02:09):
Netflix show that I wasfortunate to be on for the last
two seasons, called Love on theSpectrum US.
My life has completely changedas a result from partaking on
that show, even if it was justas a supporting cast member.
So this particular presentationI have presented and I'm about
(02:29):
to share for everyone is calledBringing Autism to the Center
Stage.
It's pretty much a story aboutmy life, from very humble
beginnings, growing up in theBay Area, to overcoming a
variety of obstacles to what Iam doing now in relations, to
work and in terms of autismadvocacy and much, much, much
(02:52):
more.
So if I can try to share myscreen, I will be able to start.
And again, my sincerestapologies about the lateness.
Let's just say the camerassometimes, let's just say that
they can have a mind of theirown.
So, with that being said, I'mgoing to share my screen with
everyone.
If you guys can see it,fantastic.
(03:13):
And with that being said, herewe go Again.
This is bringing autism to thecenter stage and this is
basically a story about my lifeand sort of what I'm doing right
now.
So, as many of you know, thisis the face from season two,
(03:39):
quite, the friend right therethat didn't realize that he was
about to be seen doing ameditation technique in front of
all of you out there watchingthe show.
So you know, let's just saythat sometimes you don't always
get the choice of, you know,choosing what Netflix airs, but
you know what.
It was even an honor to be onthe show for the last two
seasons to begin with.
So, before I even got to centerstage, this is sort of where my
(04:04):
life took place.
So I was born and raised in theBay Area my whole life.
I was born and raised in thesmall town of Danville,
california.
It is about 30 minutes east ofOakland in San Francisco.
I grew up there all my life.
So for those of you that do notknow what Danville is, if
you've ever seen the movie MrsDoubtfire and have ever seen the
(04:25):
Bridges Restaurant.
That was my hometown, so wehave little history with Robin
Williams there.
So after graduating from highschool in 2012, I moved out to
Los Angeles right away to attendWhittier College and within the
span of four years, I receivedmy bachelor's degree in both
(04:47):
liberal arts and music in 2016.
After working for quite a fewyears in education, I decided
that I wanted to continue myeducational journey by getting
my master's degree from USC in2021.
I will say it was definitelyquite the journey getting my
master's degree from USC in 2021.
I will say it was definitelyquite the journey getting my
(05:07):
master's degree because halfwaythrough our program, as we all
know, the world shut down due toCOVID.
But if there's one thing that Ilearned about myself at that
time, it is that perseverancereally pays off and that
resilience goes a long way interms of ethic.
And that resilience goes a longway in terms of ethic,
determination, drive, and itjust shows that if you're able
(05:32):
to do a master's program on theautism spectrum during a global
pandemic, then you can prettymuch do anything at this point.
So that's a little bit aboutwho I am as a person.
You know just a little bit ofstuff about me.
So my autism journey actuallybegan when I was formally
diagnosed at the age of threeyears old and, from my
understanding, when I wasgrowing up I was nonverbal until
(05:56):
I was actually two or threeyears old.
I was singing a lot, I washumming a lot, and so music
actually helped build language.
But around the time that I wasaround nine, 10 years old, I
began to suspect that somethingwas up.
I had been in special edclasses in preschool, but
(06:17):
kindergarten through fifth gradeI was completely in a public
school setting.
But I noticed that certainthings were not meshing.
I was having AIDS fromkindergarten to fourth grade.
There were times where I wastaken out of particular
classroom activities to go todifferent therapies at school.
It actually got to a pointwhere I was actually even taken
(06:38):
out of lunch recess, which ifyou're a kid back in the late
90s and early 2000s then youknow recess and lunch recess was
lit and it was the place to be.
So I was pretty angry aboutbeing pulled out of that time in
my life because I was actuallygoing to speech therapy and
occupational therapy.
(06:59):
But it wasn't making any sense.
So when I was 12 years old Iwas about to head off to middle
school and my parents sat medown and they just showed me a
book about autism and they saidhey, devin, so we have been
hiding something from you for avery long time.
