Good day, my lovely listeners! You are listening to the Forty Autie Podcast. Tune in every week to explore inspiring stories and insightful information that dive headfirst into the world of autism and mental health. With all those tantalising tongue twisters out of the way, let's get into the show. Today's podcast episode is proudly sponsored by Teemo, the award-winning app designed to support neurodivergent people just like yourself with routine and scheduling. Head to your app store and type T-W-I-M-O to learn more. Hello good listeners and welcome back to another episode of the Forty Autie Podcast, the only autism and mental health podcast that you're ever gonna listen to, best one out there by me. My name is Thomas Henley and today we are going to be talking about autism and acting. Now I haven't had the most brilliant of days, I had a major change to my routine today and basically what happened was I was at work. I got sent home early because I wasn't needed and I basically just laid in my bed until the end of time, not the end of time but I basically just laid in bed until my work ended so that I could continue with my routine. But apart from that, feeling fresh, feeling good, got some exciting new things on the horizon and of course we've got this podcast which I'm also equally excited to do. Today I'm joined by an autistic actor from Manhattan, New York. He's a theatre performance graduate from James Madison University. He's done many, many theatre productions, many of which in New York. He's also been on screen in four independent films, playing the lead in a couple of roles. Himself and his classmate Joseph are both winners, classmate, you're not in school. That went brilliantly.  But let's continue. Himself and his castmate Joseph are both winners of the Outstanding Ensemble category from the New York Innovative Awards and to top all that, he's a brilliant singer and writer as well. And it's not very often that I get to introduce my guests with such a repertoire of different talents and experiences. My question is, do you reggie, how do you fit in time to sleep? How do I fit in time to sleep? Well, the answer, and thank you for that intro, that made me feel great about myself, Thomas. Thank you. Well, you got to see it written down, said, whatever, you need to sometimes need that positive wake up to show you that you're awesome. The answer is, right now I'm in quarantine, so my sleeping opportunity at the moment is manifold. And in fact, I would say I have more time to sleep than not to sleep. Okay, I get you drift. So I think we had a little bit of a chat before I started recording. And I was thinking, like, it's going to be really hard to be in lockdown and be in quarantine when your job is centered around being around other people and when people in close contact.    And then there's the other part of it, which is I'm autistic. So sometimes not having to interface with people on a daily basis. My social skills get a little lax, but it is a little bit less pressure on me. And so there's sort of that mix of things, that there's some good, there's some bad, mostly bad, but there's a little good. Yeah, I completely understand that, I think. The hardest times for me during this sort of COVID, because we've obviously relaxed a lot of the rules and regulations for the time being until it spikes. But the hardest things for me were the start of lockdown, you know, finding new feet, middle bit, pretty much smooth sailing until I reached a bit of a mental health low. But for the most part, it's been quite therapeutic to sort of give yourself space to do things based on what you feel like doing. Yeah, absolutely. But anyway, I forgot to give everybody your name. Reggie Herald, right? Reggie Herald, yes indeed. I keep wanting to say Reggie Herald, and I don't know why. It's not Reggie Herald. My full name is, I think my father was, he really wanted to impress upon everybody I met that I was indeed Caucasian. He named me Reginald Nathaniel Herald, which is just a lot. Well, my name is Thomas William Jack Henley, which is for Yorkshire standards in the UK is quite upper middle class sounding, so. It does sound like you've got some generational wealth behind you. Yes, it does. May not be true, but it definitely does sound like that. So, would you like to give everybody a little bit of a background to who you are, what you do for work and what you do online? Absolutely. So, as Thomas just mentioned, my name is Reggie Herald. I've been an actor for quite a while. I'm 26 years old now. I also sing. A lot of my professional acting has been in film and straight theatre. I've also done two musicals here in the city. Well, when I'm not acting, I usher Broadway shows because acting is a very infrequent source of income, especially in the early days, which however my resume sounds, I'm still very much an up-and-coming actor. And what I do online, I believe you found me through Instagram, through my TikToks. Is that right? I found you on Instagram. Yeah, I was like, autistic actor, gotta have a mom. Yeah, I have a little bit of a following on TikTok. I talk about a lot of things. I started by talking about acting and being an actor. And one time I finally made one video about me being autistic and there was this swell of attention from other autistic people who use TikTok. And that has also boosted people following my Instagram. And yeah, that is what I do online. So do you have a specific uploading schedule or do you just get them done and put them out whenever? It's a great question. Sometimes I have an uploading schedule and sometimes I get very lazy. I would say when I'm on my game and I'm really doing it, I have a document on my phone where I write down ideas for TikToks and I workshop them and I'll post one in my really active times. I'll post one a day, maybe more than one a day. Wow. Lately it has not been that much because I'm not working with a whole lot of material other than an upcoming election in the United States. But when I'm active, yeah, I'll do very often one a day, if not more. Could I be cheeky and ask for your follower countess? On TikTok, it's about 25,000 followers. Geez, thank god. It's not as many followers on TikTok as it would be on other things. It's much easier to get a following on TikTok, I think, than other platforms. Still, 25,000 people have clicked follow on you. That's pretty cool. Very unexpected. Yeah. I followed this Instagram account that shares actually autistic TikTok videos. Yeah. And there just seemed to be a lot of stuff on it. Yeah, they reached out to me on Instagram and asked if they could use some of my TikToks for their Instagram and I said, yeah, absolutely. Oh, I might have seen you then. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I assumed you must have seen me through there. I've been so amazed by the same thing, seeing how many autistic people are making these things about their autism. And it's teaching me about autism because I don't feel very often like I'm very knowledgeable about autism from an objective standpoint. Yeah. And I'm learning so much just by watching people talk about their experiences through that. One thing that I did want to sort of run past here, it's not part of the questions it's more of kind of a creator to creator kind of thing.   Do you see much of that in yourself? Yeah, absolutely.  