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The Life Of Autistic Miss Florida with Rachel Barcellona
137 Plays2 years ago
Who is Rachel Barcellona? Why did her Christian school try to 'cure her Autism'? How did Rachel Barcellona become Miss Florida?
TW: Bullying and one mention of inappropriate touching of a minor
Rachel Barcellona (@rachelbarcellonaxo), also known as Miss Florida, is a US-based model, singer, stand-up comedian, theatre star, and autism advocate. Her company 'Ability Beyond Disability inc' serves to cement her dream of providing adequate inclusion for all people.
Working closely with the EPIC Players, New York's leading neuro-diverse theatre company, she champions Autism on mainstream media platforms like CNN, NBC, and Forbes. Rachel is also involved with a multitude of different charities, serving as a board member for C.A.R.D. USF, Unicorn Children's Foundation, Els for Autism Center of Excellence, and the Dyspraxia Foundation USA.
Rachel's Insta - https://www.instagram.com/rachelbarcellonaxo/ // My Links - https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
Dbud Noise Cancelling Adjustable Ear Buds (15% Off) - https://dbud.io/thomashenley
Thomas Henley (host) and Rachel Barcellona (guest) start by conversing about the prevalence of Spelling Bees in the USA compared to the UK, but they soon dive into Rachel's backstory with Autism. Professionals diagnosed Rachel Barcellona with Autism at the young age of 3, where she experienced a speech delay until 5; her parents were told that she would never go to college or achieve anything notable in life.
They discuss the issue of manipulation and abuse particularly for autistic women. At her middle school age, Rachel Barcellona spent her time at a Christian school which allegedly manipulated her family into thinking it was the most inclusive place she could be. Unbeknownst to them, the school had an ulterior motive to 'cure' or 'remove' Autism in their students. Rachel was sadly a victim to the principal at the school, where they inappropriately touched her and proceeded to label her as the Devil's Child or Satan's Daughter.
Rachel Barcellona spent many of her school days isolated and bullied due to her differences but decided to post positive notes on her bully's lockers to have a positive impact... which eventually turned into the work she carries out in the modern day. Doesn't sound like the work of the devil to me! Rachel highlights her core value of putting herself and her family first, and how her large extended family supported her throughout the difficult times of her life.
Pivoting to Rachel's pageant, theatre, and singing success, they talk about her work with the neurodiverse theatre company Epic Players and how her failures in middle school had a positive impact on her ability to handle rejection... something commonplace for a budding Broadway prodigy! With her fingers in many pies, she explains her journey through performing arts, from cheerleading to singing, to theatrical performances. Pointing to her autistic gift of perfect pitch, Rachel talks about her love of Opera and how that inspired her to sing the USA National Anthem in Madison Square Gardens.
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Transcript
Introduction of the Podcast and Guest
00:00:07
Speaker
Good day and welcome back to the 4DOD podcast with the host, as always, Mr. Thomas Henley. And today's been a bit of a strange one for me. I've been feeling quite calm on top of things. Very abnormal for my stressy head, as you will now.
00:00:24
Speaker
today i've got a very special episode for you as per usual we're going to be talking to rachel barcelona who is a sort of a big sort of media um figurehead in in in the u.s she's miss florida and she's done lots of things in terms of uh broadway in new york city i won't say i won't divulge too much but what
00:00:48
Speaker
We're basically going to be focusing around Rachel's story, some of the things that she's come across in her life, some of the amazing things that she's been a part of, and I guess dive into the world of the autistic Miss Florida.
Rachel's Social Media Journey
00:01:03
Speaker
Very cool. How are you doing, Rachel? I'm fine. I'm really happy to be on here. How are you? Not too bad. As I said, quite uncharacteristically relaxed today. Me too.
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, I had I had a bit of a Instagram live session thing. I'm trying to do like a regular live session every Friday on my Instagram page now, which seems to be going well. Oh, that's good. Yeah, it's been really nice because I don't tend I tend to produce like a lot of content like posts and videos and stuff like that. But I never I'm not really
00:01:46
Speaker
big on the whole using Instagram stories and checking the comments every time I post something. I never used to be big on it either. It's really funny. I think it was a few years ago, the whole time I was on Instagram, I didn't even know how it worked. I thought the stories were just there and I never, I never paid attention to it ever.
00:02:14
Speaker
And now I'm addicted to them and I think my stories are really funny. What kind of stuff do you do on your stories? Well, I also, it's a mixture between me using it for professional reasons. I like to promote my events and I also like to show off my personality and what I like. I like to put a lot of jokes in there.
00:02:41
Speaker
And I also love promoting other people too. Like for example, I love vintage things. So if I see something from a vintage clothing store or a shop that sells, well, I saw this little ceramic troll for some reason. And I just thought that's the cutest thing ever. And I shouted out the person who made it because he made it by hand.
Pageant and Performance Beginnings
00:03:11
Speaker
Well, so that's just it's little things like that because I just think that we should love other people and appreciate other people, too. Yeah, definitely. And I think it's it's it's hard on social media because it's such like a it's such a big place. And there's it's quite hard to grow things on social media have to be like
00:03:38
Speaker
constantly producing things and scheduling things and doing things to make it big. And there's a lot of people out there who produce some really sort of different and cool and, you know, educational content that I think, you know, I see these accounts and I'm like, oh, God, I wish that you had like as many followers as you deserve. It's just so tough on social media, isn't it? Growing. Yeah. And
00:04:08
Speaker
It's really been tough for me because I used to have a lot of followers. I had over 10 K, but I was hacked recently. So my, my account is basically me building myself back up from the ground up and I'm over two K now. So I'm just always telling myself, if I can get back to 10 K by the end of the year, I'll be happy. But.
00:04:36
Speaker
For me, it's really not all about the followers. I just want to build a community of people who really, really like me for me. And that's what matters. Awesome. Well, on that note, would you like to tell our listeners a little bit about your story, who you are, what kind of stuff you do on a daily basis? Yeah, absolutely. Well,
00:05:05
Speaker
A lot of people know me for being well versed in the pageant world. I have done them ever since I was five years old because I was born in Clearwater, Florida. And in Florida, we take our pageants very seriously because we're in the South. But my parents didn't really care about that because they were not
00:05:31
Speaker
They're not Floridians. My mom's from Canada and my dad's from Illinois. So they didn't really know much about that. Since I'm autistic, they were more concerned about getting me out there, making friends, and let's just see what happens.
00:05:51
Speaker
And I always loved being on stage. I didn't really have the big hair or the fancy dress because we couldn't afford that anyway.
00:06:03
Speaker
But I liked it. I just love performing. I love being in front of the camera and I did it up till fourth grade and then I stopped because I wanted to focus on my studies. I cared a lot about school. I won the spelling bee and I just really, really cared about school. I wanted to stay in school because as you could tell from a lot of pageant shows, they cost a lot of money.