(07:19):
And do you see this child righthere?
And I said yeah, yeah, yeah,and they're like well, this is a
book about autism, which iswhat you have, and at that point
I will say it made sense.
But it did have me ask a lot ofquestions and I struggled a lot
(07:40):
with figuring out how to fit inwith being normal.
I think that, as any child andas a particular preteen, I was
only 12 years old when I foundout that I was autistic, so
feeling like you were never,ever going to be normal and that
you had to figure out how towork with that in a public
(08:03):
school setting with a bunch ofother neurotypical kids.
It was rough and it was a sadrealization for a preteen like
myself, and I had a lot ofobstacles thrown at me
throughout Midland High Schoolin terms of fitting in,
socializing, communication, andit was an extremely difficult
time.
But as I grew older and as Ileft the nest for the first time
(08:25):
on my own, I began to realizethat being normal is completely
overrated and being differentand being unique is the right
trend to go.
So that, for me, is sort of alittle bit about how my autism
came into play.
And you know but I will say,though, a lot of what the
doctors had told me growing whenI was first diagnosed they were
(08:49):
I had a lot of odds that werestacked against me.
I was told by the doctors when Iwas three years old that I was
never going to graduate highschool.
I was mostly going to be inspecial education my whole life.
I was never going to go tocollege.
I will probably just do sometransitional classes or some
vocational services after highschool.
(09:10):
I was never going to work fulltime.
If I was lucky I could havemaybe just done, you know, the
simple grocery store orwarehouse work and I was never
going to live independently.
So the doctors basically saidthat with my diagnosis and you
have to remember this was 1996,1997 when I got diagnosed so at
that time autism wasn't reallyseen as a positive thing.
(09:33):
Autism in that time and thatyear was actually seen more as a
death sentence, like if youhave this, you're basically
going to struggle the rest ofyour life, life.
But and I say this with a bigbut throughout all of the trials
and tribulations, I ended upsurpassing everyone's
(09:58):
expectations, but not only justpursuing everyone's expectations
and surpassing them.
I literally took the ball andthe bat and just smashed it out
of the ballpark and the bat andjust smashed it out of the
ballpark.
So, as you can see, there aresome photos of here of me.
I have my high schoolgraduation there in the green
gown.
I am still trying to figure outwhy my school decided to go
with the green gown and cap,even though green was
(10:23):
technically our school color.
You see my college graduationfrom Whittier College, all the
way to the left, bottom left,with the long blonde hair.
Back then I was trying to gofor the whole hippie look
because I don't know why.
And then at the top right, thatwas my most current graduation
photo from USC During the globalpandemic.
(10:45):
I'll be honest with you, I wasprepared to do the whole virtual
graduation because I alreadyhad two in-person graduations
with my bachelor's and my highschool diploma and I was good
with that.
So to even go that extra mileand to do it in the USC Memorial
Coliseum, where they've had theOlympics in the 60s and the 80s
and a good chance they'll do itagain in four years, in 2020.
(11:06):
I'm just like, wow, this isincredible.
In the middle you actually seeme in Washington DC.
I've had the honor of workingfull-time at a tech talent
transformation firm and some ofmy business trips in the past
have actually required me to goto Washington DC.
So that's me with theWashington Monument.
It's actually a lot more biggerthan it looks, far more bigger
(11:30):
than what you see on TV and whatyou see in the movies.
And then you see a photo of meliving in downtown Los Angeles.
I had the privilege of actuallyliving in downtown Los Angeles
for four and a half years and itreally kind of shaped me into
realizing, you know, I canactually live in this crazy
(11:51):
world called life, and it'sfunny because a lot of people
don't think that people on theautism spectrum can live in big
cities.
But they can, and if you canlive in downtown Los Angeles
during a global pandemic, youcan do anything with your life,
pretty much.
So, in other words, I like tosay with these photos that I
proved all the doctor'sexpectations wrong and I'm
(12:13):
continuously doing stuff, butthat's what I love to do.
I love showing people.
I'm like you know what?
You say that I can't do this.
