Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About Ristella podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Lamarquin, your host, and this year I have
Speaker 1: had the privilege of sitting down with some of the
Speaker 1: biggest names in the country. Because when Estrala's celebrities are
Speaker 1: ready to talk, they come to something to talk about.
Speaker 1: We're continuing to publish across the summer break, and we'll
Speaker 1: be back with a brand new episode on January twelfth.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, each day for the next two weeks,
Speaker 1: we'll be revisiting some of your favorite episodes from the
Speaker 1: past year.
Speaker 2: And I'm happy to report that there have been.
Speaker 1: A lot of popular episodes, but out of the fifty
Speaker 1: we released in twenty twenty four, we've narrowed it down
Speaker 1: to ten conversations to revisit over the summer break, and
Speaker 1: today we'll be revisiting our conversation with m Rasciano. It's
Speaker 1: a characteristically lively chat from M about Adhd and how
Speaker 1: she emerged from what she calls her quote scorched earth
Speaker 1: years to M.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me and I just hurripe between
Speaker 3: you and I will find something to talk about.
Speaker 1: I think that we will. Have you ever not been
Speaker 1: able to find something to talk about.
Speaker 4: Nah, isn't that the glory? Oh? Let me think. No,
Speaker 4: I've usually got an answer.
Speaker 3: My dad always said that there's a smart ass answer
Speaker 3: for everything, so there is indeed.
Speaker 1: Well, I really want to talk to you about your
Speaker 1: new podcast. You, of course are no stranger to podcasting.
Speaker 1: You have topped the charts regularly with a variety of podcasts.
Speaker 1: But this is almost like a new audio documentary. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about anomalies, and you've described it EMM as a
Speaker 1: love letter to the neurodivergent community and a roadmap for
Speaker 1: neurotypical people. Can we go back to your diagnosis. You
Speaker 1: were diagnosed with autism at the age of forty three
Speaker 1: and diagnosed with ADHD a year earlier when you were
Speaker 1: forty two, With those moments in hindsight respectively, three and
Speaker 1: two years ago now the catalyst for this series, even
Speaker 1: though presumably you didn't know it at the time.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, that's an excellent question. Thank you for asking it.
Speaker 3: I often when I'm going through things, I look around
Speaker 3: to find information, solace community, and when I was diagnosed
Speaker 3: with ADHD and previously ADHD, in my mind, the prototype
Speaker 3: for that was the hyperactive ten year old white boy.
Speaker 4: I was a chronically.
Speaker 3: Exhausted forty two year old mother of three, so when
Speaker 3: I got the diagnosis, it was wild. So I began
Speaker 3: looking for resources, and because I don't have great executive function,
Speaker 3: I found it extremely overwhelming. It was like my brain
Speaker 3: was fraying and I was desperately trying to grab all
Speaker 3: the ends to tether them to something solid. And I
Speaker 3: couldn't find one resource that would explain it to me
Speaker 3: in a way that wasn't terrifying or scientific or even make.
Speaker 4: Me question myself.
Speaker 3: And I wanted to when the idea for anomalist when
Speaker 3: I had it, you know, fast forward to me giving
Speaker 3: the National Press Club address about my ADHD. I know
Speaker 3: a lot of women and afabs saw me and saw
Speaker 3: themselves in me and started questioning do I need a diagnosis?
Speaker 3: And I kind of left everyone hanging. So Anomalist is
Speaker 3: my follow up to the Press Club. It's the what
Speaker 3: Do I Do Now? Podcast? For people who do suspect
Speaker 3: then you're a divergent, or who have been newly diagnosed
Speaker 3: and aren't really sure what the next step is, or
Speaker 3: for people who want to let them neurotypical people in
Speaker 3: their life know what's going on for them?
Speaker 1: You mentioned the National Press Club address there, which was
Speaker 1: really the moment where you went public. That was August
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, and we'll actually put a link to
Speaker 1: that address in full in our show notes, and because
Speaker 1: it was a really powerful and emotional address and it
Speaker 1: got a lot of pickup in that part of what
Speaker 1: you talked about with the fearing when you were first diagnosed,
Speaker 1: the feelings of grief as you described it, what would
Speaker 1: you say was the dominant emotion? Because you and I
Speaker 1: would both know when people get those diagnoses there can
Speaker 1: be a raft of different things. For some people, it
Speaker 1: is relief. Now everything suddenly makes sense. For other people,
Speaker 1: it's like a validation. I always thought something was going on.
Speaker 1: For some people, it's a real confusion and despair, and
Speaker 1: then there's grief. What was the overarching feeling for you?
Speaker 4: I made sense.
Speaker 3: It put me into context for myself because I've always
Speaker 3: felt out of place and I've always felt like an
Speaker 3: alien amongst the human race, and it gave me a
Speaker 3: reason for so many things in my life. That was
Speaker 3: probably the most The strongest outcome was ah okay, But
Speaker 3: I experienced all of those things you spoke about with
Speaker 3: equal strength.
Speaker 4: The grief took me out. The grief.
Speaker 3: The grief was just free flowing, and I was shocked
Speaker 3: at the veracity of it. I was shocked at how
Speaker 3: much it took my breath away. And you know, I
Speaker 3: would have little flashbacks to events or too happenings in
Speaker 3: my career, at my even just you know, right back
Speaker 3: to primary.
Speaker 4: School, where I would be told to try.
Speaker 3: Harder, or you're not putting in enough work, or why
Speaker 3: are you so disorganized? Can you just remember your homework?
Speaker 3: Why can't you be more like you are in English?
Speaker 3: In maths, you know, and constantly looking at these grown
Speaker 3: ups saying, I am busting my heart and soul.
Speaker 4: I'm staying up till one am.
Speaker 3: I'm putting glitter on my math's assignments to hope that
Speaker 3: I distract you from how bad I am at maths.
Speaker 3: I couldn't try any harder, like I will bust something
Speaker 3: and just validation for that little ten year old girl,
Speaker 3: and I'm able to spend some time with her and say,
Speaker 3: you know, you're incredible and magic and you would just
Speaker 3: not so, you know, and I still get teary talking
Speaker 3: about it, because, yeah, the grief was enormous, but it
Speaker 3: was coupled with relief and a lot of joy because
Speaker 3: I was able to reframe myself. So, you know, many
Speaker 3: things can be true at once, and it's so complex,
Speaker 3: and I still go through phases with my ADHD, especially
Speaker 3: because sometimes it really helps me and a lot of
Speaker 3: the time it hinders me.
Speaker 1: I think that's such a beautiful description of the complexity
Speaker 1: of that diagnosis, because, as you say, so many different
Speaker 1: things at once, and I am not just echoing that
Speaker 1: back to you. That's something I've experienced myself, and I
Speaker 1: actually never spoken about this on something to talk about,
Speaker 1: but this felt like the appropriate forum. Be really clear,
Speaker 1: this podcast is absolutely not about me. I do actually
Speaker 1: try to make myself a little bit.