00:06:32
Speaker
Kids get pulled out of school for that and my mom didn't want to do that for me. I restarted them when I was in middle school and I just liked being on stage and I continued and here I am. I am.
00:06:53
Speaker
I find it really interesting because you're saying something about the spelling bee.
Autism and Education Challenges
00:06:57
Speaker
I don't think in the UK we have such... I know that from watching some American movies and stuff that spelling bees are quite like a big thing over there, but I don't think we have very much of that in the UK. Really? What is the experience of going to one like? Oh my gosh, I thought there would be spelling bees everywhere, to be honest. But the experience
00:07:23
Speaker
is it gets pretty serious i'll just say that but yes from my experience is that you study really hard and they want to pick some of the smartest people definitely so i know that when i was in fifth grade they lined up all the kids and we had a spelling contest and whoever could spell the longest words
00:07:53
Speaker
and not mess up that's who would go and of course i did it and there would just be like five of us so five of us went and it was insane there was a lot of people it was like it was like a pageant in itself there was a big building there we all went on a bus it was awesome and i like that i got to go skip school for
00:08:25
Speaker
I've got kind of a funny relationship with spelling because I'm actually I'm not that good at like remembering how to spell words but I have a really big passion for like creative writing and writing in general but I very much use like the spelling correction tools like a lot because
00:08:49
Speaker
I don't know. It's just like some words. It's like I struggle to spell words that don't sound exactly like how they're spelled.
00:09:02
Speaker
Well, I think that that was sort of my thing because I love creative writing. I'm a good editor. And all that is because I did not like math. I have a legitimate math learning disability. So I feel like, uh, dyscalculia. Yes, that's it. Yeah. We all have our thing and that's what makes the autism spectrum so colorful. Everyone has their own thing.
00:09:33
Speaker
Mm-hmm. That's really interesting. Well, I suppose before we get into the big stuff around your pageant work and some of the performing arts side of things, I guess what I really want to know is your backstory with autism. What were your experiences of autism in childhood?
00:10:02
Speaker
Oh boy, there is a lot that I have. I always say that I want to write a book about it, but it's just so much. Currently I have, I have two children's books about me coming out. So I mean, that's a start. That's really cool. But we'll just start with a few experiences.
00:10:26
Speaker
um, I was diagnosed with autism at the age of three and everyone says that that's a rarity because there's this whole theory about the girl brain and a boy brain and I Apparently had a boy's brain because every everybody thought I had autism right away and
00:10:51
Speaker
It's not very picked up, is it, in women because of the masking elements and the stereotypes and stuff? Yeah, but I didn't mask at all. And still to this day, I don't really mask. I am not ashamed.
00:11:08
Speaker
So I don't know what that says about me, but I still think that scientists nowadays, they got a lot of researching to do. We can agree on that one, definitely. But yeah, I didn't speak until I was about five.
00:11:28
Speaker
And that's probably why I sound very slow talking because I just, I was very delayed, but I read a lot and I didn't want to stop myself from learning. And my mom didn't want to stop me either. I still remember as a three-year-old, she was in the principal's office. She was like, I'll be damned if she doesn't go to college or make any friends or anything because
00:11:58
Speaker
that there were doctors everywhere and they seriously, they told her I was never going to go to college or be much of anything. That's really hot. I couldn't believe that, but I didn't want to give up and I'm so thankful to my parents for believing in me when times were very hard.
00:12:25
Speaker
It sounds like you have very supportive parents. Yeah, yeah, even though they worked a lot, they always made time for me. And my mom is a nurse. She's a doctor now, but at the time she was a nurse practitioner. She was working very hard and she managed to get me some therapy. There were a lot of therapies, art therapy, music therapies, everything.
00:12:55
Speaker
And we did what we could just to make sure I was okay. And there's many, I believe this wholeheartedly. There's a lot of things you can do at home if therapy is too expensive. I know, have you seen the things on Instagram where people make their own little things at home like slime? I think that's a great thing to do.
00:13:24
Speaker
So as far as the struggles that you've experienced at school, I know for a lot of autistic people, including myself, it can be particularly difficult around secondary school, high school age. Do you have any experiences with that? Did you find that you managed to be included in social groups or go through the education system OK?
00:13:54
Speaker
No, the educational system was awful for me growing up and secondary school, what we call middle school over here was it's always a hard time for everybody, whether you have a disability or not. But when you are autistic, it's really hard. But I feel like my experience
00:14:21
Speaker
I feel like I was manipulated and my parents were as well. We had a very hard time trying to get me into a good middle school that would help me with autism.
00:14:42
Speaker
It's a little hard to talk about, but I'm ready to. She found me that she stumbled upon this weird Christian middle school. And they said that they were going to help people with autism and other disabilities. And they had a great track record for that. But what they didn't tell my parents is that they were actively trying to fix people like us.
00:15:12
Speaker
trying to make us normal. And we were constantly being abused under this horrible system of oppression. And I was abused by this school for three years until my mom got me out and I went to a public school.
00:15:37
Speaker
That's really tough. I mean, I know from talking to other autistic people, there's a lot of therapies and stuff which are quite commonplace within scientific or teaching or parenting communities. And a lot of these practices can be quite
00:16:00
Speaker
As you said, they try and push you into a box and stop you from doing all your autistic things. And a lot of people say that it can be quite sort of traumatic for them during those times. Yeah, I feel like the school system, especially the ones that are really private, they try to sell you this idea that we're going to help your autistic child. We're going to save them. But
00:16:29
Speaker
were the ones that are going to be abused the most were always looked on as an outsider. Even though we go into survival mode, we try to fit in for all those years that were bullied, and it has a big effect on us. I remember when I was in that school, I was constantly shamed
00:16:53
Speaker
I was called names. I was locked in bathrooms. It was by the teachers. Well, there was, I'll get to that later, but I mean, by the students, but I did. There was actually an incident where we had a principal, but then we got a new principal.
00:17:19
Speaker
And everyone was kind of like, Oh, what's this guy gonna do? He's, but nobody questioned it, but he was kind of a fire and brimstone kind of guy. And I knew she hated my guts just because he, he knew I was different, but there was,
00:17:42
Speaker
I went up to, he was just randomly looking out at the window one day and I just asked, what is he doing? And he just touched me. Right. What do you mean? What do you mean in that sense? Is that inappropriate touching or? Like inappropriate touching. He always had this weird kind of thing about me
00:18:09
Speaker
because there's just, I don't know if autistic people are weird or mentioned in the Bible and were bad, but there was the final straw when he called me a devil child, Satan's daughter, even though he, well, he wanted some of this. I mean, I don't get it, but my mom was livid. Like she was just at the gas station.
00:18:38
Speaker
She literally called my mom and just to tell her that I was being disobedient and that I was a devil child. And that's when we had to leave. But everyone said that this school was heaven, but it was my hell. And this is one of the things I always talk about in my speeches about autism.