You watch me, you watch me.
So, taking a look at the nextslide, my current position is a
very special honor and this hitsreally close to home.
(12:34):
I'm now working as arecruitment coordinator at a
neurodiverse and disabilityrecruiting and career consulting
firm called sabacon um it.
I was brought on to their teamum just a few months ago and we
held, we helped sponsor, thevery first autism and
entertainment conference in losangeles and, to be honest with
(12:55):
you, I would have never thoughtin my wildest dreams I would
ever given be given the chanceto pay it forward, and it helped
get back to a community thathas literally given me so much
growing up and so now being ableto help literally put on an
event within just three monthsand help bring more inclusivity
(13:16):
and more neurodiversity into theentertainment industry, which
is so long overdue.
But that's actually not all.
I have had previous roles.
I've actually worked as anelementary school teacher in the
school district that I grew upgoing to, as well as the Los
Angeles Unified School District.
I taught kindergarten,transitional kindergarten, fifth
(13:37):
grade, so I taught the biggestof the elementary school kids
and the littlest of theelementary school kids and it
definitely takes a lot ofpatience.
It definitely takes a lot ofthick skin like elephant
rhinoceros thick skin but Ireally really, really enjoyed my
time working as a teacher and Ilearned a lot.
That then was introduced intosales.
(13:57):
Sales, I have to say, wasprobably one of the toughest
roles I've ever had because youwere consistently communicating
24-7, 365 with other clientsthat may not always necessarily
want to answer your phones ormay not always want to answer
your emails that you've sentthem, but it really also helped
(14:18):
me develop thick skin andactually work more on
communication and employeeengagement that I also had the
chance to work at.
It was also getting a chance towork with other fellow
employees and sort of learn moreabout their experience.
So I've had the opportunity nowof hosting a variety or holding
a variety of different roles,but this recruitment coordinator
(14:39):
position with Savicon had, Ithink, been the most meaningful
for me.
As you can see right there, thisis me our latest autism and
entertainment conference, andfor me, this was a really,
really, really, reallymeaningful way of giving back in
many ways.
So, as I mentioned before atthe beginning of this
(15:00):
presentation, I'm an autisticadvocate, I'm a public speaker,
I'm a blogger and I'm also apodcast host.
So in 2017, I launched my blogcalled Autistic the spectrum,
and I felt that writing it inthe journal is great.
(15:28):
However, as I've soon as Irealized as I was graduating
college and I was workingprofessionally full time that
there was a lot more that Iwanted to share with the world
about autism.
At the time, you know, thewhole actually autistic movement
and the whole storytellingabout autism was just beginning.
So I launched my blog in 2017,and it really follows my life
(15:52):
and experiences growing upautistic.
It really has been sort of likea project that I'm working on
that I kind of consider like achild, like a baby.
You just watch it grow andblossom, and blossom, and it's
been really awesome to talkabout a variety of different
stories that I have experiencedgrowing up.
Some of the experiences thatI've actually talked about have
(16:14):
been great focus topic pointssuch as bullying, masking,
autism awareness and acceptancemonth, et cetera, et cetera, and
acceptance month, et cetera, etcetera, and really it has been
a labor of love talking about mystory to a wide variety of
people and it actually was sortof kind of the launch of many
more things yet to come.
(16:37):
So this and so with AutisticSuperpower that I launched, it
was also the brainchild, it'ssort of the motivation to launch
another project that I launched.
It was also the brainchild,it's sort of the motivation to
launch another project that Ilaunched last year called
Autistically Unapologetic, withDevin Morrissey.
So, in other words, I launcheda podcast this past year and it
(16:57):
has been so much fun being ableto do.
After doing quite a few publicspeaking appearances, after
doing a variety of differentpodcast interviews, I was told
by my girlfriend, actually, thatI should start a podcast of my
own, and she was 100% right thatI should do so.
So, with her encouragement andwith her inspiration and with
(17:21):
the support of a variety ofother people besides my
girlfriend.
I actually launched my podcastAutistically Unapologetic, with
Devin Morrissey last year, in2023.
