Rosie King

Rosie King (born c. 1998) is a British writer, public speaker and autism advocate. She has featured in a BBC documentary on the subject, and she is a prominent contributor to the Pablo TV series.

Rosie King
Bornc. 1998
NationalityBritish
Occupationwriter, public speaker and autism advocate
Known forregarding her autism as an asset

Biography

King diagnosed herself with autism at the age of 10 after reading about it in the book Little Rainman: Autism - Through the Eyes of a Child which her parents had obtained to explain her brother's diagnosis. She was officially diagnosed with Asperger syndrome after a year-long process.[1]

Her mother, Sharon King, published a fairy tale that featured an autistic character in 2010 and King contributed drawings to illustrate pixies, fairies and goblins.[2] This led to her being featured in the 2011 BBC Newsround documentary My Autism and Me. This short film went on to win an International Emmy and a Royal Television Society Award. She herself was awarded the Yorkshire Children of Courage award after her appearance in this documentary.[3]

At the 2014 edition of the TEDMED Conference she was invited to speak about her autism diagnosis. She spoke about how she sees her autism as an asset rather than something holding her back and how it is backward to place normality on a pedestal.[4]

Imagine that was the best compliment you ever received, ‘Wow you are really normal,’[...] compliments are: ‘You are extraordinary, or you step outside the box, [or] you are amazing.’ If people want to be these things, why are so many people striving to be normal? Why are people pouring their brilliant, individual light into a mould?

In 2017, she was cast and contributes to the writing of the CBeebies animated TV show Pablo, which focuses on an autistic boy, for which she also voiced the character Llama, who displays many of the traits of autism, such as echolalia.[5]

References
  1. Stokes, By Paul (17 November 2008). "Girl diagnoses herself with Asperger's after reading book". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  2. "Fairy tale success for the book illustrator aged 12". Yorkshire Post. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  3. "How teen Rosie earned place among Yorkshire's Children of Courage". Yorkshire Post. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  4. Bushak, Lecia (30 September 2015). "TED Speaker Rosie King Explains How Autism 'Freed' Her To Be Herself And Allowed Her To Be Creative". Medical Daily. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  5. BBC (14 September 2017). "Pablo - Media Centre". Retrieved 7 March 2020.
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