You know, like there's a degree of I am acting every second of that. Yes. And I've had multiple conversations, especially in my 20s now that I'm working professionally, where people who don't know me that well, they'll see me before a take or during a take after a take, whatever, and then they'll see me again when I'm resting and they'll say something to me akin to I have never seen you be this quiet. I had one person go, you know, I don't really know what your real personality is. And it's this fascinating thing where either I, you know, brush it off with a joke, which is often what I do because, you know, the best time, or I try to explain the output that acting and socializing require. To me, they're very similar outputs as it is. But the outputs they require drain the academy. And then I need time to sort of just, I put in my AirPods and I listen to music for a little while before the next take. And I don't necessarily want to be talking to my castmates, not because I don't like them, but just because I need that for myself. And I think that that is quite important to kind of give yourself that space and that time. It is interesting that you say that because one of the, one of the reasons why I thought our podcast could be really good and really interesting is a lot of people are quite masking with acting. So you're masking as a neurotypical person. You're doing all of these things that neurotypical people do and it's ingrained in you and you're an expert at it, but it takes a lot of energy. And I thought that kind of dynamic is quite interesting to kind of explore. I completely understand switching on and off. Like people who meet me at like a networking event or something that I planned, I am so much better at talking and more engaging and all of that stuff. But as per, they were just to meet me on the street where I'd be like, hi. Oh yeah, absolutely. It's, it's funny you bring up masking. I, you know, I only learned the phrase masking this year. And I learned it through TikTok. There's another wonderful autistic TikToker who's following is much larger than mine. Her name I believe is Paige Lail. And she started talking about masking and I went, oh my God, that's what I've been doing my entire life. I even, I even had all these thoughts already about the fact that study and my practice of acting is basically how I socialize. But to hear that there's a word for it that people who are autistic use, I went, oh my God, that's incredible. Well, it's definitely a, it's a very complex term because it's not, it's hard, it's really hard to define like throughout my time talking to people over podcasts and over Instagram and all that kind of stuff. My position on masking has kind of changed a little bit. I see it as very harmful to do on a constant basis with every single person in your life. But for people like in job interviews or when you're first meeting people sometimes masking is that language that allows you to connect with someone. But it's just, you know, when you chronically do it and you think that your personality is tied into this supreme social monster, then it can be quite difficult. Yes, I totally agree, absolutely. Would you like to tell us about your autism story? When were you diagnosed and what kind of effect did it have on your life? My father, who by the way, this is just a little bit of a tangent, but my father is single and he was single when he adopted me and my brother. I believe he was the second man in the United States to ever adopt two children on his own. Wow. I have an older brother who was, I guess, five and some change when I was adopted. My brother is a very sort of precocious and outgoing social person just naturally. And my dad noticed very early, like early enough that the story is about him holding me when he noticed that just something was weird and there was stuff about, you know, he couldn't lean back too far in a chair, otherwise I would go ballistic. There was, I, you know, I wouldn't touch certain materials. There was all kinds of stuff. And my dad took me around to a lot of doctors and basically what they told him was like, it's he's too young. We have no idea. Or I believe a lot of doctors basically just said there's nothing serious going on here. He's just a baby. Until one doctor, I believe, I apparently just started going ballistic over nothing in front of a doctor and the doctor finally went, okay, something's going on. And I don't know how that progressed specifically to an autism diagnosis. I know via story that my father had me tested for a lot of different stuff. I know that I went through IQ tests. I know that there's one test in particular that I was put through where they would take my favorite toy, they would like put it at the bottom of a box and then they would fill the box with materials. And if the material was too rough, I would touch the material and then I wouldn't go to the toy and I wouldn't even care. And so there was tactile stuff that they picked up on. So my dad had a diagnosis for me very early. I didn't know that I was autistic until I was about 12. Nobody told me. I was actually, at the time, I had just gotten into, at 12 years old, I had gotten into a school for the gifted. Oh, wow. Yeah, and it was, I had no business being there. Apparently, I had gotten in by dent of the IQ tests, but not necessarily by dent of any particular academic excellence that I'd shown. But I had started going to school and my dad set me up with a social worker. And I was curious, obviously, why I was working with this woman. And finally, I remember she and my dad took me out to ice cream one day. She would take me out to ice cream like every week. It was awesome. And they told me I was autistic. At the time, I didn't really know what that meant. I had some idea that it was something to do with maybe executive function. I didn't know. They explained it to me and I was busy eating my mint chip. Yeah, that's how I found out. And I think the ways it shaped my life, I had to work with social workers as a kid. My social skills, as with many autistic people, developed quite late. And I would say in many ways, I'm still developing them. Yeah, I mean, it's a huge question, but that's how I found out. I'm so like, I'm in awe of your father. Honestly, that is amazing. That's really interesting because I was diagnosed when I was 10. When I was diagnosed, my parents told me. And it was quite a big thing because I'd noticed just how strange other people were. And it was kind of, it's a weird thing to describe, but you just feel like everything about the world and other people is just off. And they sort of work on a different wavelength. Yeah, feel a little bit like an alien. Yeah, yeah, from outer space. Yeah, it was quite an important moment for me and my childhood. It's one of the things that I remember quite vividly. Was that positive for you? I mean, what was your experience of that? It was positive for me because it gave me a reason for things that were happening around me that, you know, I probably wouldn't have expressed because, you know, my social skills were a bit rubbish at the time and wasn't very in tune with my emotions. And it's only until I got to university that I seriously started reading about autism and all the kind of aspects of it and listening to people. The most of my DNA showed it was mostly a battle with mental health for a long, long time. Absolutely. I see a lot of similarities. But the weird thing about the autistic community is it makes you feel less special, but it makes you feel less alone as well. Yeah, absolutely. That's a kicker. You feel like an alien. My experience of it is you feel like an alien, but it made me feel, often, it sounds so narcissistic. It made me feel a little bit special, a little bit like, yeah, you know who else was autistic? Einstein. So come at me. There's so many people, you know, could and have been confirmed, footballers and artists and musicians and scientists, politicians, that kind of thing. But it's really cool to hear about that. Today we're going to be talking about your acting and sort of drawing on the different aspects to it, maybe linking it in, as I said, with masking and stuff like that. So let's start from the beginning. How did you get into acting and why? Sure. I wanted to be an actor very young. Before I had really started studying it properly or taking it seriously as an art form. I think the real reason I wanted to do it when I was young is because it seemed fun and it seemed easy. To me, quote unquote real people jobs seemed quite complicated. And to me, acting was just, oh, I can pretend to be somebody else. I do that all the time. And yeah, I wanted to be an actor. I remember being 10 years old and we were doing Beauty and the Beast at my elementary school. And I was just like, it was the silliest, it was Beauty and the Beast Jr. So there were like extra characters and the dialogue was dumb. But I was one of Bell's brothers, William. And