And this time it's still aboutstorytelling, but I also wanted
to put the spotlight on otherindividuals and other autistic
trailblazers and their lives andtheir accomplishments.
(17:43):
I think that if there's onething that I have learned
growing up autistic is that ifyou've only met one person with
autism, you only met one, andthe way that I've seen is that
there are so many differentstories out there to share and
there are so many differentstories to tell, and I think
that what is special about thispodcast and what it's done is
(18:04):
that it's opened eyes to whatlife is like for other autistic
people.
And some of the guests thatI've actually had on this
podcast include Layla Weiner.
She's a supporting cast memberon the highly critically
acclaimed Netflix seriesAtypical.
I had the chance to interviewEileen Lam, the owner of the
(18:25):
Autism Cafe, chloe Hatch, whowas on the original Love on the
Spectrum in Australia from bothseasons one and two, and Danny
Bowman, the owner and founderand CEO, ceo of the animation
entertainment, who also was onthe US version of Love on the
(18:45):
Spectrum, us Henceforth.
Why I was even on Love on theSpectrum?
To begin with, because Dannyactually asked me to come on,
and then for the second seasonshe asked me to return, and so
did Netflix as well.
So, with this particular podcast, I love talking about other
autism-related topics, and whatI also love doing is getting
other people's opinions on thosetopics.
(19:07):
So, with a lot of the varietyof different guests that I have,
I actually just taped anepisode yesterday and so that
will be dropping sometime nextweek I love getting people's
opinions on other autism-relatedtopics in regards to the
entertainment industry, masking,et cetera, other autism-related
topics in regards to theentertainment industry, masking,
et cetera.
Because even though we mightnot always agree on certain
(19:31):
things and we live in such adivided world these days, it's
so important to at least respectpeople's opinions.
And, coming from someone thathas experienced a lot growing up
and has experienced everysingle autism-related topic that
you can think of, I'm alwayscurious to know and learn more
from other autistic point ofviews.
So learning from autistic pointof views actually are kind of
(19:52):
going into this next slide,which I'm sure you all know by
now.
I'm sure that you've heardabout it from everybody,
everywhere, from Bradley Cooperand Carey Mulligan to Kelly
Clarkson.
It is the three-time EmmyAward-winning docuseries US
version of Love on the SpectrumLove on the Spectrum US.
(20:15):
I am a current cast member in asupporting role on both seasons
one and two of the docuseries.
A supporting role on bothseasons one and two of the
docuseries and um for those ofyou that probably have already
known by now, or in case youdidn't know, um, I am danny's
best danny bowman's best friendon the show for both seasons, um
, and basically I was giving heradvice and cheers on finding
(20:38):
love.
Considering that, I also foundlove myself outside of the show
with my beautiful girlfriend ofthe last three years, and if you
watch this season and if yousaw a crazy best friend with
blonde hair doing meditationtechniques and kind of making
himself look like a fool, thatwas me.
(21:00):
Being a part of Love on theSpectrum has been truly a life
changing and very fun experience, because when we shot this show
back, when we shot the firstseason back in 2021, all those
years ago, I would have never,ever, ever thought and none of
us had ever thought of just howhuge the show was going to
(21:22):
become.
And when the first trailerdropped and I see myself on
there, I'm just like wait, isthat me Like, what am I doing on
there?
I'm just a supporting castmember.
I really have no business beingon there, but I have made some
incredibly, really good.
I've made some incrediblefriends throughout my time on
(21:45):
the show, bonding with othercustomers as well.
And what people don't realizeis that what the show has done
is showcase autistic people inthe limelight, and that's
something that hasn't reallybeen done before, and we've
actually have had the success ofhaving some successful couples
(22:06):
um come from the show, such asum, abby and david and my best
friend danny and it's on um.
It has been awesome to watchjust the show take off in many
ways and seeing the success nowand everyone being so receptive
to the show.
The third season has beenrenewed.
