Actress Bella Ramsey opened up about their autism diagnosis in an interview with British VogueWednesday. Ramsey, who identifies as non-binary, received their diagnosis while filming the first season of the hit post-apocalyptic HBO series The Last of Us. Ramsey said they had “always wondered” but never thought to get tested. That is, until a crew member with an autistic daughter approached them while filming in Canada, assuming that they also had it. This spurred them to recieve a psychiatric assessment and diagnosis. The young star described the diagnosis as “freeing,” allowing them to give themselves more grace when not being able to go through the “easy” everyday tasks that “everyone else seems to be able to do.” According to Ramsey, the diagnosis has also allowed them to improve their acting, from “having to learn more manually how to socialize and interact with people around me” to the routine of being on a set: “I have a call time, and I’m told what to wear, how to stand, where to stand and what to eat.” Though Ramsey doesn’t feel particularly comfortable with labels around gender and sexuality, “the label of being autistic” has helped them better understand themselves. They said: “My experience of moving through the world is as an autistic person,” and that “there’s no reason for people not to know.” Season 2 of The Last of Us is set to come out on HBO in April.