I remember there were two other brothers and I remember very vividly in our opening scene we walked onto this couch and the two brothers were bickering about something. And there was a space and then I went, you two are so immature. And the audience would lose it every single night. And I loved that. I loved that instant feedback. I love, I mean, one could say the attention, but genuinely I loved that sort of, I loved hearing people laugh and feel joy just based on a sentence. I thought like, I couldn't break it down at the time, but there was just something incredibly uplifting about that. And I think from that moment on, I wanted to be an actor. I think with some autistic people like myself and possibly like yourself, there is that need to, sometimes that need for attention, I guess. If you spend your days struggling and you spend your days being ignored by people and being picked on and isolated and not really getting on with people, then any sort of sense of positive social interaction, no matter how detached, is quite helpful. For me, podcasting and doing YouTube and stuff is quite a big thing for me because it's sort of keeps me going, keeps me being able to tell my story. There was very much a time in my life when I was about 14 or 15, I was in the car and I was going to one of my Taekwondo classes. And I was reaching breaking point to that, but I was very severely depressed and all of the type of things that come along with that. And I sort of made a wager with myself. I was like, tell you what, Tom, stay around. And at some point in your life, you're going to have the ability to talk about just the extent of what you've been through. And that was quite an annoying thing and it's kept me going. Sure, things have changed and now my goal is to make a difference, but it was very powerful for me. Yeah, I think that's great. I think I love, and I said this to you or we started recording, but I love that you're doing this. I love that you're providing a resource for people. And I'm sure that there's an autistic kid who's going to find this and not necessarily feel totally isolated. One of the beauties of the internet is that it provides platforms like that. Yeah. I don't think there's enough spaces for, a lot of the media around autism is educational or it's very short and it's emotional and it's all that, but it's never just autistic people chatting to each other about stuff. You never get that sense of normality in it. It's always like, you get your one chance in the spotlight doing something really cool and amazing there or at you and just how much you've been through, but there's not much of autistic people on talk shows talking about what they want and what they think the government's doing wrong and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I think it's one of the unfortunate things about this particular neurodivergency of it. One thing a lot of us are quite bad at is talking to other people. Yeah, exactly. Well, you got to have some people to do it. I am definitely not naturally socially competent. I learnt all of this on my own and so practice and all that kind of stuff. So it's, you got to take one for the team, don't you? Yeah, absolutely. But it's amazing that you're doing acting and stuff because obviously it's going to be quite interaction intense for you. How do you cope with that?  Yeah, you're right. I would say my firmest strategy and this sounds quite cliche and maybe a bit obvious, but it's literally just, it is always being so prepared for whatever I'm walking into as much as I can be. I think one of the things about autistic people and this is, I think, stereotyped quite a bit, but it's also true, is the point that autistic people we tend to fixate. On certain things or topics and there's a degree to which that's been a tool for me because I have read every acting book under the sun. I have listened to countless interviews with other actors. I never get bored with it. The answer is to mediating the kind of anxiety within myself and that burnout is just being as prepared as I can be, literally just being on my craft and on my technique and when I walk in knowing that I know what I'm going to do and I know how to do it and that helps me mediate my anxiety. It's not always perfect. So you've got quite a stoic attitude to facing anxiety. I can have a bit of a stoic attitude towards it. That's good. Some of life's most difficult things and problems and stuff can always be helped by a bit of a bit of stoicism. Wade off that nihilistic viewpoint. It does creep in with me now and again, that kind of, what's the point?  I think the interesting thing about it too is the job I have as an actor is so anti-stoic. Because you have to be so emotionally available. You have to be so loose and it doesn't matter if I'm feeling anxiety, if my character isn't feeling anxiety. So I just have to constantly navigate that as an actor and it's an interesting challenge I don't know that it's one I'm ever going to get bored of. Yeah, I've been in situations where I've had live radio shows that I've been on. Those have been fine, but as soon as you get them in front of a camera it just adds a new level of difficulty because you've got to work on your facial expressions and your body language. You can't just work on your tonality. You can't just work on your voice and your tonality and all of that. You've got to pay attention to lots of different things and make eye contact. Especially in your case, manage the anxiety around it, which is amazing that you've chosen to push through that and see where it takes you. So it's a very rewarding challenge, especially when you pull it off, really pull it off. Okay, so we'll talk a little bit about your struggles and stuff like that. Do you think that you've ever been discriminated against or you haven't been given the proper support? I would say I don't feel that I'm discriminated against. I think one of the good things about acting and the way the business of acting is conducted is a lot of it happens in short bursts anyway. If you're doing a film, they set up for a shot and then basically you're working intensively for 30 to 45 minutes, maybe longer depending on how complicated the shot is. But then you have a ton of downtime while they set up the next shot and you might not have to do anything else for another three hours. Theater too, you have time offstage and the way rehearsals are conducted, in general you work for about two hours and there's a break. I would say in terms of discrimination, I don't really feel that I'm discriminated against because most people don't know I'm autistic until I bring it up. I think I pass as being very neurotypical and people are often quite surprised when they find out that I'm autistic, which is, there's a double-edged sword to that too, but yeah, I don't feel that I'm discriminated against. I think in terms of that, I think the business is actually quite forgiving. So no quarrels with your acting coaches? Not about my autism. No, I think when I have disputes with acting coaches or what have you, most of those are either situational or personality-based. I certainly have had acting coaches who I didn't like, who I felt were abusive, but it's never been about my autism. Well that's great to hear, it sounds like it's good for you. Yeah, no, absolutely. So it's time for a quick mention from our sponsors, Timo. If you love visual support in your scheduling, Timo is for you. The app was designed for people with ADHD and autism and helps empower users to schedule visual routines that work. Users say that Timo can help reduce stress and support executive function, which are both two things that I struggle with myself. Learn more at www.tmoapp.com or just type in tdimo into your search bar. Thank you so much to my Patreon supporters. Your support means the world. Anyway, let's get back into the show. One of the questions that I wanted to ask, which I think is a very interesting one, considering we've talked about masking, would it be easier to play an autistic person or an erotypical? Because you've had all that experience acting like an erotypical on camera, but could you