“’You look tired’ is a phrase I hear every day.”

“It used to offend me, but now I just respond with one simple answer…’I am tired.’”

“I am tired.”

“Living with autism spectrum disorder means I live life unfiltered.”

“My life is lived in high definition.”

“I see, hear, feel and sometimes smell the world in ways you don’t.”

“Each day I step onto the stage of the greatest production of all time.”

“It’s lights, camera, action as soon as my feet hit the floor.”

“I’m unable to hide behind the masks and makeup so many other performers use to hide their true feelings.”

“I don’t always know where to stand, or even when to say my lines.”

“I repeat myself a lot, but I didn’t get my script.”

“So I don’t just look tired, I am tired.”

“You see someone who isn’t excited and doesn’t want to be here, but you only have one angle, one shot of my performance.”

“There aren’t cameras to capture the other sides of me.”

“So I don’t just look tired, I am actually tired.”

“But that’s a good thing.”

“I’m tired because I’ve fought with the passion and the tenacity it takes to step out on that stage full of sensory overload and social anxiety and put on the performance of a lifetime.”

“I know I have something to offer to the world.”

“I’m autistic, and I have an assignment to show the world, to show autism parents, children and other autistic adults that we have a variety of gifts to give the world.”

“I may look tired, and I may actually be tired, but I am tired because I’ve also triumphed.”

“Keep going. Keep pushing. Keep performing.”

“The world needs it.”