Sometimes, art imitates life – as is the case with Josh Thomas and his Stan original Everything’s Gonna Be Okay.
Last night, the beloved Australian comedian, actor and writer, revealed that while working on the show, which follows him as the older brother and now parental guardian of his two young sisters (one of which is autistic), something clicked: he is autistic.
Josh opened up about his experience.
(Instagram)“I have known for a while now that I’m autistic,” he wrote on Instagram. “It’s been a nice experience for me, figuring it out.”
“I’ve learnt to understand myself better and it’s helped people around me do the same. There’s been a lot of emotions but the most dominant one has been relief.”
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“I’ve decided to share this with everyone because the range of Autistic people and characters we see in the media is very slim, when the autism spectrum is huge and varied. So, here I am, another version of an Autistic person for people to see.”
“Hopefully this helps further colour in, and add texture to society’s idea of what an Autistic person is.”
As one admiring fan wrote in the comments, “it’s crazy, ever since I watched Please Like Me I’ve always related to you in some weird way. Then I found out I was autistic about a year ago. It’s weird how the world works, but I’m happy ❤️.”
“Dude I’ve known ever since I saw you in Please Like Me,” added another fan who identifies as autistic. “We recognise our own.”
WATCH: Josh Thomas puts Bob Katter in his place about homosexuality. Story continues below.
Last year, the Talking About Your Generation star revealed to The Guardian that he was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 28, an experience he said at the time led him to writing characters that weren’t neurotypical.
The second season of Josh Thomas’s Everything’s Gonna Be Okay premieres on the 9th of April. You can learn more about how his show led to a comedy of self-diagnosis in his recent interview with the New Yorker.
This story originally appeared on our sister site, Who.