act autistic on camera? Interesting, that's a really good question, Thomas. Okay, so the way I'll answer it is this. And I have to get a little bit technical, but I'll try not to be too actory when I answer this question. Too many joggers. Yeah, there's too much stuff I can't be like, yeah, so my objective would... No, I wouldn't make that. But I would say if I were to take a role as an autistic person, and I'll preface that by saying I probably will never be offered a role as an autistic person. Why not? Unfortunately, a lot of, well, it's a lot of the... And I actually have a, I have a tangent that I can go on in a second about that, but I have a tangent on this tangent. A lot of autistic roles, the stereotype in the media is of sort of a small, I'm going to say white, I am white, but a small white frail kid who isn't able to make eye contact with anybody. And if you don't look like that, generally autistic roles are not for you. I can think of three roles that are really good, that are autistic characters in film and TV, and those are, these are all TV actually, Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory. The, I think his name is Elliot in Mr. Robot, the main character. I haven't seen that. And you haven't seen it? It's great. It's great. It's, he's very intense. He has, yeah, but he's, I don't remember if they've ever said that he's autistic, but he's clearly autistic, and then atypical, the TV show atypical. And all three of those actors sort of are within that vein. The people that they go, that film crew and producers go for when they want an autistic person. I think that there's maybe even a script decision there where you want somebody who looks smaller so that people can sympathize with it. I had no idea. Autism on screen very often looks like nerdy and unsociable, even when it's handled really well. And I generally play characters who are very outgoing. And I play characters who are actually kind of laissez-faire and they're very sociable, even if they're not very smart. Those are a lot of characters I play and also because I'm a little more athletic looking, because I work out quite a bit, those roles aren't available to me, which is, it's a shame to me. And I'm sorry, there's a lot of tangents. No, no, it's really interesting. Please continue. It's very late. I started writing when I was in college, a solo play called This Is Purple. And it was a story about how when I was 12 and I was at this school for the gifted, I ended up leaving this school. A teacher abused me physically. Oh, about, oh, I'm so sorry about that. It's okay.  So the story is essentially that I was not doing very well at this school, not because I couldn't mentally keep up with it, but there's a lot of work being thrown at me and I was suddenly very out of my league and my rhythms were being thrown off. And I wasn't doing my homework. I just stopped.  Right. Because my dad and the social worker would get on her when I didn't, when I got bad grades or whatever. And I got screamed out in front of the class and then I got dragged out into the hallway and thrown into a locker. Into a locker. Not literally the locker is closed, but into, yeah, smacked against a locker. And screamed out some more. And then after that, I transferred out of the school and went to a different school. At that place was a much more understanding teacher who I had this system set up with where whenever I felt something start to freak me out, I would just use a code phrase. This is purple. So I started writing the solo play and it's sort of an anatomy of that moment. And the reason I started writing it specifically was because I wanted to see autistic people who looked like me. And there are not many of them. No, there's a lot of stereotypes.  Yeah. Have you seen the TV series Hannibal? I have, yeah. The main character in that? He's, he's, um, Asperges. Yeah, I remember there's a line at the beginning of that. I think he even says my wagon is hitched much closer to autistics than like schizophrenics or something. Yeah, I do remember that now that you're mentioning it. And that's, it is sort of in my point there as well. You know, you have, he's a very good looking man, whatever his name is. I don't remember. I don't remember either.  He's, he comes off as very quiet and he's a super genius who doesn't know how to socialize. And that seems to be a prevalent stereotype. I do, I do know autistic people who are like him, you know, they're very withdrawn, but very empathetic and able to, to analyze things in a very high degree. But part of the reason why I like it is because it's not about autism. It's a film, but yes, the main character is autistic, but it's not about autism, which is absolutely awesome. And I love that which is partly one of the reasons why I haven't watched atypical because I feel like anything about autism is just going to like emotionally trigger me to some degree, which is not something that you want to relax to. Yeah, I will say I love Hannibal. I think it's a great show. And I would say if you find yourself emotionally ready to watch atypical, I would recommend it. I think it is the most human look at autism that I've seen. And also it doesn't just examine him, it examines his family and the impact and the way they handle his autism. I watched it with my dad and it provoked a lot of interesting discussions. It's also hard to watch for me without falling. Yeah, I can imagine. Because I understand. You know, I'll see if my girlfriend wants to watch it. We did watch Love on the Spectrum together, which was surprisingly quite nice in some respects. I did like a little video on that over on YouTube. But to say it's definitely an interesting thing, the kind of the dynamic between stereotypes and movies and stuff. And now it's kind of like a self-perpetuating loop. You know, the stereotypes come from sort of public knowledge or general public knowledge. And then those effects, what kind of people that they include in autism movies. And it kind of spirals and interesting. Oh, Thomas, I just realized I didn't answer your question. Oh, yeah. Sorry, it happens a lot. You know, follow the train of thought wherever it goes. I can do it really succinctly. So I would say a non-autistic person would be easier to play than an autistic person. And the reason that is, is because if I were to play an autistic person, I wouldn't approach that by drawing on Reggie's autism. I would be wanting to look objectively at how it affects this character and how that correlates with the sort of broader scientific understanding of autism. So the answer is neurotypical is easier than autistic from my perspective as a trained actor. It's very interesting to hear that. I think when I was writing these, I was definitely expecting a different answer, but it makes sense. It does. Because I suppose if you spent all that time trying to play roles that are neurotypical, then it's kind of like your default acting role, if that makes sense. Yeah, I know exactly. It's difficult in the industry and you kind of have to know people and stuff. But I would definitely like to see more autistic leads in films. So if you go for it and pitch to some people about being autistic and stuff then. Oh, I'm doing my best to write that stuff, I promise. Well, hopefully my work and going on the media and talking about it on TV, hopefully we can change the stereotype and we can get you some acting stuff. Sounding like I'm a director myself, don't I? Very egotistic. No, but ultimately it is up to us. We're the up and coming generation of artists.  It really is up to people who are our age and autistic people who are our age to engage in that because otherwise neurotypical people who maybe don't understand what we go through will sort of treat it as commodity, as like a fun twist, and this character is autistic. And I think it's going to be up to autistic people to create the work that genuinely shows what the human experience of autism is. Yeah, it is a group effort. And I think the more that we talk about it and the more that we have different people's autistic people going into different roles. And as I said, I'm going to interview a Romani, I think Gypsy, that's what she likes to call herself. I've got an MMA fighter coming to talk. Oh, wow. Yeah, autistic MMA fighter.  