Speaker 4: Because it to be about you right now.
Speaker 1: I just thought it might be helpful, because you're being
Speaker 1: so generous with your followers and your audience and ignite
Speaker 1: this conversation, that it was helpful to say that I,
Speaker 1: like you, also navigated an ADHD diagnosis in my forties,
Speaker 1: and as you were talking about even your first answer
Speaker 1: just not that being the picture. It's not that ten
Speaker 1: year old in attentive boy.
Speaker 2: That's a bit naughty.
Speaker 1: In the front of the class in year four. I
Speaker 1: wanted to get some of your thoughts about that because
Speaker 1: we are, as you know, seeing a lot of women
Speaker 1: in the spotlight. You've very much been at the forefront
Speaker 1: of it. But obviously that's being replicated across all parts
Speaker 1: of the community because you and I both know that's
Speaker 1: what culture is. It's about what's happening in the limelight
Speaker 1: is only replicating what's happening in households all around Australia.
Speaker 1: That misdiagnosis.
Speaker 4: For you, for yourself as.
Speaker 1: A woman, coming to that diagnosis in your forties, for
Speaker 1: you as a mother yourself, it is wild how far
Speaker 1: we've come in terms of realizing that it's not just
Speaker 1: about those quote unquote naughty attentive boys at school.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the traditional focus has been hyperactivity in school settings. Right,
Speaker 3: So if you're presenting most females a hygh percentage of
Speaker 3: females and AFAB have the inattentive type of ADHD. So
Speaker 3: they're the quiet girls in the corner of the daydreamers.
Speaker 3: They might be accused of being lazy or disorganized. And
Speaker 3: you know, the squeaky wheel gets the most grease. So
Speaker 3: if the little boys are jumping up and down in
Speaker 3: the classroom. Is what we call a symptom recognition. A
Speaker 3: symptom recognition bias begins to manifest. And it is years
Speaker 3: and years of this symptom recognition bias working against girls
Speaker 3: and a fab who don't present in that manner.
Speaker 4: And this just breaks my heart.
Speaker 3: There's just a generation of us and our mothers who
Speaker 3: were missed and as a result, unsupported, and as a result,
Speaker 3: there's so many cooccurrences of anxiety and depression and OCD.
Speaker 3: And if it's just caught early enough and you're given
Speaker 3: the right support, amazing things can happen for you. But
Speaker 3: you get to forty burnt out in total overwhelm, everything's
Speaker 3: on top of you, and you look back at the
Speaker 3: trail of just on your hormones going haywire because the
Speaker 3: perimenopause has started, and you look back at the trail
Speaker 3: of destruction behind you, and I couldn't help it think, God,
Speaker 3: if this had been caught, if I had have been recognized,
Speaker 3: then so much of the destruction that did happen might
Speaker 3: not have happened. But on the flip side of that,
Speaker 3: I'm really brave with my career and I'm really brave
Speaker 3: with myself because I have a lack of dopamine. So
Speaker 3: it's that double edged sword, right. But up until very
Speaker 3: recently that was thought, you know, that ADHD just really
Speaker 3: didn't occur that much in girls, And now what we're
Speaker 3: finding is that it's completely false, and there's been a
Speaker 3: rise in this late diagnosis because there is a finally
Speaker 3: a desperate correction of the chronic, previously underdiagnosed condition that
Speaker 3: ADHD is. So you know, oftentimes apparently you know, I
Speaker 3: invented ADHD, if you believe some of the commenters after
Speaker 3: the Press Club, but you know, we're up against decades
Speaker 3: of systemic symptom recognition bias, and to undo that. Now
Speaker 3: that we can gather on mass online and compare notes
Speaker 3: and realize the different variations of presentations, you know, TikTok
Speaker 3: for one. I know it's given people the ability we
Speaker 3: can finally get together and gather and understand it. Whereas
Speaker 3: in the past, this is going to shock you. Female
Speaker 3: health doesn't get a lot of coverage, It doesn't get
Speaker 3: a lot of recent right, but now we're not relying
Speaker 3: on mainstream media to tell our stories. We can tell
Speaker 3: our stories and then we're able to see someone else's
Speaker 3: story that's like ours and then we can talk about it.
Speaker 3: So when people call it a fad, you know, or
Speaker 3: a trend, I just think, God, there is just so
Speaker 3: many other fads I would pick. If I was going
Speaker 3: to get on board with a fad, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Agreed like city jeans, oversized neutral jackets or whatever.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it would be chronic executive function
Speaker 3: disorder where I'm unable to answer emails that literally, you know,
Speaker 3: it's my house is going to be going to foreclosure
Speaker 3: if I don't answer the bank, you know.
Speaker 4: That kind of stuff. I don't know if i'd pick that,
Speaker 4: as muffat.
Speaker 3: TikTok has been so great for so many women, and
Speaker 3: you can't get diagnosed on TikTok, like they don't send
Speaker 3: you a certificate from the House of Talk that that's
Speaker 3: not what happens. You have to go through a horrible
Speaker 3: hoop jumping ablest variety of diagnostic appointments that is so
Speaker 3: set up against us, as ADHD is.
Speaker 4: That's a whole other topic. Don't get me started.
Speaker 3: But yeah, we're now realizing and catching up with all
Speaker 3: those little girls and a fab community who were you
Speaker 3: just were missed and fell below the radar.
Speaker 1: It's so important that you've called that out because he
Speaker 1: did want to talk to you about that, because you
Speaker 1: and I both know him that there will be people
Speaker 1: listening thinking.
Speaker 2: Oh, here we go. You know, a couple of.
Speaker 1: Women talking about their ADHD diagnosis. So it's a fad,
Speaker 1: it's a bandwagon, all of those sorts of things.
Speaker 2: And I think speaking.
Speaker 1: To that with some empathy as you just have, is
Speaker 1: about saying, well, here is why it looks that way
Speaker 1: to you, because we can see why it might look
Speaker 1: that way because suddenly, as you said, you've had this
Speaker 1: decades of systemic bias where people have gone undiagnosed. And
Speaker 1: if we want to call out something as a trend,
Speaker 1: I would argue that was the trend. We were missing
Speaker 1: the signs and we were not diagnosing people. Now we're
Speaker 1: seeing a correction, and I, like you, wouldn't call that
Speaker 1: a trend. A trend is what you'll find in the
Speaker 1: fashion pages of Stellar People.
Speaker 2: Not profound.
Speaker 3: Look.
Speaker 1: Please feel free to jump in with a few m
Speaker 1: is photographed in today's Dell in fabulous fashion so we
Speaker 1: can cross.
Speaker 2: Promo this all the way. But that's right.
Speaker 1: And because you must hear a lot about that, people saying, oh,
Speaker 1: it's social media is making this a little bit contagious.