They're looking for a cast, soif you're interested in applying
(22:29):
, make sure to reach out to knowthe pitchers and, who knows, if
you're watching out there,maybe you could be on season
three of Love on the Spectrum,who knows?
And so what I am up to now?
I have actually decided to takeanother leap of faith and kind
(22:50):
of return to my roots in termsof performing.
I actually what a lot of peopledon't know about me is that I
grew up basically singing in thechurch choir for many, many
years and then that kind oftransition going into high
(23:10):
school and middle school where Iperformed in very competitive
choirs and that also carried onin college as well.
I had the opportunity toperform with professional,
competitive choirs in Honolulu,hawaii, austin, texas and New
York City.
I also had the opportunity todo a lot of professional
pre-professional productionsgrowing up, such as Rent,
hairspray, fiddler on the Roof.
So there's a lot of great theMusic man.
(23:32):
There's a lot of greatperformances and performing that
into sales, going intorecruitment et cetera.
But recently I was invited tobe an inaugural player of the
(23:55):
slide that you're seeing rightnow, called Epic Players LA.
Epic Players is aneurodiversity company that is
originally based out of New YorkCity.
Epic stands for empower,perform, include and create.
And I actually went to go see afundraising show there in LA
(24:16):
with my girlfriend and I got totell you I was not planning on
auditioning.
I had left performing behindall those years ago, about
almost a decade ago, after Igraduated from college.
But one of the performers inthat show Rachel Barcelona, who
is a member of the New Yorkbranch of Epic Players, and
(24:36):
Danny Bowman, of course, fromLove on a Spectrum they actually
put my name, or they sent myname, over to epic players
because I got an email from themsaying, hey, we want you to
come audition and so I did, andnow I get to be a part of this
wonderful, uh, branch ofperformers.
Um, as you see, they are all soincredibly wonderful and so
(24:58):
incredibly amazingly talented.
Um, two faces you actually mayrecognize, um, actually are
lillian carrier from thefreeform sitcom everything is
going to be okay, and my fellowlove on the spectrum cast member
and sister, abby romeo.
Um, it has been almost a decadenow since I've been on the
stage on my own.
In fact, the last time that Iwas on a stage was for my last
(25:23):
choir concert in college and mysenior recital in college.
So it is so great to come backhome and come back to a place
where you really really, reallylearn so much about yourself,
and so I am incredibly excitedto help launch this branch of
Epic Players here in Los Angeles, and we actually have our first
showcase coming up on June 18th.
(25:46):
Tickets are on sale now.
So, if you're curious to youknow, come watch, perform or
even sign up for some excitingclasses that are going to be
coming up.
Come to the show on June 18that the Bourbon Room in Hollywood
.
It's going to be awesome andit's going to be talented.
I know that this particular,this particular part of this
(26:08):
summit which has been amazing,by the way and I'm so honored to
help launch today's summit andbe the first person to speak.
So there, I know that I havebeen asked a lot of questions
about, you know, embracing beingautistic and owning it,
especially since I have been sovocal and so open and honest
about being autistic for thelast 11 years.
(26:31):
So I actually came up with sometips and tricks for all of you
out there that are autistic buthaven't fully revealed being
autistic yet or are trying tofigure out ways to embrace it
and own being autistic.
So the first thing that I havelearned from my own journey is
that the journey is never ending, but I guarantee you it is
(26:53):
always worth it, and what I meanby that is you're constantly
learning something new aboutyour own autism every single day
, and you're also learning aboutother people every single day.
You know learning doesn't stopafter school.
You know just when you get adegree it doesn't mean that
you're done learning.
I've learned so much from somany different autistic people,
(27:17):
whether it's from Epic PlayersLA or it's from Love on the
Spectrum and I continuouslylearn more things about myself
and my autism.
I have learned about that.
I am a very strong person whohas been through a lot, but have
never, ever, ever, ever letmyself doubt myself ever again,
(27:38):
which leads me into my next tipand trick, which is believing in
yourself and believing in yourabilities.
I know that as autistic people,sometimes we can be very
critical of ourselves, have alot of self-doubt.