That's amazing. And then you've got people who have done acting and people who go into the media like my friend Nick and so many different areas. And as much as we can get autistic people in a good state of mental health to build up their positive image, give them role models, get things seen in the mainstream, the more that we're going to make progress with it, it's just, it's a slow burner. It's a slow burner, it's torturous. There's lots of things that we need to build upon, but time is slow. Time is very slow. Yes, it is. So there is one more question that I wanted to ask before we sort of turn around things up because of the nature of acting. Do you think that your acting classes have benefited your social life? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, no, a thousand percent. I think there are so many layers to why being an actor and being in the world of actors and studying acting has helped me. I would say there's what we've glanced on a little bit, which is acting and masking are very interrelated processes and outputs. And there's also, I know a lot of people in this business and a lot of people in this business know me because they've seen me in class, they've seen me in auditions, they've done shows with me. And as a result, I have in fact always had, I mean, since I started taking it seriously when I was about 15 or 16, a social network of people who do what I do, who love many of the things that I love. And there's a lot you can say about actors. And there are many actors who are quite superficial, of course, as are just people who are not actors. But actors, I think many of the best ones are deeply empathetic creatures. And I have faced judgment for many things. I have never faced judgment for being autistic. When I tell people that I'm autistic, especially when I was younger and wasn't quite as well socially adjusted, I would get just acceptance and love and warmth. The answer is yes, I think, I don't remember if that was a yes or no question, but I do believe that being an actor has had a massive positive impact on my social life in a way that I don't know if I could have had quite the same experience doing anything else. I think that there's a lot to say for that. I think that social skills and life skills are learned in or around your special interest. For me, it was Taekwondo and that obviously having to go to classes and training on a regular basis. That led to a lot of talking with people. And once I built my reputation up, I'd start talking to people at competitions who are from different clubs and talking to other fighters. And it was definitely a massive social network for me to learn those skills and feel comfortable in that social environment. And I think there's also a lot to say for, as I said, doing something that is your special interest. If you have a special interest and you can find a job that fits that well, you are set. You have that extreme hyper focus concentration. You want to work on it all the time and you'll have to try and wrangle yourself in to stop. It's very much an important thing, but there's many people out there who are undiagnosed autistic and are trying to live the life of a neurotypical and not live the life of an autistic person. It's the reality. It's great to hear that you have had that upbringing in that sense. It's very invaluable. Yeah, as you're saying, I think it's so important. I think it's important for every person autistic or not to find what they're passionate about. But I think especially for an autistic person to find what that thing is that you love and you can go to classes for it. You can build a social network around it. You can have something that brings you joy. And I think, again, I think that's important for neurotypicals as well. But I think particularly for neurodivergent people, it can be a path to a fulfilling social life as well as a fulfilling career, potentially. That is all of the questions that I wanted to ask you, apart from our little round of questions, which is always the most fun because it's a it's a memory recall task. And then straight after a very, very open question that can be answered in any way. So to be honest, I should probably kind of work on that. Considering that it's a podcast for a made by an autistic person having autistic guests on. I probably didn't put many adjustments in for that, but it just seems to work. I thought those questions were great. And I think I don't know many autistic actors, but I'm sure the ones I do know when they hear this will agree that these are the kinds of questions they would want to be asked. Awesome. That makes me happy to hear. In terms of being an autistic actor. Well, it's been awesome to have this chat with you. Let's get into the memory recall task. What three main things do you want people to take away from this podcast? Three main things. Things you want to drive home. Autism doesn't just present one way. I think is one thing I want to drive home.  And the truth is that autistic people while manifesting certain specific neurodivergencies are as diverse. I'm going to go with diverse. I think, yes, autistic people are as diverse as neurotypicals in terms of their presentation and in terms of their personalities. Did you get distracted by the person in the background? I did. My roommate walked out of her room and I went, oh no. Yeah, what happens to her about it? Yeah. The second thing I want to impress and we just finished talking about this, but I think it is so important for autistic people to find things that they're passionate about and if they can turn them into a career, do it. And if you can't, you know, you can have a craft on the side while you go to your day job and it will enliven you and it was a good chance that it will enrich your social life. And then my third thing, memory recall. What have we talked about, Thomas? I have no idea. I leave this up to the guests. That's why I'm terrible. That's why I ask you and I don't round it up for everybody because I'm terrible at it. Oh yeah, it must be great being an interviewer. You only have to prepare. I'll just end some audio of me talking once I've listened to the entirety of it again. Sounds perfect. I won't. Oh, you know what, I'm going to go for this. I would say the arts are not off limits for autistic people. And I think that's a big thing because of how much it demands from autistic people specifically, especially if you're a performing artist. There are absolutely ways to do it and be autistic and be, you know, somewhat successful doing it and being good at it and enjoying your life while you do it. It certainly takes work and I would say it takes more work than it would for the average and neurotypical. But autistic people are given gifts that I think a lot of neurotypical people don't have. We have that ability, like you mentioned, we can focus forever on issues until they're solved. I think there's an Einstein quote that I love which is, and I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but it's not that I'm that much smarter than everybody else. It's that I stick with problems longer. And especially given that we know he was autistic, I think that is an incredible tool and skill that autistic people have that if we become super involved with, I don't know, computer science, there is a good bet that we are going to be the most knowledgeable person you know about computer science. And if you are looking for a job in that area, you're going to be one of the best prepared people to do that thing. In some ways, autism is a little bit of a superpower and while still acknowledging the setbacks that come with it, I think there is room to have a really positive outlook as an autistic person towards your autism. That's brilliant. Thank you very much for that. Of course. I definitely do think that autism brings a lot to every single area of life. Just as a baseline, we have a different way of being and behaving and thinking that is always welcome in the pool of diversity for any sort of field. And I