Social Struggles and Advocacy
00:19:05
Speaker
is to really be careful about where you send your kids to school. Because even if you're autistic or not, middle school is going to be the hardest time for anyone. And we just want to be, we want to love ourselves. We want to embrace ourselves, especially if we're autistic, because we're always told to hide ourselves no matter what. And I don't really like that
00:19:35
Speaker
But the good thing is that I started my platform, Ability Beyond Disabilities, while in middle school. And I say this all the time in pageants, that when I was being bullied, I started my platform by writing positive notes on my bully's lockers. And one of the teachers saw me and she's like, are you writing all these notes? And I just thought, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
00:20:04
Speaker
Uh, but she liked them and she told me to keep on going. And I've been going strong for years and it's a platform for my pageant now. So yeah, I just want to encourage people that are like me that we're not alone and we can do anything we set our mind to, or no matter what we've been through, we're awesome.
00:20:31
Speaker
I really appreciate you opening up about your experiences with that principle because I can't imagine that that's a very easy thing to do.
00:20:44
Speaker
I think it's from looking at statistics, particularly for autistic women, but I'm sure other autistic people have experienced this, but manipulation tends to be a lot more effective on us. It tends to be more effective on people when they're younger, but
00:21:05
Speaker
If they're autistic as well because we tend to sort of communicate and trust what people say because we like to communicate directly to people. And so we have a lot of emphasis on people's words and what they say to us.
00:21:25
Speaker
And that sometimes can be abused quite a lot because we don't pick up on the different signs that someone's putting across, like the indirect communication that something might be a bit off or they might be lying.
00:21:42
Speaker
And I know that also as well there is some statistics around sexual abuse with women as well, which is quite hard for me to read.
00:21:59
Speaker
But basically what I'm saying is I appreciate you opening up about something that's, you know, so must be must be very sort of raw and hard. Thank you so much. I really like opening up about it, too. And it's really true. Statistics say that women with autism and girls, too, especially
00:22:27
Speaker
We are more likely to get kidnapped. We're more likely to get raped. And it's because autistic people in general were very trusting. I don't know why that is, but I know I was very trusting in my most vulnerable state. Cause I feel like I was in survival mode deep down when I was 13, I wanted to be accepted.
00:22:55
Speaker
And it's hard when you're autistic as well. You just want to be accepted and you know, something is, I don't want to say not all that right, but a lot of kids, they might think what's wrong with me. Why am I not like the others? And I feel ashamed saying that because I always say, love yourself.
00:23:21
Speaker
And I do love myself. I love myself above all else. But at 13, you might not feel that way. And I'm just being real. We need to change that.
00:23:37
Speaker
Definitely, I couldn't agree more. I think for a lot of my life I've always had some really difficult issues with my own self-esteem and confidence. I think it's really hard when you see other people getting on and making friends and being a part of groups.
00:23:57
Speaker
Um, and then when it, when it comes to you, cause you're a bit different in the way that you communicate and you think and sort of perceive things that kind of label you as this alien creature. Oh my God. Like.
00:24:15
Speaker
I know I was talking about that I would, I would just be at my locker and then people just randomly come up to me and they'd always ask, why do you look so sad? And I'm just like, what, what? I didn't think so. I'm very happy today. And now when I'm 26 or even years back when I had jobs in Florida, everyone would ask me, are you high?
00:24:45
Speaker
Because I have the slow voice and I'm just like, no, I'm tired, but I'm not high. So you really can't win with people who are not autistic.
00:25:02
Speaker
Ay up, just popping on to say thank you for listening to this podcast thus far. If you could do me a real solid, please make sure to rate the podcast if you're in a podcasting streaming service and do all that like, subscribe, comment stuff on YouTube. Damn, even send a heart in the comments if you don't feel like typing.
00:25:21
Speaker
Make sure to check out my link tree, which is always down below in the description or head over to my Instagram page at Thomas Henley UK for daily blogs, podcast updates and weekly lives. This podcast is sponsored by my favorite noise canceling noise reducing earbuds that you can adjust the volume on. Really, really great thing. They're called D buds and you can find the affiliate link down in the description of this podcast for a 15 percent off discount.
00:25:51
Speaker
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of the podcast. That's all from me. Yeah, I think there are some good people out there who, you know, see us for who we are and, you know, appreciate us. But I'd say that definitely in general, especially kids. Yeah. It's a tough thing to kind of navigate. I also wanted to say as well, you know, with your Christian
00:26:23
Speaker
principle, you know, saying that you were a devil child when you, when you're going around posting positive notes of affirmation on you, on your bully's lockers. I don't see that at all as being evil or, you know, a bad person or a devil child. It's kind of the opposite, isn't it? It's, it's, it sounds like the, something more akin to the, like the fundamental teachings of, you know, being kind to people and respectful and
00:26:53
Speaker
Because if you really think about it, that is what Jesus wants us to do. But I don't know why people hated it. I don't know. I just think when you get brainwashed to think a certain way, you just do what people tell you and your rationality goes out the window. You can't have one or the other, you know? Yeah, yeah.
00:27:19
Speaker
Well, I mean, I guess we've touched on some quite sort of hard sort of hitting things. But in terms of, because I know that you mentioned about your parents being, you know, very sort of supportive of you and your life and what you want to do. I guess like what kind of support and what kind of, and who in your life were like,
00:27:49
Speaker
the people who brought you through these hard times and supported you along the way. Well, definitely my mom. I really don't like to play favorites because there are no favorites. Families very important to me and I have my whole family because I have a really big family. I'm Italian American.
00:28:15
Speaker
I have a lot of people that helped me along the way, but since my mom is and was, she's a doctor now, she does a lot of good stuff. But at the time she was, I'm trying to get the timeline in order. At the time she was a nurse practitioner and she helped me a lot when I was three and she took me to all my therapies.
00:28:41
Speaker
I still remember when I was in grade school, every Friday she would drive me to the nearby, it wasn't really a hospital. It was like, there's our house and then a few miles over, there's like this physical therapy place where the old people go. So my whole life I was surrounded by adults. I'm an only child.
00:29:10
Speaker
So there's the old people. So you had like a big extended family outside of your family. Yeah. So I just go to this physical therapy place to learn how to walk properly and hold a pencil because I couldn't hold a pencil properly or really do anything right.
Physical Activities and Dyspraxia
00:29:35
Speaker
Was that, was that kind of something that was, cause I know that, um, you know, for myself, I have like this massive like bump on one of my fingers because I always used to like write way too hard and I'd like break the pencil. My handwriting is, is absolutely awful. Um, whichever. And it's, it's, it's really funny. It's, um, I think.
00:30:01
Speaker
I know that there is some crossover between autism and other neurodiversities like dyspraxia. But I do also know that because of our differing sensory systems, we can sometimes be quite insensitive to our feeling of balance or our awareness of our body without looking at it.
