Know someone doing major good in the world? Share their story & win $1,000 for charity.

Shop
 Explore 

Amy Schumer's 'SNL' monologue about her husband's autism was a funny way to break the stigma

Her husband was diagnosed as an adult.

amy schumer, chris fischer, autsim spectrum disorder

via Event Photos NYC

Amy Schumer at New York fashion week, 2016.

Comedian Amy Schumer hosted “Saturday Night Live” on Saturday, November 5 and her monologue hit on the midterm elections and her family. It was funny as expected but also shed light on what it’s like living with someone with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Schumer’s husband, restaurateur and chef Chris Fischer, was diagnosed with ASD as an adult, shortly after the couple were married in 2018.

In her monologue, she used humor to dispel some of the stereotypes surrounding ASD, noting that many still think people with the disorder are like Dustin Hoffman’s character in “Rain Man.”

However, ASD presents in many different ways.

“They’re like, ‘Oh, does he love to count? Should we drop a bunch of straws on the floor and he can gather them and count them?’” she joked, making fun of the question. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, that sounds pretty fun. I would like to do that.’”

She added that her husband isn’t great with compliments. “He tells me I look 'comfortable' a lot. We have different love languages,” she admitted. Romance with someone on the spectrum can be a little different as well.

“A couple of weeks ago, we were sitting outside. It was a nice night. It looked like it was going to rain, and I was feeling kind of sentimental, and I was like, ‘You know, even though these past couple of years with the pandemic and everything has been so stressful, still this time being with you, being with our son, they’ve been the best years of my life.’

“And he just looked at me and said, ‘I’m going to go put the windows up in the car,’” she joked. “Yeah, that’s my guy. It’s one of the times we play the game: autism or just a man?’”

When someone of Schumer's profile demonstrates she can be in a loving relationship with someone on the spectrum, it does a wonderful job of destigmatizing the disorder. Also, demonstrating that her husband has some unique ways of showing his affection helps everyone better understand how the disorder manifests in some people.

What’s even more admirable is that Schumer’s work to destigmatize ASD isn’t just for laughs, she has a purpose. During a March 2019 appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” she touted the benefits of getting an ASD diagnosis.

"The tools we’ve been given have made his life so much better and our marriage and our life much more manageable,” the “Trainwreck” actress said, according to Today. “I just wanted to encourage people to not be afraid of that stigma.”

Getting a diagnosis is important because it opens a world of possibilities for those with ASD and the people who love them. After someone has a diagnosis, they can get the correct therapies and learn the best strategies to improve their relationships.

Schumer can joke about her husband’s unique approach to romance because she understands his condition. It’d be a lot less funny if she was in the dark and attributed his reactions to simply a lack of empathy, which may not be the case at all.

From Your Site Articles

autism spectrum disorder

Mindfulness teacher shares the '7 things adult children may need to hear’ from their parents

We rarely hear this perspective.

via PeacefulBarb/TikTok

PeacefulBarb's "7 Things Adult Children May Need to Hear"

Just like there are no hard-set rules for raising children, there is no perfect guidebook on how to be a supportive parent to an older child. As parents watch their kids grow and start their own families, it can be hard for them to navigate the new role they have in their lives.

That’s why Barb Schmidt, who goes by PeacefulBarb on TikTok, shared her list of the ‘7 Things Adult Children May Need to Hear’ from their parents. It’s a great starting point for parents who aren’t sure what their older children need.

Schmidt is an international best-selling author, sought-after motivational speaker, mindset coach and mindfulness teacher.

Here’s her list:

Keep ReadingShow less

Crying fan embraced by Drew Barrymore explains why the moment was 'super special'

"Like myself, Drew has had a super hard life," she said.

via Eva Rinaldi/Flickr

Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS.

On May 25, the show’s Instagram page posted a touching video of an off-the-cuff moment between Barrymore and a fan during a taping of her show. In the clip, Barrymore realizes that someone in the audience is crying. So, instead of ignoring the fan, she jumps to action to see what is the matter.

Keep ReadingShow less

Nurse explains how babies breathe in utero and the internet is amazed

A new mom asked how babies practice breathing, and Nurse Jen delivered an answer that's blowing people's minds.

Jen Hamilton|TikTok

Nurse explains how babies breathe in utero.

There are so many questions out there that we don't realize we want to know the answers to until someone else asks. Once the question is in the vicinity of our ear holes, suddenly we're like, "Oh, yeah. How does that work?" That's pretty much how this TikTok video went for a lot of viewers, myself included.

I have had four (yes, four) children exit my body, and it never dawned on me to ask further than the initial question of how babies breathe in there. It's a question that most new moms either don't think to ask or ask only once and get a similar answer to the one I received, which is that they take in oxygen via their umbilical cord connected to the placenta, so they don't need to breathe in the traditional way we think of until after birth.

But when a new mom asked the people of the internet how her unborn baby was able to practice breathing without drowning, Jen Hamilton, an OB nurse, decided to answer in a video.

Keep ReadingShow less

practice breathing

Mom goes on strike after teenage son said he'd be better off without her. Did she go too far?

Her mother-in-law called her "petty."

via Pressmaster/Pexels

A mother with a megaphone goes on strike.

Every parent knows that sometimes their kids, especially teenagers, can say things in the heat of the moment they don’t really mean. But the mother at the center of this story took her teenage son’s outburst seriously and turned it into an opportunity to teach him a lesson. The question is, did she go too far to make a point?

A 35-year-old mom wanted to learn if she had been too hard on her 14-year-old son, so she shared her story on Reddit’s AITA subforum (we've abbreviated the forum's name to avoid printing foul language). AITA is where people vote on whether the poster was right or wrong in how they handled a situation.

“Lately, he has been acting out a little at home and school, so I decided to sit him down to try and figure out what was happening,” the mother wrote in a post that received over 800 comments. She said that the boy had been cursing out his parents as well as his teacher.

Keep ReadingShow less

Dad 'gentle parenting with malicious intent' is making people laugh and sparking a new parenting technique

"The worse your attitude, the more mom's going to blush."

Ginger Jack|TikTok

Dad gives a how-to on "gentle parenting with malicious intent."

By now, everyone has heard of gentle parenting. Even if you're not quite sure what it is, you've heard the phrase. Parents that use this style of parenting set boundaries with their children but with thorough explanations and a focus on healthy emotional development. One dad decided to spin the gentle parenting trend by implementing "gentle parenting with malicious intent" for his older children.

You may be wondering how one gentle parents with malicious intent. No worries, the dad uploaded a now-viral clip to TikTok, where it has over 4 million views, to explain. In the clip, "Ginger Jack" has the camera on himself as he talks to his kids about completing their chores without attitudes…and that's where the twist comes in.

"New rule. Whenever one of you starts giving me attitude, I'm going to start hitting on mom," the dad says before speaking to his partner. "Hey there. sugar. How you doing, baby girl? How do you feel about another child? I could rub your ankles real good." He then makes what can only be described as an attempt at a sexy cat noise.

Keep ReadingShow less

parenting hacks