I wrote a piece recently, whereby I talked about the right-wing in Australia attacking the 2021 Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, because she didn't smile at Morrison in a photo. She didn't want to shake his hand, either. Grace Tame is autistic.

I was thrilled that an autistic person won the award but I pointed something out. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane, up until March, 1985, was Frank Sleeman. Frank Sleeman had been a prisoner of war in Changi and refused to meet Japanese delegates because he could not forgive his treatment. My grandfather's friend, on the other hand, was also a Changi POW, but he had a cordial relationship with a Japanese guard and he always would say to people, "They're not all bad." People were saying, "Oh, but the Australian PM didn't abuse her," and to that, I say, maybe he didn't, but he didn't stand up for her, either!

If people don't like me because I'm autistic, well, that's their problem. The obnoxious little so-and-so at school who said to me, "Imagine if you had a bump on the head and you changed," deserved to have someone say to him, "Listen, maybe he doesn't want to change. Maybe he doesn't want to be like you! So, leave him alone!" If people don't autistic people because they're autistic, well, that's their problem.

If people don't like an autistic person because they don't gel with them, well, okay, not everyone is going to like everyone else. There are some members of the autistic community whom I may not like.

I remember one night, and I went by how it looked, a young girl from the local supermarket walked out with me (she wanted to) and her mother was waiting for her in the carpark. I catastrophized it, as it was only six months after the murder of Eurydice Dixon by an autistic man. And I thought her mother thought, "What's this older man doing talking to my daughter?" Her mother said, "It's okay. I can see she wasn't stressed."

The best advice I was ever given was, "Don't apologize for being yourself. People will walk all over you."