00:30:29
Speaker
It's something that I struggled with for quite a while, actually. And it's really funny when I do interviews and stuff where people are wanting to talk about my sporting experience and stuff, or if someone says, you have really good balance to do all these kicks and spins and acrobatic things.
00:30:50
Speaker
And the only reason why I'm good at doing those things is because I endlessly practice them at home on my own constantly, like before all of my practices and outside of the Taekwondo training sessions I did. So it's interesting, isn't it? Do you have a diagnosis of dyspraxia or is it more kind of that autism difficulty with body positioning and stuff?
00:31:19
Speaker
I do have a dyspraxia diagnosis, actually, and I love it. Well, not really. I mean, the reason why I love it is because I work with the dyspraxia foundation, and that's been very eye-opening for me. So I just love turning the negative into a positive. Yeah.
00:31:44
Speaker
i don't know i'm just i'm trying my best but i find it it's it's it's really interesting because my um my partner is um dyspraxic and we're currently we're currently um i'm thinking that she's a little a little bit autistic or she well obviously not a little bit autistic autistic or not but um
00:32:07
Speaker
But I'm still, I don't really know a lot about dyspraxia. I know that it surrounds motor coordination and balance and stuff like that, but I don't know. Is it something that sort of influences like your behaviors? Is it something like a psychological? Is there a psychological aspect to it?
00:32:30
Speaker
I don't think so. It's more connected to motor skills and your balance. I know that it, I'm trying to remember what it was for me. Oh, well it's, I definitely have balance issues and that is why everyone is always floored when I'm walking in heels. Everyone asks me, how do you walk in heels so well when you have dyspraxia?
00:32:59
Speaker
And my answer is that I always practice. There you go. And I just think that another thing is that it's hard for me to tell my left and right apart. So I think that's connected to it, but the heels thing is all for show because I feel like even I have trouble walking in them. I'm very wobbly.
00:33:28
Speaker
I mean, by pageant standards, I could use a lot of work, but that's me and I feel like I'm very unique.
Theater and Performing Arts Passion
00:33:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's really interesting. I actually, it's funny that you mentioned the Dyspraxia Foundation because I'm currently chatting to the people over there. I'm yet to send them an email because I kind of want to understand a bit more about that aspect of neurodiversity because
00:33:57
Speaker
As I said, I'm not too aware or clued up on the psychological side of those things. I don't know whether it's just something, perhaps when people are looking at helping kids or adults with dyspraxia, that maybe they're just autistic as well because of the crossover, or whether it's something to do with just being dyspraxic, if that makes sense.
00:34:23
Speaker
Well, since autism and dyspraxia are both, they definitely cross over. So I think that they could very well be autistic, the person that you're talking about. I will let them know that. I'm excited to dive into more of that kind of side of things. Yeah, the dyspraxia foundation has been lovely. I enjoyed working with them.
00:34:54
Speaker
What kind of work have you done with them? A lot of volunteering and I've messaged them a lot back and forth. We talk a lot about ambassador programs. I've been their ambassador before and they're just amazing. I can't wait to work more with them in the future.
00:35:14
Speaker
It's awesome. Well, I really appreciate you being so open and vulnerable about that stuff. And I know it's one of your core values and personality traits, but I still want to say thank you for that.
00:35:32
Speaker
I guess really where I want to take things is talking more about the things that you've done either in your late adolescence or adulthood. I know that you've been performed in
00:35:50
Speaker
I know that you've been involved in some performing arts sort of throughout your career and you've been extremely successful in like dance, theatre and cheerleading. I'm just wondering like could you tell us more about those experiences and what motivated you to get into those like highly competitive spaces?
00:36:15
Speaker
Well, I'll start with cheerleading because that's a lot earlier. There's cheerleading I've done ever since I was a kid, and that was another thing that I wanted to do because I wanted to make friends. Social groups are great for that, aren't they? Especially outside of schools. Yeah, and it was cool. I started with my local
00:36:44
Speaker
thing first. It was right up the road from my house and it was fun and I moved on to the competitive side. I wasn't really into that at first, but
00:36:58
Speaker
I don't know. It was okay. I just didn't like the noise and all the crowds. I can imagine. I can imagine cheerleading. Yeah. There is a cheer element to it. I know. That's actually funny life. Another thing that doesn't seem to be as prominent in the UK as it is in the US, like the cheerleading side of things. Although I do have a cousin that used to do it and they used to be
00:37:28
Speaker
I think I think they said they were like a flyer or something. Yeah. Is that is that correct terminology? They got thrown up and stuff. You did that. Yeah. Oh my God. Because that's I sort of stuck to doing it at school because I moved on. I did that. I'm trying to think of the timeline here.
00:37:52
Speaker
because because I kept doing cheerleading till fifth grade. And then I just I was the flyer because I was the youngest one on the team. Everyone else was either in middle school or high school. So I was the flyer. And then in middle school, I was the old one of the oldest ones on the team. So I had to pick the youngest ones up.
00:38:17
Speaker
And I was going to do it in high school, but I found a love for theater instead. So that's fun. That's interesting that you had that flyer role because I imagine that there's also like a lot of balance involved in that kind of thing. Yeah, it was very, very challenging, but I don't
00:38:43
Speaker
I kind of got distracted because I loved being up in the air. But it was also a little scary too. You like that motion? Yeah. That motion. I love stuff like that, like roller coasters, like playground equipment that you can like spin around on. There was this recent event that I went to called the EDA, which is all about like emotional
00:39:09
Speaker
um dysregulation and autism and this this person there is does like these acrobatic things and they had this like hoop structure like this hanging hoop and they did like this amazing
00:39:24
Speaker
performance dance kind of aerial thing on it. And then the end, I went up to her. Yeah, I went up to her and I was like, hey, can I have a go on this? And she started spinning me and she was like, oh, I'm sorry, I'm spinning. I'll stop like, no, no, please, please go ahead. This is like much needed relaxation time after I've spoken. There's just no matching like the euphoria that I feel.
00:39:52
Speaker
spinning. It's something that I wish I could do a lot more in adulthood. But I'm quite tall and heavy. And if I spin around and I miss my footing or something, then I will go tumbling to the floor. I love roller coasters. So that is amazing. I love that. I love the feeling of it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you go on the scary ones? Yeah, I love the scary ones.
00:40:20
Speaker
There's this one in, um, this place called Blackpool in the UK, which has like the, I think it's like the biggest vertical drop in the UK. It goes like, um, all the way upwards, you know, as relicas is do really slowly. And then it, it kind of goes over the edge, but then it drops down and inwards. So it goes on like, like that. So it's more than like just a straight drop down. It's like a turn inwards. Um,
00:40:49
Speaker
That was a bit freaky. We also have this place called Alton Towers in the UK, which has this roller coaster called Oblivion. And the whole thing is basically like a really... You have to queue up for like ages, ages, absolutely ages. And then you get probably about 30 seconds of roller coaster experience. And they take you up on this really, really long journey all the way to the top. And then they like carve this
00:41:18
Speaker
massive hole in the ground. And it just goes straight down into this like dark hole from all the way up. And then sort of, for a very short roller coaster experience. But that was another one that was quite scary that I'd been on. But I still love that kind of thing. It's awesome. I'm an adrenaline junkie. Me too.
