5 People With Autism Who’d Shine At 'A Night of Too Many Stars'

Every year, a special event happens called A Night of Too Many Stars: America Unites for Autism Programs where celebrities such as Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Olivia Munn, Adam Sandler and others from our community come together for a comedy benefit supporting NEXT for Autism. NEXT for Autism’s mission is to transform the national landscape of services for people with autism by strategically designing, launching, and supporting innovative programs.

This year I was blown away by the videos of autism families along with a performance from Actionplay and Jodi DiPiazza. I was also thankful for the show featuring Carly Fleischmann, the first nonverbal talk show host with autism.

While watching Carly Fleischmann and Stephen Colbert on stage, I thought about my work as a TV talk show host on the autism spectrum. My inspiration to get involved in this field to host my own show called the “ –>” where we highlight people impacted by a diagnosis was inspired by talk show hosts such as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon.

I would love to be considered by the producers of the show to interview someone on this telecast while helping fundraise for a great cause such as NEXT for Autism. This got me thinking about other individuals on the spectrum
who’d shine at “A Night of Too Many Stars” in future years. There are countless individuals who could be featured, but I want to suggest five whom I hope the producers of “A Night of Too Many Stars” will consider.

Calum Cull

Calum is a 10-year-old boy on the autism spectrum who has found a passion in singing. He sometimes struggles socially and academically but has enjoyed singing since he was 4. Recently he sang a Whitney Houston song that went viral on Facebook.

Hearing him perform with another celebrity (such as Ed Sheeran who Calum sings a cover from below) would be truly special.

Andrew Duff

Andrew Duff is one of my dear friends who is an actor on the autism spectrum. He is in the play “Uncommon Sense” and would be a phenomenal person to highlight during the telecast.

Coby Bird

Coby is a young actor from the Miracle Project who recently was the first actor with autism to receive a guest role on “The Good Doctor,” a show that follows a surgeon on the autism spectrum who also has savant syndrome. His story is astounding and would be a great highlight on the show.

Temple Grandin

As one of the leading autism advocates in our field, it would be amazing to have Temple share her story and why it’s important to give back to the autism community.

Ethan Walmark

Ethan performed a cover of “Rocket Man” which, like Calum’s video, went viral in our community. It would be wonderful to see Ethan have an opportunity to sing to fundraise for a worth cause.

To continue the conversation, I’d also love to see “A Night of Too Many Stars” continue to feature videos of people in our community impacted by an autism diagnosis. One way to highlight even more people is to do a video montage of individuals on the autism spectrum, along with family members saying what they would like people to know about autism. One of our most popular videos my organization has ever produced is “10 Things People With Autism Wish You Knew” that we share in the hopes of spreading autism education.

Who do you think would shine at A Night of Too Many Stars? Tell us in the comments!

A version of this post originally appeared on Kerrymagro.com.