As discussion around autism increases, there remains a lack of diverse voices to represent the community.
Recently, President Donald Trump stirred controversy with his press conference linking Tylenol use during pregnancy and childhood vaccines to rising autism rates—claims experts say lack scientific backing. In response to incidents like this, Black celebrities with autism have stepped forward to share their stories.
Their individual experiences not only reshape how the world sees neurodiversity, but they also break barriers. From athletes to artists and musicians, their journeys show that autism doesn’t limit greatness. Here are nine celebrities who have embraced their diagnosis.
R&B singer Chrisette Michele shared her autism diagnosis with her Instagram followers back in June. In a July interview with Blavity, she revealed that growing up her mom saw signs of autism in her. She had learning disabilities as a child and her mother would seek government assistance to help her in school.
Fast forward to earlier this year, when a neurologist diagnosed her with severe autism, she said it “was jarring, but when I tell you it was also liberating, validating. It was like a permission slip to say, ‘Yeah, all of my life I’ve been working hard to be the best that I can be, and finally somebody has given me words to explain what it is that I’ve been fighting.”
2. Morgan Harper Nichols, 35
Despite also having traits when she was younger, Morgan Harper Nichols was not diagnosed until she was 31. The artist, poet and author opened up about unlearning to mask her autistic traits and instead embrace them.
“It’s already exhausting being a parent,” Nichols toldToday. “So trying to be like someone that I’m not and camouflage my autistic behavior and my autistic traits — that’s not something that I’m going to do just to constantly pressure myself,” Nichols said. “It’s so baked into who I am at this point, but sometimes I have to check myself and I’m like, ‘Whoa, wait, maybe I’m not going to add inflection in my voice here because I’m really tired.’”
3. Tylan Grant, 23
Trans actor Tylan Grant gained notoriety after being cast as Brooke Hathaway in a British soap opera called Hollyoaks in 2018. He made history by becoming one of the first Black actors to portray an autistic character on television. Not only that, but Grant himself has autism and was diagnosed at age 7.
When thinking about the parallels between himself and his character, the star said sensory issues is a common trait. “Brooke and I both have very similar experiences day to day with things that you’ve probably seen on screen,” he said to National Autistic Society. “If you watched my first opening scene in Hollyoaks it’s the experiences of life going on around me – the loud noises, the chatter, the cars, the exhaust pipes – it’s something that I actually go through every day. It’s something that I do experience and other people experience.”
4. Armani Williams, 25
Being a Black Nascar driver already makes Armani Williams a minority in his field. Adding to his trailblazing journey, Williams is also the first Nascar driver to publicly share his diagnosis. He was originally diagnosed at age 2, but was informed by his parents when he reached middle school. After breaking barriers as a Black driver, he realized the power in coming forward with his status.
He toldAutism Speaks, “I felt like there were people and families that needed to know, that needed the kind of hope and inspiration that could only come from someone who was challenged by similar circumstances. So, I talked it over with my family and I decided to go public with it. For me, it was an opportunity to use my racing platform to help bring awareness, inclusion, and acceptance for people in the autism community. In addition to that, I was able to share with everyone, including the NASCAR community, who I really am.”
5. Questlove, 54
Many know Questlove as co-founder and band leader of the hip-hop group The Roots. He shared his autism status in 2013 in his memoir Mo’ Meta Blues: The WorldAccording to Questlove. When he was a baby, his parents initially had suspicions about his calm-natured behavior, but they didn’t necessarily use the word autism to describe it.
In a 2013 interview with NPR, he said, “My babysitters and my aunts used to always say, like he is the first child to never give us trouble. Like he doesn’t scream. He doesn’t even talk. Like he just sits at the – all you have to do is get a stack of records, put them on the turntable and he’ll literally just sit there and watch them turn. And then, you know, after the third or fourth hour of it, then they started to wonder, like well, OK, does he do anything else or does he do that?”
6. Breanna Clark, 30
If there’s anyone who doesn’t let autism be a barrier for them it’s paralympic athlete Breanna Clark. She was initially diagnosed at age 4, and she has intellectual impairment. But none of that has been able to slow her down on the track. In her career, she’s won two gold medals. Her first was in 2016 at the Paralympic Games Rio de Janeiro. Then, she scored her second at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Her mom, Rosalyn Clark, opened up about witnessing her daughter beat the odds when she won her gold medal in 2016. “It was an amazing experience,” she said to World Para Athletics. “The reason is, for me, because having a daughter that has autism, finding out her diagnosis at 4 and basically given negative information about what her life is going to be like. For me to see how high she had come and how far she had come and to see that my daughter was out on the field at Rio de Janeiro and just won a gold medal, it brought tears to my whole being. It was a fantastic feeling and so fulfilling as a mother and a coach.”
7. John Howard, 42
In 2016, when MMA fighter John Howard signed his contract with the World Series of Fighting he was required to undergo a neurological exam. After answering questions about his struggles in class as a child the physician recommended he get tested for autism.
The diagnosis left him feeling confused at first. However, he later learned to change his perspective about autism by viewing it as a strength. In 2021, he toldSporting News, “My disadvantage is actually my weapon. The way I process things happening is totally different, but it’s beneficial to me because what I do for a living, I should be processing it that way and it makes me a better fighter. So, this, actually I think in my case, amplifies my fighting. Maybe that’s the reason I am a great fighter. It made me better.”
Muni Long has already opened up about her battle with the autoimmune disease called lupus. What isn’t as talked about with the R&B singer is her autism status. Part of that could be because she just found out that she has it. The “Hrs & Hrs” artist shared the news back in 2023 and said she believes that repressing that side of herself led to her getting lupus.
Posting the vulnerable news on X, she wrote, “So apparently I’m autistic, and my free self is the version of me that I began repressing at the age of 22 because it made people highly uncomfortable. It started first with me doing insane amounts of drugs and then when that didn’t work I just held it in. Which led to lupus.”
The 36-year-old then said, “And now the lupus has gotten to a point where it’s effectively impossible to contain. And in order to free myself from the rollercoaster that is autoimmune disease, I have to let my emotions, thoughts and feelings out…. But…. Autism! OMG WTF THIS IS SO WACK.”
After a three-hour conversation on Club Shay Shay last year, Amanda Seales made headlines by declaring she is autistic.
She said, “I recently was diagnosed as someone who has autism spectrum disorder, which is very difficult to identify in Black women because of racism.” She explained that because the brain functions differently for an autistic person, they would be considered neurodivergent. But she also added that one could have “certain tendencies that are considered outside of what the neurotypical way of things is. And a lot of times that can have you present in a manner that people misrepresent.”