00:41:48
Speaker
Well, you mentioned about, you know, like, theatre at the end of, so speaking, on your cheerleading. Do you want to elaborate a bit more about that? Yes, I'm currently in a drama troupe called Epic Players in New York, and it is a troupe for neurodiverse actors. So I'm very, very happy. Yes. What was that called again? I'll look them up. Epic Players.
00:42:18
Speaker
You can follow us at Epic Players on Instagram. There you go. Epic Players NYC, a neuro-inclusive theatre company. That's us. And I was recently cast in our recent play called Tarteau. And I'm also going to be in our production of Into the Woods.
00:42:44
Speaker
Wow. And what is that? Like, like, did you do theater before being involved with epic players or is it something that you found after doing it for a while? I did. I did a lot of theater growing up. I did a lot of it in middle school, too. That's when I discovered that I really liked doing it. But then I was like, I think I'll go back to cheerleading.
00:43:13
Speaker
Because I don't know, my teacher for drama in middle school, I really liked her. But I didn't, I feel like I wasn't really getting anything out of it. So I just chose cheerleading. I don't know what happened. I feel like that's kind of a blur to me.
00:43:37
Speaker
But yeah, I know I know that specifically like in the workplace or, you know, even for myself in sort of trying to build myself up as a public speaker, I think a lot of people automatically see like the autism label and try to give us like really small roles that, you know, don't have a lot of responsibility, but it really like and I feel like that's what happened with me.
00:44:07
Speaker
And I really, there was a lot of favoritism and that didn't change when I went to public school either. People just see the autism label and they just shove you in the back. It doesn't matter. There's always going to be favoritism with anybody in your drama troupe, no matter what school you go to. But once you get out of there, that doesn't really matter at all.
00:44:35
Speaker
And I've discovered that when I went out into the real world in Epic players and I got cast and stuff, but it does, whether minor or major, I'm, I love it. I'm in a minor role right now. And I also feel like being shoved to the side has helped prepare me for rejection and all of that because
00:45:02
Speaker
I see the people who have always got the lead role and were the favorites. They can't handle that rejection. And that's not good if you want to get on Broadway. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of funny saying that because like it's I mean, obviously there is a big component to any sort of career or hobby or venture, and that is like the social aspect of it.
00:45:30
Speaker
Like, you know, people, people don't choose you for us, you know, during sports education, they don't choose you as part of the team because you're good at playing the game. They choose you because they like you or they're friends with you or they, you know, you have like a high social ranking in the school or something. Um, which I found really hard and that that's kind of,
00:45:55
Speaker
being something that I think happens in the workplace as well, in the real world. If you don't have those natural abilities to get on with new groups and new people,
00:46:12
Speaker
Or if you just generally don't want to socialize as much, then it kind of stops you from getting as far as you should be able to do with your ability. I think it's a tough aspect of life, and it's something that I think holds a lot of people back from realizing their true potential. I'm not saying that it's an issue with the individual. It's an issue with the system.
00:46:43
Speaker
the neurotypical society that we live in. But I think that can really be tough. Yeah, I agree. And I don't think people should be forced to socialize or be someone they're not just to get ahead in life either. Sure, sure.
00:47:06
Speaker
Well, I know you mentioned about sort of your performance and stuff, but you know what kind of if you were to give like a highlight reel of like performances that you've done that people may know about, what would you point people to? Well, I would definitely include the performances I've done with Epic.
00:47:32
Speaker
I know recently that while I was with them, I did my first stand up comedy show, which was amazing. I love to do stand up comedy. I love to make people laugh. And that's definitely a highlight for me. And as for earlier performances, I...
00:47:55
Speaker
I sang at Madison Square Garden twice. I sung the national anthem there. And that was really important to me. But other than that, you can find me singing the national anthem at various sports arenas because I'm well known for that too.
00:48:17
Speaker
And you have to, I'm not the most sort of well versed in like the worlds of like theatre and stuff, but I do know about, you know, New York City and Broadway and stuff. Are those places that you did your performances with Epic? Or is that like something separate? Well, Madison Square Garden, that was way before Epic.
00:48:48
Speaker
That was when I was still living on Long Island actually. Before I moved to Brooklyn, I was living on Long Island and I was trying to get my foot in the door and I guess somebody heard me sing and they wanted me to sing at their game or something. I was really stoked about that.
00:49:17
Speaker
Sounds really cool. I've heard of Madison Square Gardens as well. And I'm not a person that knows a lot about like geography and locations and stuff, but that sounds really amazing. And what about like the singing aspect of things? Because, you know, just from our pre-chat, it seems that you have like
00:49:37
Speaker
of a multitude of different talents when it comes to like performing and being on stage where it's like your stand-up or your cheerleading or the theatre stuff or the stand-up like I've already said that but um it's amazing like what about like the singing aspect of things how did you get into that?
Opera Singing and Inspirations
00:49:58
Speaker
Well singing I've always loved ever since I was little I know that
00:50:05
Speaker
I've always had trouble with loud noises. Whenever, I don't know, I have to think about all the loud noises I hated. I hated anything that was loud, especially when we had fire drills in school. Oh, I hate that. Terrible. Yeah. The spotlight, they're lighting performances and stuff.
00:50:31
Speaker
So one of the things I did for therapy was listen to opera tapes and I listened to them for three hours straight because I loved the opera. And I think that's when I realized I want to become a singer. I told my mom, mommy, I want to sing. And but no one ever heard. Well, no one actually ever heard me sing because I was really, really shy.
00:51:01
Speaker
So no one really heard me sing until I was in high school until, cause you know, for pageants, you have to have a talent. So that was the first time my mom actually heard me sing. And I'm still doing it now. I just got accepted into Juilliard for the vocal arts and vocal training. And I'm learning how to become an opera singer.
00:51:37
Speaker
I have, well, of course I have a grandmother, but I was quite close to my grandmother, I call her Nana. She's at the moment, she got a diagnosis of Alzheimer's recently, so it's, you know, obviously her relationships, you know, changed, I love her and stuff. And, you know, I go see her and, you know,
00:51:57
Speaker
That is absolutely amazing. I actually, my
00:52:02
Speaker
I still have that kind of good connection with her. But I remember whenever she would like take me to school when I, because I struggled a lot with getting the bus to school because there were particular people on there harassing me or bullying me. And it was very noisy and very, you know, sort of difficult for me to handle in the morning. So she'd sometimes she'd take me to school
00:52:28
Speaker
in the car and we'd listen to an opera singer. I can't remember what his name is, but I think he's a very famous opera singer. Which one? I think I know who it is. Go for it. Go with some names. I can't remember the actual name because I'm not very good with names, but shit, hit me. Okay, wait. Sorry, I zoned out. Is it a man or a woman?
