“Prison Break” star Wentworth Miller has revealed he has autism after what he called “a long, flawed process” of being diagnosed.
Miller said on Instagram that he was diagnosed with autism last year. In a post accompanied by a simple white square, he wrote on Tuesday, “This fall marks 1 year since I received my informal autism diagnosis. Preceded by a self-diagnosis. Followed by a formal diagnosis.”
The 49-year-old actor continued, “It was a long, flawed process in need of updating. IMO. I’m a middle-aged man. Not a 5-year-old.” He noted that “access to a diagnosis is a privilege many do not enjoy,” and described his diagnosis as “a shock” but “not a surprise.”
The CDC describes autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as “a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. There is often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people, but people with ASD may communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people.”
The actor added that while he was publicly sharing his own experience for the first time, he didn’t want to speak for an entire community or automatically become a kind of spokesperson for autism.
“There is a now-familiar cultural narrative (in which I’ve participated) that goes, ‘Public figure shares A, B and C publicly, dedicates platform to D, E and F.’ Good for them,” he wrote. “I don’t know enough about autism. (There’s a lot to know.) Right now my work looks like evolving my understanding. Re-examining 5 decades of lived experience thru a new lens. That will take time.”
Miller continued: “Meanwhile, I don’t want to run the risk of suddenly being a loud, ill-informed voice in the room. The #autistic community (this I do know) has historically been talked over. Spoken for. I don’t wish to do additional harm. Only to raise my hand, say, ‘I am here. Have been (w/o realizing it).’”
The “Legends of Tomorrow” actor finished his post by rebuking any notions of having rejected the diagnosis, saying, “This isn’t something I’d change. No. I get – got – immediately being autistic is central to who I am. To everything I’ve achieved/articulated.” He also thanked the people who “consciously or unconsciously gave me that extra bit of grace + space over the years, allowed me to move thru the world in a way that made sense to me whether or not it made sense to them… thank you.”