Speaker 1: For one of a much better word, people are diagnosing themselves.
Speaker 2: You've already shut it down so quickly.
Speaker 1: But as you say, it's a referral service, isn't it.
Speaker 1: You have to go through very profound and rigorous there's
Speaker 1: medical diagnosis.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have no problem with self diagnosis either. I mean,
Speaker 3: you can't access the main idea around you know, people
Speaker 3: saying they have ADHD? Is this really unfair and unfounded
Speaker 3: attitude around the medication the stimulants, right, and our medication
Speaker 3: is the most policed medication of all medications. I cannot
Speaker 3: think of another medication where there it's such fear and
Speaker 3: scarcity around stuff that actually helps me function and helps
Speaker 3: my disability.
Speaker 4: The anxiety that most.
Speaker 3: Adhds I know have around their stimulants is wild. So
Speaker 3: you take that aspect out if you want a self
Speaker 3: diagnosed as ADHD and you that's that's great, how empowering.
Speaker 3: Why would we want to discourage women or a fab
Speaker 3: community from finding a better way of moving through the world.
Speaker 3: Thank god, this is happening, and I just think, to
Speaker 3: anybody who wants to say, oh, it's bad, it's boring.
Speaker 4: I ask you and challenge you.
Speaker 3: Why is your response not shit, we really let some
Speaker 3: people down.
Speaker 4: How awful.
Speaker 3: I can't believe we have done this to generations of women.
Speaker 3: Why is your response not what can we do to
Speaker 3: put in better supports for these undiagnosed and unsupported women
Speaker 3: and AFAB Why is your initial response boredom, eye rolling
Speaker 3: or accusing us of jumping on a fad. And so
Speaker 3: that's the challenge I put to all of your listeners
Speaker 3: is if you do find yourself feeling a bit challenged
Speaker 3: and annoyed by the conversations around ADHD, ask yourself why
Speaker 3: and then go on google internalized ableism.
Speaker 4: But that's another podcast.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I really don't have a lot of patients
Speaker 3: for people who roll their eyes at ADHD, because you
Speaker 3: should try living with it.
Speaker 1: I know that you've been an inspiration and a mentor
Speaker 1: of sorts.
Speaker 2: If that's my.
Speaker 1: Word to use on your behalf to other women in
Speaker 1: particular who have also been public with diagnosis. A specific
Speaker 1: example of that m would be Abby Chatfield, who was
Speaker 1: a guest on this podcast last year, and she called
Speaker 1: you out as somebody who'd really helped her navigate some
Speaker 1: of those battles that she had encountered, specifically speaking publicly
Speaker 1: about her experiences being diagnosed with ADHD. Does that sort
Speaker 1: of feedback from people and someone like Abby, who like herself,
Speaker 1: very well known, no stranger to getting flack and causing
Speaker 1: media storms. She's very outspoken. But obviously that is very difficult.
Speaker 1: Whatever it looks like from the outside, it's never easy
Speaker 1: to be in the set inter especially when it's something
Speaker 1: so personal as your health and your mental health.
Speaker 2: Having feedback from people.
Speaker 1: Like Abby saying what a mentor you've been does that
Speaker 1: help strengthen your results?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think Abby's fantastic. I just am so
Speaker 3: grateful that she exists in the media landscape. I'm a
Speaker 3: big fan, and I always judge people if they have
Speaker 3: an issue with Abby. That's always my litmus test. Do
Speaker 3: you have an issue with Megan Marshall or Abby Chatfield?
Speaker 3: And if you do, then let's talk about your problems.
Speaker 3: And whenever anyone says you know something negative about Abby,
Speaker 3: I jump on them so quickly and I get really
Speaker 3: curious and I'm like, tell me about that.
Speaker 4: Why?
Speaker 3: What is it because if someone's brave enough to stick
Speaker 3: with me, I generally turn them around. It doesn't happen
Speaker 3: that often. She's beloved to be fair, I just want
Speaker 3: to say it's very rare, but I think she's magnificent
Speaker 3: and brave.
Speaker 4: But I know the toll. I know the other side
Speaker 4: of that.
Speaker 3: Abby and I work for the same company and both
Speaker 3: came from reality TV. And then when she started talking
Speaker 3: about her diagnosis, I viscerally felt it because I know
Speaker 3: what commercial radio demands of you, and I also know
Speaker 3: what a new diagnosis of ADHD demands of you, and
Speaker 3: those two things should be know any of each other.
Speaker 3: So anytime she reached out to me or I would
Speaker 3: reach out to her, I just wanted to be a
Speaker 3: safe space for her because it's also an extremely unique
Speaker 3: situation that she was in. That's pretty niche nearly diagnosed
Speaker 3: in a high profile radio job. Me too, But yeah,
Speaker 3: I not just for famous women, but I get contacted
Speaker 3: by women everywhere saying, you know, you've emboldened me or
Speaker 3: empowered me to advocate for myself, which is so incredibly
Speaker 3: humbling but also the fuel that drives me. But the
Speaker 3: main thing is I have three neurodivergent children. I have
Speaker 3: an autistic son with high support needs, and I can
Speaker 3: see how this world is set up against them, and
Speaker 3: I want to be a part of changing attitudes and
Speaker 3: changing the cultural discussions around neurodivergence. So that's what keeps
Speaker 3: me going because every time I'm front facing with my
Speaker 3: autism and ADHD.
Speaker 4: I cop it.
Speaker 3: It's brutal, but I have to keep doing it because
Speaker 3: eventually people like me will stop copying it. Representation matters,
Speaker 3: and currently there's not a lot of representation for neurodivergent women,
Speaker 3: especially autistic women.
Speaker 4: But every time I talk about it.
Speaker 3: I get You're not autistic, you're not autistic enough, you're
Speaker 3: not disabled enough, you're not disabled. She's faking it, she's
Speaker 3: doing it for attention. I have to live through that,
Speaker 3: and it's brutal. But if I don't keep fronting up,
Speaker 3: then the attitude's never changed. So it's this cycle that
Speaker 3: I'm in. And you know, I've got anomalists, and I've
Speaker 3: also got mine live show Outgrown, which is kind of
Speaker 3: an extension on from Anomalies with songs and chokes and stories,
Speaker 3: and I'm just bracing myself for what's going to come.
Speaker 3: But if I don't put myself out there, then things
Speaker 3: don't get better. So yeah, it starts with Abby, it
Speaker 3: goes into women everywhere, but ultimately it ends with my kids.
Speaker 3: On a selfish level, I want their lives to be
Speaker 3: full and amazing and everything that and kids like them
Speaker 3: and ten year old m I'm kind of doing the
Speaker 3: thing I wish someone had done for her.
