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Chrisette Michele is opening up about a recent diagnosis. The singer revealed this week that she has been diagnosed as autistic at age 42. She posted the news on social media while also acknowledging that she’s coming to grips with all of it.
"I just learned I'm autistic," she wrote on Instagram. "Official diagnosis. They used the word 'Severely.'"
She went on to explain why she’s been relatively quiet on social media.
"I've been outside," she continued. "Singing... but learning to strip the mask. One show at a time (the irony). Just... coming to grips with a lot and giving myself room to take it all in.”
According to the National Institute of Health, “although the prevalence of autism has been rising in recent years, disparities in diagnosis remain. Female and Black populations in the United States are diagnosed later, are more likely to have an intellectual disability, and are excluded from research as well as services designed for autistic individuals. Autistic Black girls are effectively invisible in the current scientific literature.”
In 2021, Dr. Temple Lovelace, program director of Assessment for Good, published her findings after researching the past 77 years of autism-related research.
“In order to study Black autistic women and girls effectively,” Dr. Lovelace writes. “Intersectionality demands the construction of a new analytical tool that addresses the interdependent, enmeshed nature of this new racialized, gendered, and abled identity.”
Chrisette Michele explained that her diagnosis has actually given her a better understanding of her life.
“My life and its challenges finally make sense,” she continued. “So so much sense. Autistic. Would you get a load of that... I'll talk more soon. Just wanted to say hi... from stage side."
To learn more about autism, you can visit
Embrace-Autism.com.
English (US) · 