think it's also important to highlight that even if your diagnosis says that you are not very sociable and you can't cope well with change and stress, you still can do it. It's just it's going to take more effort on your part. It's like look at me. I hardly ever used to talk to anyone at all. I didn't work on myself. I didn't work on any of that stuff. I got to university, worked on my dating skills and my ability to make friends. I started going to parties. I went abroad to do travelling, which required a lot of change on a constant basis. And now I'm talking to people over the internet and making podcasts out of it. And that's exactly it. There's so much potential in every person listening to this. It's just whether you believe in yourself and you want to go for it and you're willing to put the work in. 100%. Especially in fields like acting, like yourself, Reggie. You bring your own sort of quirk and difference and intrigue about your acting career. Because as you said, not a lot of autistic people are actors or at least as far as we know. Yeah, as far as they know. Johnny Depp, maybe. Oh, one does wonder. There's a lot of wonders, isn't there? Especially with celebrities. Nobody wants to come out and say I'm autistic. But absolutely. I feel like I've said absolutely about 300 times during this interview. I just really agree with you, man. Thank you very much. It's nice to be agreed with. So we've got the last question, which as I said is an open question. What does autism mean to you, Reggie? Literally the first word that came to my head was superpower. Of course, being autistic has created difficulties in my life, especially when I was younger. But as I have adapted to some of the more difficult parts of my neurodivergence, I think the positive aspects have come through. And I am just forced to identify how my brain works to have a different outlook on things. And to stay with problems longer, as Einstein said. As a working adult, as an artist, as an actor, as a writer, I can only think of those things as a superpower. And given the tools available to help with the more negative aspects of autism, I think an autistic adult has plenty of room to feel empowered by their autism rather than crippled by it. That's what autism means to me. Brilliant. Thank you very much for that. It's always nice to hear a new angle on autism. Everyone says something different. Autism means different things to different people. But the most important thing is that we show that. Some people hate their autism and see it as a challenge and something to have come. Some people see it as a little bit of a nuisance, but not really part of their personality. There's so many different things to so many different people. It's just crazy to hear a new approach on it every time I do one of these podcasts. I'm definitely at some point going to do a little compilation of what autism means to certain people. I'm going to try and put some nice backing music to it and do something with it at some point. But cool. Thank you very much for that, Reggie. Of course. Would you like to give out any links to your website and you take talk and stuff like that? Sure, yeah. So my website is ReggieHerald.com. That's R-E-G-G-I-E-H-E-R-O-L-D.com. And you can also find me on Instagram at ReggieHerald again. And you can find me on all of those platforms. And especially if you're an autistic person, if you ever want to message me about autism, especially how it interrelates with art and with acting. Say you're moving to the city and you're an autistic actor. I'd love to get coffee or something. Awesome. Well, you might have a lot of requests considering how absolutely handsome you are. Like, God, look at your...  I'm so jealous of your website. You've got some awesome photo shoots.  You might regret putting that out to people. Making me blush, man. Thanks. Well, it's been a lovely episode. And if you want to check out this episode and many more, you can always find it under the 4080 podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube under Asperger's Growth, of course. If you want to stay in tune with my day-to-day, see the kind of media things that I'm doing on the side, a little bit into my daily life. Find my stuff on at Asperger's Growth, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Very easy to find. And of course, if you have your own story, experience, opinion to share, please email me at Asperger'sGrowth at gmail.com. Wow. That was the first... That was like the perfect tag. I usually have to redo that a few times. That was smooth as hell, man. I'm getting all right at it. It's only been like 26 episodes, 25 or... Catch the wave and it's perfect, yeah. Have you got any parting words for us, Reggie? Because I'm terrible at outros. Oh God, yeah. Your autism is a superpower. That's it. Fight those enemies. Fight those... There's anti-vaxxers. Fight people but always remember to have a soft spot for people and stay generally kind and polite and make sure that you're emotionally in tune with yourself and others around you. Drink your water. Stay clean. Have a shower. And don't vote for a Donovan. Little political alignment coming in there but we'll leave it in anyway. See you later, folks. Bye. I thought I'd just give you a little bit of a teaser to what may be coming in the new year. As you know, the 4080 podcast has been going on for a while now. We've had a lot of episodes rolling out. A lot of episodes, good episodes. Fresh ear candy for yourselves. And with the support from Teemo via the advertisements and also my Patreon supporters and most specifically Mr. Patrick Veddy, I have amassed enough money to upgrade my equipment. Cool, right? Well, sadly, you'll have to put up with my old shabby snowball microphone for the time being but when the new season, season two of the 4080 podcast comes out, you will be pleasantly surprised by the audio quality which I've heard it here right on the microphone here. It's going to be good quality microphones. The road podcaster. Nice and fresh, new, ready for a new season. Going to be great. We're going to end on a banger. Yeah, exciting stuff.


Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, and Mrs. Reagan. Today, in 1949, Mr. the United States Company, he says, that we may know that history has seen stability, security, and cooperation in the region. That much began from one another. The enthusiasm for the growing potential of our commercial and economic relations has proved our mutual goodwill by discussing our differences for a while. Mr. and Mrs. President convinced that our fundamental areas are really far outweighed differences in the moment, rather than controls on production, rather than redistribution. And here in the United States, we've found that reducing tax rates has been the most important factor in the progress we've made. Free mines and free markets will develop innovations which will ensure a more prosperous and peaceful tomorrow. The people of the United States look forward to working with India in building a better tomorrow. Three years ago, when the agent achieves, you will inaugurate that festival, now dedicated to your mother's memory, during your visit here this week. This is an auspicious year for such a festival, as you know it has been done between our countries and to advance the cause of peace in the new region, millions of millions leaping over oceans and continents. Three years ago, well-known in the Agandis, I feel that there are differences, but rising above them are the beliefs we care about in the supremacy of freedom, in the necessity of equality, in the sovereignty of the people's will. I saw in passing the memorial... ...and that a house divided against itself cannot stand. The best minds of our age tell us... ...to propel us towards the imperative of cooperation. The United States and India have been developing a tradition of working together. If my visit strengthens that tradition, one of the most important and one of the most pleasantly rewarding of journeys, I look forward in particular to my talks with you, Mr. President, and look forward to welcoming you there. From this week, a festival of India opens here in Washington. Joel says you're going to need a small tax increase as a last resort, what do you think? This is a photo opportunity. The fact that I'm smiling reveals that I think it's a joke. Exit to the right. There are three cameras at the end of the road. Can we receive the letter? This is fine.