00:52:59
Speaker
a man, a man. Okay, Andrea Bocelli. The most famous one ever. My grandma loves Andrea Bocelli. Yeah. I think in my head, I'm the. My thoughts are kind of been muddied, muddied by I don't know if you have them in the UK, but we have like go compare ads and there's this guy with this really zigzaggy mustache who always does like adverts and he does like.
00:53:28
Speaker
Do you have that as well? Wait, no, I'm just thinking of the mustache. Yeah. Matt Berry. Maybe, maybe, but he's just sort of commercials in the UK and I found them really funny, but I think most people find them quite annoying. No, he's never annoying. He's my favorite.
00:53:56
Speaker
But it's something that I've always wanted to go see. I haven't been to an opera house before or anything like that. But I think there's a really interesting point there because I know that
00:54:14
Speaker
A lot of autistic people sort of due to our pattern recognition skills, due to our sensory differences, we tend to have some skills like when it comes to like pitch, like having like perfect pitch or noticing when the pitch isn't very good. That's what all my teachers said that I had perfect pitch.
00:54:42
Speaker
Wow. I'll have to check. Do you have any of your like opera performances online? I don't think so. I have a lot of videos of me singing the national anthem, though, and it's all in the opera style. It's all on YouTube. I really need more singing videos of me. I have to tell my mom to record my latest performances.
00:55:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'd really be cool to listen. I do have a lot of performances coming up. I will be singing two songs in Canada, not opera songs. They're more pop and country songs, which is what they requested of me because everyone in Canada likes country for some reason. Really? Yeah, I don't know why, but it's
00:55:36
Speaker
challenge. I always like a challenge and then I will be singing in an epic players showcase and I'll be singing a musical theater song so I gotta get those recorded. Definitely, definitely.
00:55:52
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah. I knew that you did your singing, but opera singing is so cool. Like, you know, you have like, um, movie representations, opera singing where they get like, they're really high pitch note and they're like, shatter the glass and stuff like that. And I have a showcase for school coming up soon. So that will be opera. Cool. Is that for the, um, uh, the school that you had mentioned about like the vocal lessons and stuff?
Pageant Experiences and Family Support
00:56:22
Speaker
Yes, we have a showcase at the end of April, so I will definitely be singing opera there. That's cool. Awesome. Well, um, I guess like, you know,
00:56:38
Speaker
Something that I think would be really cool to talk about is your achievements of becoming Miss Florida in your pageant work. I guess what I want to know is, because it's not something that's, again, in the UK very much. I think it's more of a US kind of thing. But could you tell us about how you got into
00:57:05
Speaker
pageanting and how you got into the modeling around it and stuff? Well, I'll pick up from where I left off. I know I said I stopped when I was in elementary school and then I continued when I was 13. I had really bad depression when I was 13 because of middle school.
00:57:30
Speaker
Yeah, one of my one of my friends in pageants. She said that I should go back on that stage you need to continue and I did I didn't want anything to bring me down and I just love being on stage and
00:57:46
Speaker
I just kept doing it and now I'm 26 and I'm Miss Florida. But Miss Florida was really hard to get because I competed at least six times and didn't win anything. But for me, it wasn't about the competition or winning anything. I just love the system. I love what it stands for.
00:58:13
Speaker
I love the people and coming back to see everybody there so I really didn't care if I didn't win again but I won and it worked out and I'm so happy about it. I'm happy to just bring so much happiness and positivity.
00:58:32
Speaker
Yeah. Well, a lot of my viewers and listeners tend to tune in from all corners of the world. What are pageants like? Because I've never watched one. I've never experienced one. I don't have much knowledge of it, apart from perhaps the old American movie that had a pageant in or something.
00:59:01
Speaker
Well, I think that a lot of those are very stereotypical, but as a kid, I always loved it. I loved it when Disney Channel had the pageant episodes.
00:59:15
Speaker
I don't know, I was probably just weird like that. What Disney Channel things did you watch? Oh, like there was that one episode of the Suite Life of Zack and Cody where Cody entered the pageant to get bikes because they were $2,000 and the prize was $2,000. I think I remember that. And that was one of my favorite episodes and I did pageants at the time and
00:59:43
Speaker
It was really not offensive at all. I thought now that I see it as an adult, I think it's very accurate. So, but I think that there's so many good women who enter pageants. Miss Florida, you can enter the pageant when you're married.
01:00:04
Speaker
And I think that's very important to me because a lot of pageants, there's a cutoff date and you can't be married when you enter it. And I don't like that at all. Why? I don't know. I just, I don't think it should be like that. It just seems like a really weird, really weird rule. Is it like, you're like a bachelorette or something? Is that, is that kind of the, the thoughts behind it or is it?
01:00:32
Speaker
I think that's how it used to be. But I think that if they're going to be inclusive, we should include all women. And that's what Miss Florida is definitely about. There's so many smart, educated women that are there. I met doctors, I met lawyers, women who started their own businesses. And I just really, I love everyone I meet there.
01:01:00
Speaker
It's really cool. So if you could take us through a little bit of what aspects are there to a pageant. I know that there's some aspects of showing off talents or skills. But is there much other than that? Do you have to do a speech or do a, I don't know,
01:01:27
Speaker
Follow me on the details. I'm trying to go in order, so... No, sure, go for it. Well, I really love the interview portion of it, and a lot of people think it's nerve-wracking because...
01:01:41
Speaker
Interviews always nerve-wracking the spotlights on you in front of all the judges But I love it because it's like I'm talking to everybody that Well, they're not my best friends But that's what I always say talk to the judges like you're talking to your best friends and that's your chance to Talk about yourself and sell yourself
01:02:05
Speaker
And I like the interview portion because it really helped me get some of the jobs I had in the past because you have to nail the interview.
01:02:16
Speaker
And that's how they decide who wins because the first impressions are everything. And I think it's it's a lot less nerve wracking than the 30 second speech that you have to give on the stage. 30 seconds. Yeah. I struggle with like 60 second Instagram reels. How do you do that?
01:02:41
Speaker
That's what I say. Like, how is the interview nerve wracking when you have to give a 30 second speech on the stage and the whole audience is watching? I just don't get it. Well, you just got to do your best. Yeah. But I love it when I have my talent, though. That's the best thing is I get to sing.
01:03:07
Speaker
That's awesome. So you have the speech, you have the talent aspect of it. Is there anything else that is integral to pageants? Well, having integrity is definitely integral to it. Being honest, being honest, being a good person, and knowing your worth, just being an all-around
01:03:35
Speaker
amazing person and i i just wish they wouldn't i'm trying to think there's so many things that go into it like for example i know that i said family is really important to me so that's one of my values and it's also a good pageant value even though i'm not married yet i really really think that it should be
01:04:03
Speaker
I don't know because for Miss Florida, there's miss miss and misses for the married women. So that's that's that's I think that's where they lose me a little bit like it just seems like.