Believing in yourself andbelieving in your worth is so
important if you have a voiceand you speak up about it.
(27:59):
I truly, truly, truly believethat there are more autistic
voices that should be heard andI think that have a right to be
heard.
So self-confidence in tellingyour story is super, super,
super, super, super key.
This next particular trick,actually, and tip, is something
(28:21):
that I think is super important.
No autistic story is the same.
Yours is yours to tell only,and what I basically mean by
that is we live in quitedivisive times within our own
community.
People sometimes tend to thinkthat, oh, my story should be
everybody else's story to tell,but that's not necessarily the
(28:42):
case.
Every single person on thespectrum is different in his or
their unique way.
As I mentioned earlier, if youonly met one person with autism,
you've only met one person, andthat for me, has been a true um
trademark.
For me, it's really that youknow what my autism is, my story
(29:03):
.
It doesn't make anyone else'sright or wrong, but it's and I
it's hopefully a glimpse of whatautism can be like for some
people, but it doesn't representeverybody else.
So this particular next tip andtrick I think is super
important, because I've beendoing this all my life.
When people tell you that you'renot able to do something, just
(29:24):
ignore it.
Do what makes you happy anywaysand prove them wrong.
When I was told that I was notgoing to be able to go to
college and when people had said, oh, you might want to, you
know, stick something close tohome, stick something close to
their area.
I said no, I want to get out ofthe Bay Area.
I want to as much as I love theBay Area and that's always
(29:45):
going to be my home.
I want to see the world.
I want to see the world, and soI have a chance to look at
quite a few schools, and eventhough that I did look at some
out-of-state schools andactually got accepted into some
of them, I mean, let's be real,I could not leave California and
I could not turn away from LosAngeles.
I ended up proving the doctorswrong that diagnosed me by
(30:09):
moving to Los Angeles straightout of high school when I was
only 18, 19 years old, and Iproved them wrong time and time
and time again.
And this last tip and trick is atip and trick that I really
find to be incredibly powerfuland very special in my mind.
If an opportunity is handed toyou, do not doubt it, take it
(30:30):
and own it.
If the opportunity to auditionfor Epic Players was handed to
me, did I doubt it?
No, I took it and I ran with it.
And now I get to be back onstage for the first time in
almost a decade, which is anincredibly amazing feeling.
If I am given an opportunity tobe on a podcast, talk a little
(30:53):
bit more about my time of loveon the spectrum.
I take it and I own it.
So, really, it's about takingany opportunity that you are
given in life and owning it.
We are only given one life and,honestly, we're never
guaranteed tomorrow, and I thinkthat the biggest thing that I
can give to any autistic adultout there is your stories are
(31:15):
just as important to tell, andtelling your story is an amazing
opportunity to inspire the nextgeneration of autistic
trailblazers to tell their ownstories.
And so, if you ever have anopportunity to tell your story,
just do it.
It is so, so, so worth it, andI guarantee you that it is one
(31:36):
of the greatest gifts and one ofthe greatest journeys that you
can ever embark on.
And so, with that being said,that is sort of how I brought
autism, and so, oh, by the way,so if you are curious to know a
little bit more about my lifeand you want to catch up on the
latest blog post, catch up onthe latest podcast episode, as I
(31:57):
mentioned earlier, I taped oneyesterday, so that particular
podcast episode will be droppingsoon.
Um, you are more than welcome tofollow my blog at
wwwautisticsuperpowercom, mypodcast authentically
unapologetic with devinmorrissey.
You can find that on applepodcasts, spotify and on youtube
(32:18):
.
And um, my main social media isinstagram.
I'm not, um, you really can'tfind me on TikTok or Discord or
any of those other sites, so myInstagram is at Devin Morrissey.
If you see a profile picturewith someone that you recognize
from the show, the previousphoto that you saw at the very
beginning, that's me.
(32:39):
So I just want to thank you allso much again for coming to my
very first Autism InvestorSummit, where I get to share my
story about bringing autism tothe center stage, and thank you
so much to Sarah from the SarahJ Child Show for really inviting
me to come on here, and sothank you all so very, very much
(33:02):
, and I hope that you all enjoythe rest of the summit.