Speaker 1: I don't want to give airtime to any of your
Speaker 1: specific trolls, will spend too much time talking on about that,
Speaker 1: because as you've just articulated, it is not easy. However
Speaker 1: it looks from the outside, however robust and bulletproof you
Speaker 1: would seem to so many of your followers. That's it
Speaker 1: takes a massive toll, as you've just explained. But you
Speaker 1: said there m for instance, that you do get accused
Speaker 1: of faking things, and specifically because we've talked to about
Speaker 1: the ADHD diagnosis, but the autism diagnosis, and that I mean,
Speaker 1: I would argue is probably even a lot more work
Speaker 1: to be done in the media space, which I think
Speaker 1: that your podcast tackled so beautifully. But there was an
Speaker 1: instance last year where a comedian did accuse you of
Speaker 1: faking your autism diagnosis when you had spoken about about
Speaker 1: the sensory space that's available at Marvel Stadium, and you
Speaker 1: at the time were praised for being very gracious in
Speaker 1: your response because you spoke about what you just touched
Speaker 1: upon there. That it's really those sorts of ignorant comments
Speaker 1: are a reflection of the bias that's existed and the
Speaker 1: need for representation, because we are still struggling to understand
Speaker 1: that you actually are representative the neurodivergent community. You are
Speaker 1: representative of somebody with autism. It musting, though, And do
Speaker 1: you think that that is getting any better for you,
Speaker 1: because being accused of faking a diagnosis, surely it doesn't
Speaker 1: get much worse than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. It was probably my worst fear, to be honest
Speaker 3: about coming out. And it's just such a wild thing
Speaker 3: to accuse someone off, especially I have and I took
Speaker 3: to carrying around my diagnostic report in hard copy and digital.
Speaker 3: That's how upsetting it was, just in case anybody challenged me,
Speaker 3: and autistic people never challenged me. Autistic people were, yeah,
Speaker 3: we know, it's only neurotypical people that seem to have
Speaker 3: an issue with the idea that I'm autistic and it.
Speaker 4: Was I didn't get out of bed for a month.
Speaker 3: I think as a comedian, I'm pretty brave in covering
Speaker 3: the hard stuff of life. I've done shows about losing
Speaker 3: a baby, about my marriage, breaking down, about being called
Speaker 3: a diva, but this one was really personal because those
Speaker 3: are other things were tangible, and this is an invisible disability.
Speaker 3: And also, you know, I don't represent everyone's preconceived ideas
Speaker 3: of what an autistic person is because the only examples
Speaker 3: we've had are Dustin Hoffmann in rain Man, and you know,
Speaker 3: the guy from the Good Doctor and the kid from
Speaker 3: A Typical and the common theme is there they're all white,
Speaker 3: straight dudes, and I'm not that. So every time I
Speaker 3: front up and represent autistic women, people have no prior
Speaker 3: knowledge or nothing to compare me to accept those examples
Speaker 3: I just gave you, So yeah, naturally there's going to
Speaker 3: be a not But yeah, it was brutal and my
Speaker 3: worst fear, and it really took me out and down,
Speaker 3: and it made me not want to continue talking about it.
Speaker 3: But it's who I am, and to shut that part
Speaker 3: off would be doing again ten year old Emma service.
Speaker 3: So I spent many months picking myself up and nonemallest
Speaker 3: was put on the back burner because it was meant
Speaker 3: to come out much sooner, and it took me probably
Speaker 3: six months.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then I got over myself.
Speaker 3: And I realized that I don't need the validation of
Speaker 3: people are gonna people are going to choose to not
Speaker 3: believe me or think badly of me, and that's out
Speaker 3: of my control. And my greater purpose for making the
Speaker 3: podcasts and doing the live stand ups and being so
Speaker 3: front facing with my disabilities is so people don't have
Speaker 3: to ever feel how I felt that day when I
Speaker 3: read what that person said and how I was being
Speaker 3: covered and.
Speaker 4: Made fun of. And I don't know if you can imagine.
Speaker 3: What it's like having a massive public discourse around your
Speaker 3: disability and if in fact you I disabled enough. It
Speaker 3: was wild and I had a lot of win and
Speaker 3: then reach out to me at the time saying they
Speaker 3: felt a similar thing when they told their family they
Speaker 3: were autistic ADHD. They were gas lit and I got
Speaker 3: gas lit by a hyph percentage of Australian public very publicly.
Speaker 3: But I'm grateful for that time now because I have
Speaker 3: a much steally a resolve around it, and if people
Speaker 3: challenge me on it now. I'm rock steady crew. If
Speaker 3: people want to say you're not autistic, I'm like, okay, cool,
Speaker 3: that's in your scientific opinion. Great, but it doesn't it
Speaker 3: doesn't rip my soul out through my nose. I'm okay now,
Speaker 3: and I'm ready to make stuff about it to help
Speaker 3: other people, which is what anomalist is, which is what
Speaker 3: our grown is. I'm okay. I'm in a good space
Speaker 3: to do it. But it did really take me some time.
Speaker 3: It was my worst fear come true.
Speaker 1: And I'm really sorry that you were made to feel
Speaker 1: that way, and I'm really sorry to hear how awful
Speaker 1: it was, although it does come as no surprise to me.
Speaker 1: It was absolutely horrifying, hurtful thing to watch unfold. And
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you found a way to channel
Speaker 1: that and get this body of work that is anomalous
Speaker 1: out into the public space. And I'd love to talk
Speaker 1: to you a little bit about it specifically. And you've
Speaker 1: mentioned a few times what you're doing for the ten
Speaker 1: year old, am, and you are a mum of three
Speaker 1: and as you said, three neurodivergent children. I'd love to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about you as a mum. Not
Speaker 1: in a reductive, sexist way, by the way, but like
Speaker 1: I say it, yes, this is a bit of a
Speaker 1: family project, isn't it. Your husband, Scott is also involved
Speaker 1: in Anomalis.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 1: Can you tell me a little bit about the role
Speaker 1: that you and your family and what that has played
Speaker 1: in this new podcast and how they have driven this
Speaker 1: new chapter of your work.
Speaker 3: I think having them involved was really important because I
Speaker 3: wanted people to see that side of me, because oftentimes
Speaker 3: you'll just see me, you know, all guns blazing on
Speaker 3: stage or with my other podcast, Emsolation, But this was
Speaker 3: just me unmasked at home. The press Club. You know
Speaker 3: that the first episode kicks off with a bit of
Speaker 3: the press club and the kind of you know, the
Speaker 3: what now? And I live in a household of very blind,
Speaker 3: very sensitive people, so it's always wild and fun to document.