01:04:18
Speaker
Well, I don't I'm just gonna say that my family is important to me too, because my mom helps me a lot like with the clothes and stuff.
Writing, Modeling, and Advocacy
01:04:28
Speaker
Because I wouldn't know a Giovanni dress from a Chanel dress or what I'm just fashion blind. And for some reason she knows all of the labels and the brands and she packs and
01:04:45
Speaker
she just helps me with everything and i don't know so i appreciate her a lot that's awesome do you like a power duo i think so yeah we're a power duo that's cool it's cool um i i i didn't want to ask them thing because i i know that
01:05:07
Speaker
you know, because you do all like these kind of performance based things. Do you find it easier to do your performances and to do like interviews and stuff as opposed to like situations sort of outside like real life where there's no like topic where you meet people and you talk to people? Like do you find that
01:05:34
Speaker
It's easier for you to do it when you're in those kind of performance interviewee roles, or do you find that the two are both quite? Well, I think they're both easy. I just think it's always easy and the best thing to do when
01:05:56
Speaker
when you're yourself, I'm trying to like think of it. But the best thing to do is- Well, I know for me, for me it's like, I'm really good in situations where I know what I'm supposed to be doing or talking about, whereas
01:06:16
Speaker
Like in real life situations when people come up to talk to me, I just have no idea where to take the conversation. Like I don't know. There's like no rules. Like if you meet someone new, like you don't know what they like and what they don't like and you have to go for all this crazy small talk to
01:06:35
Speaker
get to a point where you can talk about something. Whereas when you when I have situations like when I'm doing my podcasting or when I'm doing my public speaking or being interviewed, it's like I feel more comfortable doing those things, which I think is very weird for some people to hear than like chatting to people outside of that. Yeah, I always feel like, well, the best thing you do is be yourself. And I always think the
01:07:06
Speaker
I can get my thoughts out better when I write it down. I know I was talking to someone and there's the little voice app thing on Instagram and then I listen. I always like to listen back to it and I just think I sound really weird. But then I wrote it down.
01:07:30
Speaker
and is basically the same thing when I said and I just thought that looks so much better I don't sound like an idiot and that's probably why I'm an aspiring writer yeah I've heard from a lot of people that you know they're because I guess with writing it's it's pretty much void of all indirect aspects like it's literally just
01:07:56
Speaker
direct communication through writing. You can't like write something in a certain font to express a certain way that you're saying something. You have to like describe things and explain things rather than like express them. And I used to find that that used to be the reason why I gravitated towards like creative writing and you know,
01:08:20
Speaker
I would say the same as well, especially about like complex things or emotional things. I find it a lot easier to get like my thoughts out and have them explained better when I write them. It's taken me a while to get to a point where I feel confident, um, expressing and explaining with my voice. It's something that I've had to like grow, but I've always had that like writing side of me.
01:08:51
Speaker
Definitely. And I just feel like I'm very direct too. And that comes out in my writing where I can just write down how I feel.
01:09:01
Speaker
And then that's done. And a lot of writers feel that way too, but then you get authors like Victor Hugo from Les Mis and he can go pages and pages and pages describing a rock. And I've noticed that with a lot of autistic people too, and that's totally valid.
01:09:23
Speaker
Yeah, I love it. It's like prevent parentheses like using using like brackets or put it like adding things on at the end to like explain ways that people might interpret misinterpret what you're saying. We tend to do that a lot. It's funny. It's like, you never just get
01:09:45
Speaker
people sending you a message. It's always like a message and then something else and then a little bit more about what you mean by the message. Definitely. I need to do that next time. Seriously, people will be saved. Yeah. Yes.
01:10:06
Speaker
Well, I know that going outside your like pageant work, what has been your experiences like with the modeling aspect of it? Have you teamed up with photographers? Have you done like the photo shoots and stuff? What were those like for you? Well, modeling has been a very, very good experience for me. I have been assigned to multiple modeling agencies and
01:10:36
Speaker
Yeah, and I recently teamed up with somebody very famous and he's going to design dresses for me. I can't say who it is right now. I'm supposed to keep it under wraps. But it's all for the pageant and I'm very excited to be collaborating with him.
01:11:00
Speaker
Because I'm asking both on an interviewer standpoint, but also personally, because modeling is something that I've been wanting to try and get into. And it's quite hard industry to break into if you don't have connections and stuff like that. I've done a couple of collaboration photo shoots with some local photographers and stuff, which have been really great.
01:11:29
Speaker
But it's hard. It's not something that I want to do as a professional, but it is something that I enjoy doing. Yeah, I really enjoy it too. And I know currently I model with gamut management. They've been amazing.
01:11:54
Speaker
The work they're doing for the neurodivergent community and modeling is just wonderful. I wonder if there's any companies like that in the UK, because I'd be really interested in getting involved with them.
01:12:11
Speaker
I've been trying to advertise that I'm looking to do it as part of a modeling management thing, but as I said, it's quite hard to break into those things. Well, there is one that I know of. It's called ZBD Talent. You should try applying with them. ZBD Talent. Oh, yeah. Ah.
01:12:42
Speaker
I'm just bringing up the page. ZPD talent inclusive engines. Oh, they have places everywhere. Yep. Oh, wow. Champion disabled, visibly different, non-binary and trans models in the UK. That's awesome. Yeah, I'll definitely get in touch with them. Maybe you can put in a good word for me. Yeah.
01:13:11
Speaker
Well, that's really cool. Well, I guess the last sort of, you know, question that I wanted to ask before we wrap things up is, you know, with all the amazing things that you have been and are currently doing, what impact do you personally want to have on society and perhaps on other autistic people or children?
01:13:38
Speaker
Well, I always say that I want to have a really positive impact, but the main impact I want to have on my community and others is that I want to show people that they can do it and that I've done a lot of great things. And whenever I wear my crown or go out and give a speech or do an event, I want to show autistic little girls and boys
01:14:08
Speaker
Or even young adults that they can do anything that they set their mind to. Their disability does not have to hold them back from anything. Yeah.
01:14:20
Speaker
And I'd say as well, you know, I mean, we do have a really tough issue on pretty much all fronts of life, like in terms of like place inclusion. I know the employment statistics are really bad for autistic people, mental health, isolation and bullying. I think that there's so many aspects to being autistic in this world that can really be
01:14:47
Speaker
tough and it can really sort of impact our wellbeing, our career success, our relationship, friendship, its success. I mean, just even speaking about like the high school, middle school experience, it can be really, really traumatizing and difficult to move past for a lot of people and trying to, I feel like,
01:15:13
Speaker
with yourself trying to piece people's confidence, show them that their differences are an asset or something that makes them unique and different. I think that's a really beautiful thing. Yes, absolutely. Awesome.
