Armani Williams

Original Air Date: June 23,2024

Armani Williams is one of the few Black Nascar drivers and he is the 1st  driver ever to announce he is autistic.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I want to introduce
you to Armani Williams. He's atwenty three year old professional stock car racer
currently competing in NASCAR. But heis the first professional driver in NASCAR openly

(00:26):
diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder and heis actually very involved as an advocate with
Autism Speaks. So welcome Armie.Thanks for having me. How long have
you been involved with NASCAR? Yeah, so as far as NASCAR is concerned,

(00:48):
Like, I've been involved with insince I was sixteen, seventeen years
old, and you know, I'vebeen racing like a lot of time earlier
than that, you know, butit's been incredible journey just to you know,
be able to be involved in NASCARas a professional race car driver.
You know, it's just something thatI've always dreamed about ever since I was
a kid, but playing with toycars to watching my first ever NASCAR race

(01:15):
up TV, and it's just alwayshad that dream and that vision that like
someday, you know, I'm goingto get up to this level, and
you know, here I am,you know, not only you know,
making my dream happen, but alsomaking a big impact on top of that.
When were you first diagnosed on theautism spectrum? Yeah, so I

(01:37):
was diagnosed on the autism spectrum whenI was two years old. Now,
like of course, being at anearly age, like I never really knew
I had autism at the time,but you know, of course, like
my parents kind of were seeing signsof like how I was as a child
until like you know, they understoodabout like what kind of diagnosis that I

(01:59):
had, and so, you know, quite frankly, you know, autism
back in that time wasn't really asvery common as it is now. I
think it was like one out ofone hundred children that were, you know,
diagnosed with autism and all that,where it's like now it's right around
like one out of like forty fivefifty children with autism. You know.

(02:21):
So like even back in that time, my parents didn't have a whole lot
of knowledge with autism, which iswhy you know, they decide to reach
out to Autism Speaks just to geta better understanding of what autism was and
what kind of resources that autism Speakscould provide to them so that they could

(02:42):
help best support me as much aspossible as I'm living my life to autism.
And you know, it's just youknow, especially like growing up as
a kid, you know, likeI didn't really know it at the time
until like, you know, myparents told me right around as I was
getting into middle school. And that'swhat made me you know, understood,

(03:02):
like, you know, what theexperiences I had to back in the past
in terms of trying to make friends, trying to create connections, relationships with
the kids that were the same ageas me, you know, so I
just needed that kind of conviction toknow exactly what I was dealing with.
Then I think, you know,without the help of Autism Speaks, you

(03:25):
know, like it would have beena heart process. But so we're very
thankful for Autism Speaks for giving usthe resources that we need so that we
could see a path way forward withautism or those your biggest challenges when you
were younger forming relationships or did youalso notice challenges at school or what?

(03:52):
Yeah, so with autism, there'schallenges of social interaction, communication, and
competitive behaviors. So being a youngkid going up through school, you know,
that's something I've always had a challengewith, you know, you know,
basically, you know, trying tomake sure that I wasn't all lonely
at the time. I did allthat I could try and make as many

(04:14):
friends as possible, and you know, I could just tell, like,
you know, I just wasn't reallyconnecting with the you know kids my agent
school, you know, and Ialways I wondered why, and so like
just being able to you know,talk with my parents and to be able
to understand that like, hey,you know, like I have autism,
you know, really made me openmy eyes and really gave me a sense

(04:38):
of a relief of like what exactlyI was experiencing, you know, why
I was, you know, feelingall these things, you know, and
it made me want to learn moreabout autism myself and to figure out how
to overcome the challenges so that wayI don't think about those challenges the rest
of my life, you know,and certainly, you know, knowing about

(05:00):
it early on has really helped meto what I am today. So actually
putting a name on the challenges thatyou were facing, it sounds like that
alone was a comfort to you thatthere was a reason given for your challenges,
right, yeah, absolutely, youknow it's just you know, sometimes

(05:23):
you may think you may know what'swrong, but not not really sure what
exactly that is, you know,until like you know, you go ahead
reach out for help with people likemy parents and with autism speaks, to
understand that, hey, I haveautism, and like these are the challenges
that you might face. You know, Like it really all started to make

(05:46):
sense to me, you know.And so with all that being said,
because like now I understood what exactlythose challenges were, you know, I
wanted to try and do everything Icould to try and overcome those challenges.
Whether I was like getting help frommy parents, like learning basic things like
you know, learning how to havea conversation, how to meet people,

(06:09):
how to get people well you know, what topics to talk about, things
that nature. You know, Solike all of that helped, Like it
really, you know, it gaveme something to work with. You know.
By the way, where did yougrow up? What state? So
I grew up in Michigan basically inGross Point, Michigan. I've been you

(06:30):
know, living in Michigan all throughoutmy life. I am speaking with Armani
Williams He's a twenty three year oldprofessional stock car driver currently competing in NASCAR,
and he is the very first professionprofessional driver in NASCAR openly diagnosed with
autism spectrum disorder, and he isactually an advocate for Autism Speaks. Before

(06:53):
we talk about your NASCAR career,how has Autism Speaks helped you? Exactly?
That's a great question. So,like Autism Speaks has helped us in
a way to you know, giveus a better understanding of like, you
know, what autism is, youknow, and like what are some of
the signs that you see? Andyou know, they basically help us in

(07:15):
terms of providing, you know,the great resources that they have for families
who are struggling with autism, youknow, in terms of, like,
you know, giving us the toolsof what's the best way that my parents
could basically help support me, Likeas I'm growing up with autism, you
know, what are some things thatthey can help that's support me, you