Speaker 3: But we're all neurodivergent, and I've gone through the diagnostic
Speaker 3: journey with every single member of our family, and I
Speaker 3: think that will be helpful for people to hear. But yeah,
Speaker 3: this project is I'm so proud of it. It's like
Speaker 3: nothing I've ever made before because it's so we've spent
Speaker 3: so much time with it, it is a doco, it's
Speaker 3: fact checked, there's experts. You know. It's something that I
Speaker 3: took a lot of time and care with, you know,
Speaker 3: over a year, because I wanted to have this neat,
Speaker 3: little legacy for when someone is newly diagnosed or someone
Speaker 3: is thinking about getting diagnosed, their doctor, their friend, their mum,
Speaker 3: their colleagues, and maybe you're listening right now, you can
Speaker 3: send anomalist to them as a.
Speaker 4: Little five episode gift.
Speaker 3: I've also broken the episodes down into two parts if
Speaker 3: they're a bit long, because it's tough.
Speaker 4: Being you're a divergent taking all that in all at once.
Speaker 3: But I wanted it to be this standalone, self contained
Speaker 3: how to guide for neurodivergent people and neurotypical people and
Speaker 3: striking that balance of being neuroaffirming and accessible, so and
Speaker 3: funny and heartfelt and not too dense but enough facts just.
Speaker 4: The thing that I needed that I didn't have.
Speaker 3: I go and I make this shit I need when
Speaker 3: I go through stuff, you know, and I realized there's
Speaker 3: a bit of a gap there, or like no one's
Speaker 3: delivering it in a way that I need to hear it.
Speaker 3: Not to say, there's so many resources out there, and
Speaker 3: this isn't the only one, and so many wonderful people
Speaker 3: are doing stuff in this area. I just needed something,
Speaker 3: you know, a.
Speaker 4: Bit raw and weird and colorful and noisy.
Speaker 3: And you know, I've just made something essentially for me
Speaker 3: that I hope resonates with everyone else. I don't think
Speaker 3: there's anything out there like it, and I hope everyone
Speaker 3: loves it.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that's really once I let it go.
Speaker 3: You know, when you make something, once you give it
Speaker 3: to the public, it's no longer yours. And I'm really
Speaker 3: ready for that to happen.
Speaker 1: And when we come back, em gives us a look
Speaker 1: at what an average day, whatever average means, looks like
Speaker 1: inside her household.
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask a little bit about that.
Speaker 1: Sentence that I touched upon the beginning of our conversation
Speaker 1: about anomalous also serving as a roadmap for neurotypical people.
Speaker 1: If someone listening doesn't have anyone in their family or
Speaker 1: circle as far as they know, who is neurodivergent, and
Speaker 1: they want to understand a little better what it is
Speaker 1: like living in the household like yours, AM's, or as
Speaker 1: you said, every single member of the family is neuro divergent.
Speaker 1: What would an average day? Can I even use the
Speaker 1: word average day? Laugh that loud moment, Yeah, what does
Speaker 1: an average day look like in your household?
Speaker 4: Do you know what I was? We met with Elio,
Speaker 4: my son.
Speaker 3: We met with his new occupational therapist at our house
Speaker 3: this morning, and she, after being with us for an hour,
Speaker 3: just looked around and she said, he's really lucky to
Speaker 3: be in this household.
Speaker 4: Like she said, you are, so.
Speaker 3: You're already doing things naturally that an autistic kid with
Speaker 3: his support needs.
Speaker 4: Needs to thrive in that.
Speaker 3: We each day wake up and we try not to
Speaker 3: put hard and fast rules on everything, and we do
Speaker 3: a lot of yes ending and you know, whatever, whatever
Speaker 3: each person in the family needs in that moment, we
Speaker 3: try to honor. You know, it's not always perfect, but
Speaker 3: I'm able to get up in the morning and say
Speaker 3: I am at two percent to my daughters who are
Speaker 3: twenty two and seventeen, I mean, can one of you
Speaker 3: please make Elio's breakfast. I just need to go and
Speaker 3: sit quietly for five minutes. I can say to my husband,
Speaker 3: the lights are drilling into my eyes, and I can
Speaker 3: hear sounds, and I can smell.
Speaker 4: That color red of that top.
Speaker 3: I just and he gets that because sometimes when I
Speaker 3: put clothes on of a certain color, the color.
Speaker 4: Always heavy on my skin.
Speaker 3: I know that sounds nuts, but it's just part of
Speaker 3: my synesthesia that I have. But I'm just in a
Speaker 3: family where I can say I need nobody to ask
Speaker 3: me a question for one hundred minutes, no questions, and
Speaker 3: everyone just gets it. So we're able to express our needs.
Speaker 3: So a day in our house, it just depends how
Speaker 3: we all wake up and where we are all waking
Speaker 3: up in our neurodivergent journey, and how much stimulus we've
Speaker 3: all taken in. So every day is different in my house.
Speaker 3: But you know, I live in the paradoxical hell of
Speaker 3: having ADHD and autism, so I crave structure and routine,
Speaker 3: but I'm unable to maintain.
Speaker 4: Structure and routine.
Speaker 3: So it's really this light and dark battle between my adhdmoetism.
Speaker 3: So we do have routines in place, which we kind
Speaker 3: of swing off like monkeys, if that makes sense. But
Speaker 3: the best part about being in my family is just
Speaker 3: the grace and the space that we hold for each
Speaker 3: other and that we give each other.
Speaker 2: Oh, the grace and the space that's beautiful.
Speaker 1: That's every family that would have the luxury of creating
Speaker 1: that for themselves is really ahead of the curve.
Speaker 2: That that's a beautiful phrase. The grace and the space
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 3: I will just say to any parents listening, don't should
Speaker 3: yourself to death. Don't put invisible rules upon yourself and
Speaker 3: your kids and your family. Just do what you need
Speaker 3: to do to get through in that moment. It's okay.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of the time we should ourselves
Speaker 3: to death, and we worry we're not doing the right
Speaker 3: thing exactly in that moment, or there's been too much
Speaker 3: screen time, or they haven't enough fritten vegetables, or they're
Speaker 3: wearing their pajamas to school or bathers as undies or
Speaker 3: whatever it is cereal for breakfast. And I think the
Speaker 3: moment you're able to you know, not only like I
Speaker 3: say this, grace and space, give it to yourself. Give
Speaker 3: yourself grace and give yourself space, because you need to
Speaker 3: get yourself right to be the best leader for your
Speaker 3: small humans. If you are suffering, they will suffer. So
Speaker 3: give yourself that first thing. Look after you. And I
Speaker 3: know we say this and it's been a whole thing
Speaker 3: that's been monetized with women, but especially you're the sunshine
Speaker 3: and the engine room of your family and probably the
Speaker 3: curator also, and if that's struggling, then the rest of
Speaker 3: the family that you're killing yourself for struggles from get go.
Speaker 4: So I think the thing I come.
Speaker 3: Across with mos, especially with women who have ADHD and
Speaker 3: who are mothers and struggle with executive function.
Speaker 4: It is usually our job also to do all the when.