The next item of business is portfolio questions. The portfolio on this occasion is education and skills. I invite members wishing to ask a supplementary question to press the request-to-speak buttons during the relevant questions. There is an awful lot of interest in supplementary questions, so they will need to be brief, as will the responses. I will be intervening where speaking allocation times are not adhered to, and I call question number one, Edward Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Executive Chief Officer for Education and Learning at Highland Council and what was discussed. Scottish Government officials last met with the Executive Chief Officer for Education and Learning at Highland Council on Thursday 5 October 2023 to discuss a range of education matters, including attainment. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. It is interesting that no one seems to have seen her since. Does the cabinet secretary believe that members of this Parliament should be allowed to visit schools within their constituencies and all regions, or whether councils like the Highland councils should obstruct and deny such visits? As a general point of principle, yes, I do believe that MSPs should be able to engage with their schools in their areas, that they represent. I do so myself on a regular basis in my constituency. I do not know the specifics of the issue that Mr Mountain has raised today. If he would like to share more information with me, of course, that would be welcome. I am aware, of course, as members will be, that during electoral periods, for example, local authorities undoubtedly put rules and restrictions on when elected members might visit local schools. However, if the member wishes to share more detail with my office, I would be more than happy to consider that. Proposals from the University of the Highlands and Islands are set to cut some STEM subjects at the Murray campus. That will have a negative impact on senior pupils who study there in addition to attending school. Given the importance of this model of delivery of school subjects and the rurality of the area and the impact on pupils, can the cabinet secretary say what she can do to ensure provision of those subjects continued to the pupils in that area? I thank the member for her question. I may ask the Minister for Higher Education to engage with her directly on the substantive point. I have seen reports in relation to some of the challenge here. Of course, the Government does support the provision of additionality through funding for bursaries for STEM subjects, for example, recognising the challenge in that subject area. However, I will ask the Minister for Higher Education to write to the member with more specifics in relation to that. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of an accredited qualification and registration programme for additional support needs assistance. In taking forward this work, my officials have engaged extensively with a range of stakeholders, including local authorities, COSLA, ADES, the unions, the Association of Support for Learning Officers and pupil support staff themselves. This included a national engagement programme undertaken by Education Scotland, which gathered 2,500 responses from pupil support staff across all 32 local authority areas. Through the engagement, we have heard a wide range of views and now have a substantial amount of information with which to inform the development of a final report. Officials have confirmed that the intention is to publish the final report in the spring, which will contain proposals for further action. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. We know that support assistance jobs are expanding, the teacher burdens are increasing, the more likely to be attacked, have higher workloads, but often get less training and support. They have to be classroom teachers, mental health workers and speech and language therapists in order to cover up some gaps in pupil provision. I just ask the cabinet secretary to be clear if the Government will follow through on that commitment and give a timeline when they will publish a pathway for additional support needs teachers to training and education. The member will be aware that the commitment stems from a bute house commitment in relation to looking at accreditation for pupil support assistance. It is vitally important that we consider that. I outlined in my initial response to the member that we expect to have the full detail of that report in the spring, so in the coming weeks. I hope that that gives him some reassurance on timescales involved more broadly. I hope that the member will welcome data that was published earlier this week, which shows that we now have a record number of pupil support assistants working in Scotland schools, which increased last year by 725. That is because this Government is putting additional investment into pupil support assistants, recognising, as the member has done, the key role that they play in Scotland schools. Can the cabinet secretary further detail how the record funding provided by the local Government by the Scottish Government is improving outcomes for young people with additional support needs, including in Dumfries and Galloway? Spending on additional support for learning by local authorities reached a record high of £926 million in 2022-23. We have also invested £75 million since 2019-20, which has contributed, as I mentioned in the response to Mr Griffin, to the highest recorded level of support staff in Scotland on record. It is also worthwhile to recognise, Presiding Officer, the achievements of our young people with additional support needs. We know that 93 per cent of secondary and special school leavers with an additional support need were in an initial positive destination three months after the end of the school year. That is certainly welcome news, and it is also evidence of further investment from this Government in supporting our children and young people. Statistics on Tuesday showed that Scotland has 392 fewer ASN specialists than it did in 2013. Over the same time, there was a 96.8 per cent increase in the number of pupils identified with an additional support need. What solution can the cabinet secretary offer right now to address the falling ASN teacher numbers and reduce the numbers that each is supporting? I thank the member for his question. He will also recognise, of course, that the data that was published yesterday showed an increased trajectory in relation to the number of specialists. I hope that he will recognise that those numbers are now going in the right direction, recognising the need and the system. Of course, the member and I, and I think that a number of others, discussed the issue yesterday at the Education and Skills Committee. To that end, I look forward to hearing from the committee on their recommendations to the Government on that exact point. However, the point that I was making committee yesterday to Ms Duncan Glancy was that because of additional investment from this Government in teacher numbers and in pupil support assistance, we are now seeing record numbers in our schools. I hope that the member recognises that in relation to pupil support assistance. I see the member gesticulating from a sedentary position, but I hope that he accepts that, in the past three years, we have seen an increase in relation to those with additional support needs as a specialism in relation to classroom teaching. It is going in the right direction, and it is because of that additionality and investment from this Government, Presiding Officer. I would encourage the minister to ignore any gesticulations coming from the Opposition Front Benches. I call question 3 Murdoff. To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to schools to facilitate the expansion