Every speaker that is going tobe coming on today is going to
be incredible.
So thank you guys so much, andit has been a true pleasure.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Oh, devin, it's so nice to Hold on a second.
My thing is doing somethingweird.
There we go.
It's so nice to hear your storyand it was beautiful.
I loved it, absolutely All ofit.
And I love Danville, becauseI'm actually from Reno, nevada,
(33:33):
and I spent a lot of time in theEast Bay area.
Oh, there's Kat, well, hello.
Hello, louie, how are you doing, buddy?
Yeah, so, uh, that's fantastic.
It's always like feels likehome when you, you know, have
been kind of in the samestomping grounds as somebody
(33:54):
that you're talking to.
so that's great.
Um, it was a wonderful,wonderful and I'm just how
exciting to go from, you know,kind of just self-realization to
no more self-doubt, and I'm soproud of you for that.
That is just like a message foreveryone, right?
(34:18):
Like the worst you know hatersin the world is your own mind
and your own imposter syndromethat creeps in on you and, you
know, don't?
you can't ever worry about theopinions of others.
We know what that statement'slike.
So, uh, we, we only, can, youknow, be kind of putting
(34:40):
ourselves, uh, first as much aspossible.
I mean it's I am always tryingto kind of be the better version
I can be.
Next, what can I do next?
What can I do next?
You know, is it?
Maybe it's just this fervorinside of us or something?
I don't know, but oh, it'samazing.
Yeah, Thank you so much forwaking up so early this morning.
(35:05):
You know, on the West Coast,it's my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
It's my pleasure, it really is.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Oh, and what?
Speaker 4 (35:13):
a way to start the day.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Yeah, exactly, fiance , now girlfriend.
I said is she your girlfriend?
I wasn't sure no, um.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
So my girlfriend and I um actually met outside of the
show.
But if you watch season one, um, when danny asks me how's my
dating life been going, Imentioned I have myself a fourth
date coming up same girl.
Um, that same girl that I talkabout on the show is not my
girlfriend, and we've beentogether now for the past three
years.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
I love that yes, it's congratulations and um, you
guys are a beautiful couple.
I mean thank you just it's sogreat to you know, take those
people's stigmas and ideas ofwhat autistics can have in their
(36:08):
lives, can have love, can havefamilies and stuff and just say
let's rethink this, let's lookat this a new way.
Everyone and this is the waywe're going to do it by showing
up and being honest andauthentic and you know, it'll be
20 years for me and my husbandthis year and we're both
(36:28):
autistic and we have autisticchildren and let's show up right
Show up, show out, show out,share your story, and I think
that really does help break thestigma and you know who can
relate to your story and who can, you know, inspire them to
share their story and continueto break those stigmas,
(36:50):
especially with you?
Speaker 5 (36:51):
know the fortunate things that doctors say to
either individuals or theirparents when they're younger,
and I remember hearing a storyabout a family that was from
Poland and the doctor said youknow, don't even teach your son
to speak Polish, he'll be luckyif he speaks English.
And now fast forward,20-something years later and he
(37:13):
can speak English and understandPolish and French.
And you know, it's just.
People are capable of so much.
So we have to continue to breakthose big walls.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
It's to find the obstacles that people throw at
us every day.
It is consistently defyingthose every single day and
saying you know what, you justwatch and you see what happens
there you go.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
That's all we can do.
Right Is just keep doing that,and I love that we can do it in
this way too, where we're comingtogether, because we're even
stronger when we're together andwe're even louder when we're
together and we can really likebe this voice in this movement.
And we're so grateful for allof the people who came before us
(37:58):
, the pioneers of this journey,always so grateful to them, and
I love to share these messagesand journeys with them as well
as bring all of these newadvocates and new voices and
faces.
I think that's the mostincredible part of all is that
this year, in years past, fromsome of the other events I I've
(38:23):
I've known people that have beenon the podcast, or I, you know,
I've been in the community.
