Last month, in her special Netflix comedy show ‘Growing,’ Amy Schumer shared that her husband, Chris Fischer, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She called him “courageous and beautiful” for allowing her to open up about his disorder in public.
And to mark Autism Awareness Day earlier this week, the stand-up comedian shared an image on Instagram, which she rewrote some of the negative terms related to autism with positive terms about her husband’s diagnosis with ASD.
The Trainwreck star said it “was in NO WAY BAD NEWS.” Rather, she called it “empowering” and “exciting to have answers and it should be given tools to move forward. She wrote, “Receiving the diagnosis and the information that came with it was affirming and we are both so grateful.”
She said people have come up to her and said “I’m so sorry to hear” he has ASD. She responded by writing, “Sorry for what? My husband is my absolute favorite person. I wouldn’t change him. Not one bit. He is creative, funny, brilliant, brave and I admire him more than anyone.” She ended by saying, “I hope our perspective is any way helpful.”
While her Autism Awareness Day post on Instagram received more than 100,000 likes, some people, especially parents of children with autism, were upset with it, who think their children are not high-functioning and were not grateful for the diagnosis of autism.
One commenter replied, “Although I thoroughly agree with your sentiments, and think you are brilliant and positive, I do think that there needs to be more understanding about the negatives if autism. Your husband is obviously very high functioning, but there are far more children (my son and most of his special need school included) for whom autism is a disability. There seems to be some misunderstanding that autism comes with super powers; your rain man, sheldon from Big Bang etc. When the fact of the matter is for the majority of people with autism it means huge development delays and tons of hard work. Many may never live independently, ever talk, get a job, have a friend etc. Do we love them less? No. Are we proud? More than you can imagine. Should we pretend having autism is awesome? Nope, not one bit.”
There have been many other comments agreeing with this mom’s experience, who shared similar stories. Another person wrote, “Thank you for your positive and consistent support, it is appreciated! But please also remember ASD is a spectrum, and that for all those, like your husband, that are on the higher end/more high functioning, there are just as many, like my two beautiful boys, that are on the lower/more severe end of the spectrum, and for them, Autism IS a disability. Of course I want to see it as abilities, and I treasure all their unique characteristics, but to be realistic, for them, it is a disability. I imagine for you and your husband, getting a diagnosis as an adult would definitely have been a good thing, to finally have answers and tools to help that is awesome. But please just remember that that is not always the case, getting the diagnosis when they are young, it can be quite shocking and something that parents may really struggle with. I’m sorry if I’m coming across harsh, i do really appreciate your support and your openness, I just wanted to share the other side to the story a bit.”
One of the commenters said, “The spectrum is wide.” And while, “In your husband’s case was good news… There are ASD cases that can’t even communicate a single word. This day must exist. Diagnosis is the beginning. Visibility is crucial. Understanding is so important…But for some parents I don’t think is good news to hear from a doctor for the first time.”
The stand-up comedian noticed the comment and replied to a post. She stated, “I really hear you and appreciate this sentiment,” the star wrote. “I tried to make it clear I am talking about our experience. But I really get where you’re coming from. There is so much misinformation out there and we definitely want to be helpful. I can’t speak to other people’s. But felt the need to express what it’s been like for us.” There were many comments that did thank Schumer for sharing her husband’s story. One commenter said, “Saw ur Netflix special & absolutely love how u spoke about ur husband & his autism. U gave me hope for my son. Watching how u lit up as u spoke about Chris makes me hope one day my son will find someone like u. U were already one of my favorite ppl but now u ARE my favorite person.”
