After three years, The Last Of Us is making a return to our TV screens with the first episode of season two dropping on Monday 14 April. Yay! Ahead of its release, Bella Ramsey – who stars as the lead alongside Pedro Pascal – has opened up about being diagnosed with autism while working on the first season, and how the "stigma" of this has impacted them.
"It was something that I didn't really think about too much before," Bella told the BBC of their diagnosis, which they decided to go public with in the hopes of inspiring others. "I said that I was neurodiverse before, and then I was like, 'Why don't I just say what it actually is, which is, yeah, I'm autistic."
Revealing the impact of being so open, Bella said that this allowed them to be "a bit more free" especially in the face of "stigma" in the movie industry.
"You can be in industries like this and openly say that you're autistic," the 21-year-old said, adding that there shouldn't be "such a fear" around that.
Elsewhere in the interview, the actor said they are "very proud" to share their diagnosis so publicly and enjoys seeing the awareness that this brings. "Autism comes in all different shapes and sizes, and and I'm not someone that people would maybe typically see and go like 'oh, you're autistic'."
What is autism?
According to the NHS, autism is not an illness or a disease, instead it "means your brain works in a different way from other people." Autism is a spectrum, and so everybody with autism is different. "Some autistic people need little or no support," the NHS says, "others may need help from a parent or carer every day."
Everyone's clicking on...
Autism is "something you're born with" and "signs of autism might be noticed when you're very young, or not until you're older."
The NHS website explains that autistic people may:
- Find it hard to communicate and interact with other people
- Find it hard to understand how other people think or feel
- Find things like bright lights or loud noises overwhelming, stressful or uncomfortable
- Get anxious or upset about unfamiliar situations and social events
- Take longer to understand information
- Do or think the same things over and over
Other famous faces who have shared their autism diagnosis include Greta Thunberg, Courtney Love, Sia, Tylan Grant and Lucy Bronze.
The Last of Us Season two premieres on Sky and NOW on Monday 14 April.