01:15:34
Speaker
As you know, like I know that you mentioned about being sort of a positive role model in terms of supporting people and empowering them to sort of succeed in life and do things. But in terms of like
01:15:58
Speaker
specific things like if you were to envision a change in society that you could make, not necessarily to autistic people, but to the neurotypical society that we live in, what would those changes look like? I think that there would be many changes. And for one, that would be a lot more tolerance towards us.
01:16:24
Speaker
because everyone says that they're tolerant, but really they're not. It's all very performative. If neurotypical people want to be good allies, they would start making better changes. Like for example, there need to be more ramps for people in wheelchairs. And I don't really see that anywhere, for example,
01:16:51
Speaker
My grandma's in a wheelchair, but she can't really go many places because there are no ramps. Why have people not changed that? They need to. It seems like a very, it seems like a very small adaptation that people could make as well. Yeah, it's a small thing, but it only takes two seconds to care.
01:17:18
Speaker
I think that's something that could be reflected in a lot of different areas of life. We talk about workplace adjustments and adjustments in school. It's often like there's really small things that neurotypicals and policymakers and head teachers don't think about that make the most impact.
Vision for Autism Awareness and Inclusion
01:17:41
Speaker
And even when it comes to support within the workplace, there's always this very heavy emphasis on what does the government tell us to do and what does these people tell me to do and what program and pathway do we need to put autistic people on?
01:18:00
Speaker
in order for them to feel included and work their best in the workplace. And I always say that in those circumstances, they put so much funding into areas that sound good on paper and sound like it'd be something that would be useful to everybody. But they often miss the really small adjustments, the really impactful positive adjustments that would help the individual person.
01:18:30
Speaker
It's like they're wanting so hard to follow these guidelines and rules, but they forget to ask the individual what would be helpful for them, what would allow them to do better in a workplace and feel more included. And it always just boggles me just how
01:18:50
Speaker
single-minded. Some organizations and leaders and people can be when thinking about these adjustments. It's not rocket science. You just need to listen to the individual and ask them what would be helpful. And usually those adjustments that people make, they're not big things. Yeah, it's really not a big thing or
01:19:16
Speaker
It's not a big deal that people could, I'm trying to think. No, it's okay. We've been chatting for a while, so I understand. I mean, people need to care a lot more. Yeah, definitely.
01:19:38
Speaker
Well, it's been really, really great to talk to you, Rachel. It's, you know, in awe of your achievements and the things that you've done. And I think that you're a brilliant, you know, positive influence on the world, and especially even
01:19:56
Speaker
You know, not thinking specifically just about the autistic community, you are actually out there in the mainstream doing things to raise awareness and acceptance for autistic people.
Podcast Conclusion
01:20:08
Speaker
And I think that's a really, really wonderful thing that you're doing. And I think, you know, the influence that you will have and that are having on people is, you know, amazing. Well, thank you so much.
01:20:22
Speaker
I have this segment of the podcast called Song of the Day where I ask my guests to choose a song that either means something to them or is related to the topic of the podcast.
01:20:39
Speaker
Is there any song that you used to listen a lot when you were going for a hard time? Or any song that you were listening to when you were succeeding in life and doing things? What would be that go-to song? How about Legacy by Motionless and White? Legacy by Motionless and White. Let's have a look at that.
01:21:06
Speaker
Oh, motionless in the night. Got it. Wow, the album cover looks quite gothic-y. What kind of music are you into? I like metal music. Oh, you do? Ah, so cool. Me too. I'm really into a genre of music called dark trap. Oh, cool.
01:21:32
Speaker
Which is like, it's kind of like a trap is like a sub-genre of rap music and then dark traps like the gothic-y side of stuff. I interviewed someone who I'm now quite good friends with called No Tricks.
01:21:51
Speaker
who's a woman who has a neurodiversity called Dissociative Identity Disorder. She has multiple identities and she does these dark trap songs. And it's so cool because I'm so into it and when I came across Paige and stuff, we just instantly got on and she lets me know when there's a new song coming out and stuff.
01:22:21
Speaker
You know, it's really, really cool. I guess what I want to know is like, what is your relationship to this song? Why do you like it? Well, the lyrics. It's me. Oh, it's your song. No, it's not. It's not my song. I just identify. I identify with the lyrics. It's very powerful.
01:22:48
Speaker
It's really cool. I've never, I've never heard of this band. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'll probably have a look at them. Um, you'll have to send me some, some songs that I can, I can check out. Um, I'm just having a little listener, listener of them in the background. Sounds really cool. Well, um, thank you very much for that. I guess, uh, last thing I want to say before sort of rounding things up is have you enjoyed your experience on the 40 or two podcasts?
01:23:18
Speaker
Yeah. You have. Good. I'm glad. Where can people find you, Rachel? Which social links or websites? They can find me on Instagram at Rachel Barcelona XO.
01:23:35
Speaker
Awesome. Awesome. And I'd highly encourage you all to check out Google Rachel Barcelona and check out some of the work that she's done. It's absolutely amazing the amount of things that you've done so far in your life. Very, very inspiring.
01:23:54
Speaker
And yes, I hope that you have, I hope you all have enjoyed listening to this. If you want to check out the Portioti podcast, you can find it on pretty much all podcasting streaming services, as well as YouTube, where I have
01:24:10
Speaker
Also, shorter, more concise topic-based clips of the podcast in a more sort of short format, if that's more your style. And you can check out my Instagram account, Thomas Henley UK, where I produce and put out weekly
01:24:28
Speaker
not even weekly, daily blogs, reels, all that kind of stuff on different topics. I do my weekly live streams over on YouTube or on Instagram. So if you're wanting to ask me questions about the podcast, get involved, let me know that you listen to it. That is probably the best place to go. Really, really love to have you, have you on one of those things.
01:24:52
Speaker
And if you want to get in contact about public speaking, about getting me on as an interviewee, or you want to be on the podcast yourself, you can email me at hi at thomashandley.co.uk or head over to my website thomashandley.co.uk to check out all the stuff that I offer and the stuff that I do.
01:25:12
Speaker
I'm still in the process of setting up my consultancy. I realized that I mentioned that it would be live in April. There's been a lot of things that have happened between them, lots of different opportunities that I've got, and it's kind of put a bit of a spanner in the works, but it's still going to be happening. So if you're wanting to sign up to do some consultancy sessions with me, one-to-one personal consultancy for autistic adults and partners of autistic people,
01:25:42
Speaker
You can head over to that link, thomasandley.co.uk. Anyway, I would really appreciate if you've liked this. Give it a like if you're on YouTube. Give it a rate if you're on any of the podcasting streaming services. So yeah, thank you very much for listening. And I hope to see you next week in another episode of the 4DOT podcast. See you later, guys. Bye.