(07:39):
know, because that's basically what's allabout, especially with me living with autism,
is just having that great support system. And so with Autism Speaks providing
like the great resources that they havein terms of like the tools that my
parents could use for me, youknow in terms of like you know,
making sure that like I stay outof trouble, like learning how to you

(08:03):
know, like do certain things thatlike every individual should be able to do
as they're living through life, youknow, and so like my parents helping
me to teach the basis of thatwith the help of Autism Speaks, you
know, it really gave me somethingthat I could work with, you know,
and it's made it's made me.It's given me the competence to try

(08:24):
and you know, do things onmy own, you know, do things
individually that you know, maybe Iwasn't able to do it before. So,
like, you know, Autism Speakhas been a very big help,
not only for me, but basicallymy entire family. What are the biggest
challenges for you competing in NASCAR?As somebody who is on the autism spectrum,

(08:50):
I would say, like, well, I don't think there's like a
lot of big challenges that it comesto autism. I think the main thing
is just like you know, makingsure like I get to know everybody on
my race team. That includes likethe crew chief who's always on top of
the pit, pox like making thecalls on like adjustments to my car.

(09:13):
It's getting to know everybody on acrew that works on my car and just
forming that bond, forming that relationshipas I've always tried to do with like
anybody that I mean, you know, it's just get a better understanding of
like who they are, you know, what things are they like. You
know, it's just just form thatrelationship back in like help me long term,

(09:35):
you know. So it's just continuingto be you know, socially interactive.
Is to continue to communicate, youknow, so that way, you
know, me and other people onmy team, we get to know each
other better and that we get tobe on the same page. But like
other of that, there's not reallya lot of challenges in racing when it

(09:56):
comes to autism. So again itcomes back to the relationships and do you
have sort of like a handbook inyour head when it comes to relationships of
these are the things I need todo to try to forge a relationship.
I don't think like necessarily a handbookwould be something that I've always had to

(10:20):
always rely on, you know,while it can certainly help in terms of
like you know, understanding like howrelationship works, like how do you keep
those for a long time. Youknow, I've also kind of been doing
a mix of booth you know,just sort of like you know, reading
about certain things that's related to anautism, you know, getting advice from

(10:43):
my parents who have always been supportiveof me, you know, and things
that they believe that I can continueto work on, you know, and
these are things that I can tryand do to try and better creating relationships,
like as I can team to livethrough my life with autism. So
like I try to utilize, youknow, all the resources, all the

(11:05):
resources that I can't and not justyou know, rely on one thing.
And again, you made a consciousdecision to come out as somebody who has
been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.You didn't have to do that as a
NASCAR driver. What made you decideto make a public statement and make a

(11:33):
public statement about your advocacy for autismspeaks because you didn't have to do any
of that as a NASCAR driver.Yeah, I mean, I just think
like the reason why I wanted tobe kind of open about it is because
like given that I've gone to theranks of racing, you know, and

(11:54):
trying to move up, you know, like knowing what I've had to do
with all throughout my life with allLike, I just felt that like at
some point I needed to try andopen myself a lot more and not be
in like this close box you know, of like not everybody knowing who I
am. Like, I think it'simportant that you know your expressive self in

(12:15):
a way to where you know,everybody understands you know your story and who
you are, you know, andwhy you're doing what you're doing, you
know. So that's why I feltlike it was important to you know,
be open about my autism diagnosis,you know, and just you know,
try to give people a reason,you know, why I want to continue

(12:39):
racing, you know, and whatexactly is my mission you know, in
terms of like using my racing platformand you know, doing everything I can
to help everybody who's in the autismcommunity as much as possible, to give
them hope, to to give theminspiration to move forward and be able to

(13:00):
find their dreams of what they wantto be successful at in life, you
know, and you know, beable to contribute in this society that we
all live in. So I justfelt that like it was important that,
like I just open up to myselfand you know, tell people who I
really am, what I'm all about. That's really really tremendous. I mean,
that's doing so much for the autismcommunity. But you're in a minority

(13:26):
in another way in NASCAR, you'reone of only four African Americans who are
currently NASCAR drivers. What is thatlike for you? Has that been a
challenge? Well, first, likeI like to also think like NASCAR for
at least giving me opportunity to justbe involved in a sport and being able

(13:50):
to like help olive my dream.You know, like obviously, like given
the history of NASCAR and what it'salways been for you know, decades,
know, like it's never been easyfor us minorities to you know, be
able to work hard and continue tomove up to the rinks to get us
to where we need to be,you know. And so like seeing how

(14:11):
NASCAR is now, we're trying tobe more inclusive and trying to increase increase
more diversity in the sport because theyrecognize that, like, you know,
there's you know, everyone of allkinds that like shares the same passion of
racing as like you know people involvedin NASCAR do you know, And it's
important that we include them as wellto you know, be able to show

(14:35):
that like you know, they're they'rethey're important of us as well, you
know, and like what things canyou know they get involved in too,
you know, help you know,grow our sport, you know, and
so like seeing not only me onthe track, but seeing guys like Bubba
Wallace who's in Cup and Roget Caruthwho's in the NASCAR Truck Series. You

(14:56):
know, you're certainly seeing that increasingas well as guys like you know,
Michael Chornan who's a NASCAR owner,you know, and so there's certainly,
you know, some progress going there, and it's just where I just hope
to see more of that in thefuture. I love hearing that. Thank
you so much. Bonnie Williams.You've been listening to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,

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