Speaker 3: The kid's got the orthodontist or the sports or the
Speaker 3: drop off, and who's done the free chopping, and who's
Speaker 3: paid that bill, and you're juggling all of that, and
Speaker 3: then if you're in your late thirties, you're estrogen's chronically
Speaker 3: dropping and you're heading into perimenopause, so that exacerbates you're
Speaker 3: ADHD symptoms and it just feels like you're in a
Speaker 3: shit storm of life and there's no light. I've been there,
Speaker 3: my friend. That is the time where you just give
Speaker 3: yourself that that grace because in my experience, and I
Speaker 3: have hundreds of thousands of followers humble brag, sorry what
Speaker 3: a wonker, That's the number one feedback I get is
Speaker 3: I'm so tired and overwhelmed. We all are, we all are,
Speaker 3: and just keep talking about it and reaching out and yeah,
Speaker 3: it's the whole thing at the moment, my girls, I
Speaker 3: see you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And you know, I think it's a message
Speaker 1: that has cut through every single day of the year.
Speaker 1: But as this episode is being released into the wild,
Speaker 1: you and I talking today and the story being published
Speaker 1: in Stellar with those beautiful.
Speaker 2: Images of you with your two daughters, it's a.
Speaker 1: Week out from Mother's Day, so it's also a time
Speaker 1: of year where a lot of that sort of you know,
Speaker 1: quote unquote greeting card messages of what a mother should
Speaker 1: in inverted commas also look like. It's such a wonderful
Speaker 1: message I think that you are sharing with your followers,
Speaker 1: of whom there are many. So that is not a
Speaker 1: humble brag, by the way, and the final episode of
Speaker 1: the podcast focuses on where we need to see support
Speaker 1: and change on a policy level moving forward. I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you, you know, obviously spoiler alert because we
Speaker 1: want people to listen to your full series, but if
Speaker 1: there's anything in particular you would single out in our
Speaker 1: chat today that you think really needs to be tackled, well.
Speaker 4: You mean, on a government level.
Speaker 3: I'll start with I've presented at the Senate inquiry last
Speaker 3: year and obviously address the press club, and I'm the
Speaker 3: most unseerious human on the planet right Like I'm a
Speaker 3: comedian who danced with Wolvers on Channel ten. Here I
Speaker 3: am in a political sphere, which is wild to me.
Speaker 3: But we need I mean, the biggest thing is we
Speaker 3: don't have a Minister for disability.
Speaker 4: We do not have a minister.
Speaker 3: Bill Shorten does some stuff for NDS, other ministers share it,
Speaker 3: but we do not have a dedicated minister for disability inclusion.
Speaker 4: That to me belows my tiny mind.
Speaker 3: We also just need to improve access to diagnosis and treatment,
Speaker 3: Increase the Medicare rebate, reduce weight times. We need support programs,
Speaker 3: we need to support our schools. There's just this bunch
Speaker 3: of stuff that is in the works. But I think
Speaker 3: the main takeaway from Anomaliest is I just want people
Speaker 3: to feel like they have a way forward. Because I
Speaker 3: remember getting that diagnosis and feeling overwhelmed and didn't know
Speaker 3: which tab to open first. I hope that this is
Speaker 3: just a neat, little easy step one, because there's so
Speaker 3: many steps to take, and often with ADHD the cruel
Speaker 3: thing is taking that first step is the hardest. So
Speaker 3: I want to almost body double my listeners and just
Speaker 3: also educate neurotypical people because that's what we need. We
Speaker 3: need better attitudes and better understanding and awareness so that
Speaker 3: people don't struggle in workplaces and people don't struggle at
Speaker 3: school or in UNI, and there's infrastructure around them because
Speaker 3: the neurotypical people around them get it, you know, we
Speaker 3: get depression, we get anxiety, we get what to do
Speaker 3: for people in those scenarios. We need that level of
Speaker 3: education around neurodivergence because then everything opens up. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that's the main takeaway is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I hope, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I just hope it starts more thoughtful, meaningful and fruitful conversations.
Speaker 4: And I hope it entertains you too.
Speaker 1: You do have a lot on your plate, so you
Speaker 1: probably not looking for another career pivot to add to
Speaker 1: your resume. And as you said, politics not necessarily your
Speaker 1: natural habitatancingvolvers optional, but would you ever consider it, would
Speaker 1: for instance, could we start lobbying for you to potentially
Speaker 1: become Australia's inaugural Minister for Disability.
Speaker 4: I want no part of that business. Absolutely not.
Speaker 3: You have to listen to other people's opinions, you have
Speaker 3: to be somewhat measured, you have to appear in control
Speaker 3: of your emotions.
Speaker 4: I have none of those qualities.
Speaker 3: No. I also think being a politician it makes you impotent.
Speaker 4: I think you can be powerful.
Speaker 3: And flourish without fear of, you know, keeping people wanting
Speaker 3: to vote for you. You know, an aspect of my
Speaker 3: job is I have to be liked. There is an
Speaker 3: aspect of political gameplay in that, you know, my job
Speaker 3: depends on people downloading my podcast, buying tickets to my shows,
Speaker 3: following me on social media. So there is an aspect
Speaker 3: of me being conscious of the public liking me. But
Speaker 3: there's another level of policing on politicians, and especially in
Speaker 3: this country, we are obsessed with electing politicians that are
Speaker 3: really relatable, and you know.
Speaker 4: We don't think about if they're best for the job.
Speaker 3: We just think about if we could skull a schooner
Speaker 3: of beer with them, or if they can sing, you know,
Speaker 3: powder fingers, my happiness word perfect. We don't think about
Speaker 3: the best person for the job. And I am not relatable.
Speaker 3: I get called that a lot, but I'm adhd autistic
Speaker 3: type a personality, eldest child of an Italian immigrant.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not relatable in many ways, so but
Speaker 4: I do try to get I.
Speaker 3: Just think politically, I just think about the poor pr
Speaker 3: person who would have to try and control my narrative.
Speaker 3: I just wouldn't wish that upon anyone.
Speaker 4: So no, and I think I'm more powerful.
Speaker 3: And I think the biggest punk rock act that I
Speaker 3: can perform is to keep showing up as myself and
Speaker 3: keep making things that challenge everyone, and you know, just
Speaker 3: trying to push that needle fullard on the way conversations
Speaker 3: are happening around eurodivergence. I think I've got my own
Speaker 3: form of rebellion kind of happening in that it is sad,
Speaker 3: but me turning as a forty five year old disabled
Speaker 3: woman loudly and proudly is a renegade act, and so
Speaker 3: I will continue to do that, and that I think
Speaker 3: has far more reaching power than me trying.
Speaker 4: To get elected in that would be a mess.
Speaker 1: Well, look, give me a call if you change your mind,
Speaker 1: because I think there are a lot of spin doctors
Speaker 1: in Canberra that have worked with people that are a
Speaker 1: lot less representative of the Australian electorate. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying vote one em ROSSI I know, give
Speaker 1: me a ring if you change your mind. But like
Speaker 1: I said, you do have a pretty full slate ahead
Speaker 1: of you.