This year there are about 18people that I had never met
before.
That I'm like, oh my gosh, likethat's crazy.
Where have I been?
Where have you been?
Like, where have we been?
So I kind of joke that we'recreating this beautiful
(38:45):
playground to all play togethernow, because I think that's
something that we all missed andthat we all felt like we
weren't a part of in so much inthat part of our lives, and now
we can just embrace each otherand take this journey together,
so getting all the emotions in.
(39:07):
Oh great, devin.
Thank you so so much for yourtime and your beautiful
presentation this morning.
I think that people are goingto be able to just go click
right on it and rewatch it, soif you missed any part of it, go
back and you can rewatch itright away.
The replays are available foryou.
I'm thankful for our wonderfulproducer, jeff, who's doing so
(39:33):
much work back there to createthis.
Yeah and seamless.
He is just so kind and like, sotechnically, technically savvy.
It's, it's.
I couldn't have anybody betteron my team, you know.
So I'm so proud of that.
Yeah, it doesn't look like ournext guest has arrived yet, so
(39:56):
we still have some time and,devin, you're so welcome to stay
.
You're also welcome to, ofcourse, join and in the watch
and and go and see some of theother sessions that will be
today.
Make sure to say hello in thecomments and we'll um catch up.
We do have some people in thecomments that we could say hi to
Um.
Andrew Bennett is in thecomments.
(40:18):
Hi, andrew.
Um, let's see who we have MiaDawson, and Mia is one of our
sponsors from the SuperpowerRadio Show.
She is incredible.
Her story, her journey with herson and a really like true
(40:39):
friend of theirs.
It's beautiful story, Just somoving Um.
We also have um, a student thathad reached out to me and said
how do I come to the summit?
Uh, eliana, she's um in thecomments.
Thank you so, so much for beinghere and I really hope that you
gained so much from from thisevent and just really see all
(41:04):
the value that everyone is willbe sharing throughout the two
days that we'll be here.
So, yes, I, isn't it great?
Oh, my gosh, can't even believeit.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
It's fantastic.
Well, I actually have to run.
Um, as you guys know, I work anine to five job at Tavacon and
my job, my job.
It is a lot of fun but it isalso very demanding, so I do
need to get prepared for the dayahead.
But thank you so much forallowing me to come on and to
help kick off this internationalautism summit.
I'm so honored that I get to bethe first speaker.
(41:37):
That's pretty incredible andbest of luck to all the other
speakers today and tomorrow, andyou guys are going to do
amazing and kill it thank you,thank you thank you everyone,
bye bye, see you
Speaker 3 (41:52):
soon.
Bye, oh, wow, I just uh.
I love this already.
I'm gonna be like need to goget a fresh tissue box.
I don't even know if I have one.
My neighbor has a store for me.
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Yes, Uber delivery or some type of door dash.
There you go, delivery.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Got it.
Oh my gosh, it's so much fun.
I love bringing us all togetherlike this.
If you are in the audience andyou haven't said hello in the
comments, say hello so that wecan say hello back In the heart
(42:42):
of a city.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
She's shining bright.
Oh yeah, stories of love andcourage.
All throughout the night, hervoice resonating An anthem for
all.
Through the trials and thetrials, she answers the call.
A mother and a fighter,breaking barriers and strife.
Love is her guide.
(43:16):
She'll never hide.
Thank you.
Followers gather like stars inthe night.
So bright, 44,000 voicessharing in the light.
She stands for family,advocates for more, movement of
compassion, ways we'll soarPodcasts together, symphony of
(43:38):
support In life change.
And rapport.
She's changing the world foryou with a heart that's fierce
and strong.
Empathy's a melody in a journeywe all belong.
To her eye, a vision clear.
Together we rise, sheddingfears.
(44:01):
In every heart, she plants theseed of understanding and love
for dearly me.
She's changing the world foryou With her heart that's fierce
(44:24):
and strong.
Empathies and melodies In ajourney we all belong.
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