Speaker 2: You've talked a.
Speaker 1: Little bit about your upcoming comedy tour, Outgrow, and I
Speaker 1: think this is your first national tour in a while. Limb.
Speaker 1: You've had a bit on I think we've touched upon that.
Speaker 1: You mentioned menopause as well. I wanted to ask you
Speaker 1: a little bit. I think sometimes menopause is one of
Speaker 1: the last taboos that a current generation of women are
Speaker 1: taking two and smashing to smithereens. I know, breaking taboos,
Speaker 1: calling this stuff outs always been a part of your
Speaker 1: comedy tours.
Speaker 2: Can we expect a little bit.
Speaker 1: Of all of what we've talked about menopause included when
Speaker 1: Outgrown hits the stage later this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Last five years have been scorched earth for me. It's
Speaker 3: been as a live performer, lockdowns. I was in Melbourne,
Speaker 3: the home of lockdowns, so that completely decimated my career.
Speaker 3: So we had that, then I had the ADHD diagnosis,
Speaker 3: I gave birth, then we had the lockdowns, then the
Speaker 3: ADHD diagnosis, then the autism diagnosis, and then I found
Speaker 3: out I was in hardcore menopause very early, like the
Speaker 3: plane had crashed into the cliff. I had no warning,
Speaker 3: and I remember like looking around, going what what, and
Speaker 3: headfirst into research around perimenopause and how estrogen starts to do.
Speaker 3: Thirty five is when we need to be talking about this,
Speaker 3: thirty five years of age. But in my mind, when
Speaker 3: you were sixty or so, maybe overs gave one last
Speaker 3: cough and that was it. Oh, I didn't know about
Speaker 3: all the other stuff, which also exacerbates my ADHD in autism.
Speaker 3: So it's just this whole cycle, and I've learned so much.
Speaker 3: So outgrown is I've had to be very comfortable without
Speaker 3: growing myself, and every year it felt like, you know,
Speaker 3: then there's a bush fire and the forest has to
Speaker 3: be burnt to the ground for the new growth to come.
Speaker 3: I've really had to be okay with just everything burning
Speaker 3: to the ground. But what has emerged is, yeah, a better,
Speaker 3: stronger regrowth, if you will. And I'm still going to
Speaker 3: be on that path and I hope that I continue
Speaker 3: out growing myself till I take my last breath, because
Speaker 3: that's how we get better as humans. That's how the
Speaker 3: world gets better. That's how things improve is we're not
Speaker 3: in love with our ideals and opinions. We allow growth.
Speaker 3: So this show is a celebration of that. And there's songs,
Speaker 3: it's multisensory, there's puppets, there's my dad on stage with me.
Speaker 3: It's just this whole multisensory experience I'm bringing to everybody.
Speaker 3: There's going to be smells, original songs, so if you don't.
Speaker 4: Laugh, you'll cry.
Speaker 3: And I wanted to make because there's been some real funny,
Speaker 3: dark humor within what I've gone through. And the universal
Speaker 3: experience of being a woman of a certain age is
Speaker 3: one that you know, you know, it needs to be
Speaker 3: spoken about and made.
Speaker 4: Fun of and given reverence too.
Speaker 3: But I really, you know, I've had press Clubs Act one,
Speaker 3: not that I'm Beyonce, but press Clubs Act one, Anomalists,
Speaker 3: Act two, an Outgrown is Act three, and they all
Speaker 3: go together beautiful, and that's hopefully my nice little packaged
Speaker 3: and the legacy around this time of my life. They're
Speaker 3: all to be consumed. And yeah, I'm really looking forward
Speaker 3: to seeing everyone. I'm doing regionals. I haven't been out
Speaker 3: in five years, I've been a caged peacock, so I'm
Speaker 3: really ready.
Speaker 1: After the break, EM tackles another taboo, menopause, and gives
Speaker 1: us a preview of what role it might play in
Speaker 1: her upcoming national tour. My final question to you, then,
Speaker 1: I think just to not tie things up in a bow,
Speaker 1: because look, I can't even tie a bow, and I
Speaker 1: don't think that anyone could tie all of the different
Speaker 1: threads of your lived experience and even what we've talked
Speaker 1: about here today, M, which has just been a snapshot
Speaker 1: of all of that. We spoke this conversation about talking
Speaker 1: about the twin diagnosis that you've been navigating in the
Speaker 1: last few years, and about also the grief and wanting
Speaker 1: to go back to ten year old M, and then
Speaker 1: listening to you just talking about the tour, and it's
Speaker 1: so obvious that so many different threads of who this
Speaker 1: person before me is has come from the resilience and
Speaker 1: the outspokenness and the funniess and the creativity and all
Speaker 1: of these different things that have created this very unique
Speaker 1: platform that you have cultivated.
Speaker 2: As a public figure.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it isn't either or, but don't
Speaker 1: you love somebody with ADHD trying to ask a question.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I get notes from people saying, Okay, I love
Speaker 1: the podcast, but sometimes you talk for ten minutes. So yes,
Speaker 1: I hear you, audience, So sorry, Am, I will get
Speaker 1: to the point.
Speaker 3: Feedback you aren't asked for. Let the woman go so vodka.
Speaker 4: You chose to be here. I'll defend this. People choose you.
Speaker 4: They don't get to give you feedback. Okay, thank you, Am.
Speaker 1: I really appresent you having my back there, but I
Speaker 1: suppose yes. So my question inverted commas, if I ever
Speaker 1: get to it, is when you talked a little bit
Speaker 1: about that grief, is there still a part where you
Speaker 1: look back and think, I wish that I could have
Speaker 1: done this if I'd had the diagnosis in childhood, if
Speaker 1: these things had been properly picked up when they should have,
Speaker 1: and the awareness work that you are doing now to
Speaker 1: create that generation for your children and the subsequent generations,
Speaker 1: is there a party think I would have been doing that,
Speaker 1: I would have achieved that if I'd had.
Speaker 2: That diagnosis early on.
Speaker 1: Or do you also look back, as you talked about
Speaker 1: that acceptance and things making sense, think, now I know
Speaker 1: that this wide ranging toolkit that I have created from
Speaker 1: Australian Idol all the way through to podcasts, radio, TV shows,
Speaker 1: comedy tours, all probably would not have happened if it
Speaker 1: wasn't for all of these different parts that make up
Speaker 1: the woman I'm talking to today.
Speaker 3: For sure, I think about that a lot, and I've
Speaker 3: been asked that a couple times, and it's just it's
Speaker 3: an impossible thing to answer. I mean, I can, with
Speaker 3: hindsight certainly join the dots on my career and see,
Speaker 3: you know, going auditioning for Australian Idol, having never sung
Speaker 3: in public before doing my round of interviews at the
Speaker 3: end when I got rejected by the Nation in ninth
Speaker 3: and having the radio bosses hear me in my interviews
Speaker 3: and offer me a job in radio, having never even
Speaker 3: thought about that.
Speaker 4: Similarly, with stand up, never done told.
Speaker 3: A joke or written a joke, but I just wrote
Speaker 3: a stand up show one day and performed it at
Speaker 3: the Mail International Comedy Festival.
Speaker 4: My career is a series.
Speaker 3: Of events, you know, and instances of me doing something
Speaker 3: I have no business or qualifications in but still giving
Speaker 3: it a crack. And I know that is because of
Speaker 3: my lack of dopamine. And when you're seeking dopamine. It's
Speaker 3: thrill seeking activities. For some people, it's driving fast cars,
Speaker 3: jumping off cliffs. For me, it was auditioning for a
Speaker 3: singing show, having never sung in public, and I know
Speaker 3: my nature in I moved toward experiences and opportunities that
Speaker 3: frighten me.
Speaker 4: I always have and I know why now.
Speaker 3: So I don't think I would be as good as
Speaker 3: I am as many different things. Sorry tall Poppy coming
Speaker 3: in here, Sorry for saying that.
Speaker 1: No, you are very good at very many different things
Speaker 1: you are.
Speaker 3: But I started out I was a world junior herd lass.
Speaker 3: So I started out as an athlete. I thought I
Speaker 3: was going to be an Olympian, and I was in
Speaker 3: every development squad I was. I won the national championships
Speaker 3: and I was ten. You know, my whole life revolved
Speaker 3: around athletics. And then when I got really severely injured
Speaker 3: when I was seventeen, that was when I was first
Speaker 3: faced with what the hell are you going to do
Speaker 3: with your life? Because you thought you were going to
Speaker 3: be a famous Olympian. I trained every day, you know,
Speaker 3: it was all my personality, it was all I did.
Speaker 3: So at seventeen, the world really opened up for me.
Speaker 3: And I dove in to everything so and I don't
Speaker 3: know that I would have been that brave if I
Speaker 3: was diagnosed and medicated, But the way that medication works
Speaker 3: me with ADHD. It's a great analogy, and I wish
Speaker 3: I could remember if he said it. I you know,
Speaker 3: you live in a dark house when you have ADHD,
Speaker 3: and when you take the medication, you get a torch
Speaker 3: and you can shine the torch on the thing you
Speaker 3: want to.
Speaker 4: Do, but you still live in a dark house.
Speaker 3: So perhaps I would have been even better because my
Speaker 3: efforts would have been a bit more organized, and I
Speaker 3: would have pissed less people off. So we'll never know,
Speaker 3: but I'm just so glad. You know that the Australian
Speaker 3: media landscape has tried to pigeonhole me for many, many years,
Speaker 3: and I've been told so many times over You've got
Speaker 3: to pick a lane, you got to pick you know,
Speaker 3: you can't be a comedian and a cabaret and a
Speaker 3: singer and the writer and the radio.
Speaker 4: And you can't. You can't, you can't. And in the end,
Speaker 4: I was just like, well, why why not?
Speaker 3: So I have gone out and created my own corner
Speaker 3: of the universe where no one bats and elid if.
Speaker 3: One week on the pot I'm singing with a band,
Speaker 3: the next we're talking about ADHD Senate inquiry, and then
Speaker 3: I'm going to do a live show here. But I'm
Speaker 3: also going to I also have almost a degree in
Speaker 3: interior design, so sometimes I work that in with my staff.
Speaker 4: You know, I make stuff.
Speaker 3: I create lots of different things, and I think now
Speaker 3: I have this ability to not especially with this live show.
Speaker 4: I'm bringing the full toolkit.
Speaker 3: You are getting all of it because I don't want
Speaker 3: to be boxed in. And I've worked really hard for
Speaker 3: the last twenty years to build my community because I
Speaker 3: wasn't getting jobs.
Speaker 4: Mainstream jobs.
Speaker 3: I was always the quirky option, or she's too impossible
Speaker 3: to work with because I said noel a lot of
Speaker 3: the time.
Speaker 4: I asked a lot of questions.
Speaker 3: So I think I'm it was very painful. But I
Speaker 3: look back on everything now and I guess it's all
Speaker 3: happened as it should because here I sit opposite you
Speaker 3: talking about two projects that I love and I'm proud of,
Speaker 3: and I don't think I would have got to make
Speaker 3: ten years ago if I hadn't gone through what I've
Speaker 3: gone through. And it is such a privilege to be
Speaker 3: able to sit and promote something you genuinely believe in.
Speaker 3: I've invested in financially myself in my studio with my team. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I've arrived finally to where I was supposed
Speaker 3: to get to. So what's what's the idea of time travel?
Speaker 3: You shouldn't stuff anything up because sorry, I wouldn't write back.
Speaker 1: To the future analogy, isn't it you change one thing,
Speaker 1: you change at all. Well, I'm very glad that all
Speaker 1: of those colorful and diverse and create your own adventure
Speaker 1: lanes that you wouldn't conform to have led you to
Speaker 1: this moment in time and specifically to this second in
Speaker 1: time being on the episode of Something to talk About
Speaker 1: with Me? Can I just say em I think you're
Speaker 1: probably the only potential Olympian and I did know that
Speaker 1: about your hurdling because we've talked about that before in Stellar.
Speaker 1: You're probably the only potential Olympian that's been instellar and
Speaker 1: on Something to talk about, especially in the Olympics year
Speaker 1: that we haven't had time to talk about, which I
Speaker 1: think is probably testament to all of your achievements and
Speaker 1: the work you've done and maybe I should apologize for
Speaker 1: also trying to force you to run for politics and
Speaker 1: become a straight as first Minister for Disability. That might
Speaker 1: be something for twenty twenty five, I think about it.
Speaker 4: Let's put it on the solend terrifying, let's give it
Speaker 4: a go.
Speaker 2: M ROSSI.
Speaker 1: I know it has been an absolute genuine pleasure to
Speaker 1: have you in the studio today where we're actually talking remotely,
Speaker 1: so that's a lie, but to talk to you via
Speaker 1: zoom has been an absolute pleasure. And you can listen
Speaker 1: to Anomalis m's new podcast wherever you get your popc
Speaker 1: and we will have a link in the show notes
Speaker 1: and also some details for Outgrown, which is m's first
Speaker 1: big national tour coming up later this year. And thank
Speaker 1: you again for being so generous and candid with our audience.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that episode of the summer series
Speaker 1: or something to talk about. Make sure you're following us
Speaker 1: if you're not already, because we'll be revisiting some of
Speaker 1: your favorite episodes of the past year until we're back
Speaker 1: with a brand new episode on January twelfth.