of an outdoor learning-based curriculum. As part of our learning for sustainability action plan published in June 2023, we have committed to establishing a new national policy workstream on outdoor learning supported by a national working group that will report to Scottish ministers. The group will pursue a range of actions to ensure that all children and young people receive entitlements to outdoor learning in all its forms. In addition, Education Scotland continues to support schools in taking learning outside through professional learning provision, a new learning for sustainability portal launching later this year and a learning for sustainability mentor network. I thank the minister for that very positive response. I am sure that she and the whole chamber are aware of the many recorded benefits that regular access to outdoor learnings can have on learners and educators across all levels of schooling. She will also be aware of the success of initiatives such as the teaching in nature programme. Is she minded to lend support to my colleague Liz Smith's member's bill to guarantee outdoor residential experiences for both primary and secondary pupils? I have discussed the bill proposals with Ms Smith on several occasions most recently, just earlier this year. I will continue to do so over the coming weeks and months following its formal introduction, which I believe is pretty imminent. As with any new legislative proposal, all stakeholder views must be taken into account in the full range of consequences and costs must be explored. On that, I had a really fantastic visit to the Outward Bound Trust at Loch Eol, where I heard first hand of the benefits and of this form of outdoor education and spoke directly to some of the young people who were benefiting from it. However, in relation to the proposed bill specifically, while of course the Government will give any draft bill its full consideration, we will reserve our final position until the draft bill is introduced. Can the minister set out what role Scotland's universities have in supporting the outdoor learning sector? I thank the member for the question. Universities are playing a really important role and a good example of that is Queen Margaret University's new outdoor learning hub, which my colleague the Minister for Higher and Further Education opened just earlier this week. As well as courses being offered by universities including Queen Margaret, Edinburgh, Stirling and Highland and Islands, we are also working with colleges and universities and with the General Teaching Council for Scotland to develop a new national framework for initial teacher training, which embeds learning for sustainability. Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the roll-out of free digital devices to school pupils. In order to maximise the impact of funding, we will provide support to a household level targeting device investment at disadvantaged families with children. This approach will improve equity of access to devices and connectivity. For those who need it most, helping families to realise the broad range of benefits associated with digital inclusion and enabling access to digital tools and resources for learning. We are currently in the early stages of scheme design with Connecting Scotland who will use their established model to distribute devices to eligible households. I am afraid that it is broken promise after broken promise from failing to close the poverty-related attainment gap to the roll-out of free school meals. Parents, teachers and pupils will now remember the SNP as the Government who stole the Wayne's IT. Although I appreciate that the cabinet secretary was not in post at the time when she promised a free laptop to every school pupil, why did the Government promise something that they knew that they would never be able to deliver? I remember her question. It is worth putting on the record that the Government has invested £25 million in devices and connectivity. That has resulted in over 72,000 devices and 14,000 connectivity packages being distributed to disadvantaged learners all over Scotland. However, I find it quite remarkable that Ms Gallagher has come to the chamber to complain about the investment going to support digital connectivity across the country, given that it is her party that has cut the Government's budget, particularly in relation to capital, by close to 10 per cent in real terms. That is having a direct impact on the spending priorities of this Government, meaning that there is less funding to go into things like education. I hope that the member would recognise some of the challenge in her question. I think that the hypocritical, if I may say so, approach that she is taking today. I have a number of supplementaries. I will try to get them in. I have more chance of getting them in if we do not have heckling of answers and indeed questions. Can the cabinet secretary say on her previous point whether the Scottish Government has made any assessment of the impact of budget capital cuts to Scotland from the UK Government on providing whether it is pre-digital services or other projects in the education portfolio? I thank the member for his question. As I alluded to in my response to Ms Gallagher's question, this is particularly challenging at the current time because of cuts that have come from Westminster that are having a real impact, but not just on education right across the Scottish Government. It is particularly acute in relation to the capital funding, which Ms Gallagher asked me the original question on, which is due to contract by almost 10 per cent in real terms over the next five years. That has real impacts here in Scotland, where, of course, we have one hand tied behind our back and we want to make spending decisions that affect the outcomes of our children and young people. Willie Rennie The education secretary's predecessor, who is making a lot of noise this afternoon, made this solemn promise to the voters in 2021. He said that those tools are no longer luxuries, so if they are essential, why has the Government de-prioritised the programme and why are they now means testing the access to free laptops and devices? I thank the member for his question. Again, as I have outlined, I thank him in my response to both previous members, decisions taken by Governments and other parts of the United Kingdom. Governments that the people of this country did not vote for mean that this Government in Scotland has less money to go around for a commitment that was now made some years ago. That is the reality of the UK. If Mr Rennie does not like it, then perhaps he should come to these benches and support independence for Scotland and give us the real spending power that we need to make investments in improving the capital provision that we currently have in relation to public services. That is the challenge of the United Kingdom and the status quo that Mr Rennie backs. The last Scottish health and wellbeing census found that for peoples between P5 and S3, over a third of bullying was done online. Can the cabinet secretary please advise what measures the Scottish Government has considered to limit harm to children during the roll-out of free digital devices? The member raises a really important point. On the issue, the Government is committed to rolling out a digital strategy, recognising some of the challenge here. More broadly, in relation to the issues around about bullying, of course, we published data on that towards the end of last year in the behaviour in Scotland schools research, but we looked at the issue in some more detail. Education Scotland has published a suite of resources in relation to online bullying that is supporting teachers in our schools at the current time. Of course, in the next few weeks, we will also produce updated guidance in relation to the use of mobile phones, which can also act in relation to facilitating some of the challenge in relation to online bullying. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions have taken place with ministerial colleagues regarding any potential implications for Scottish universities and colleges of the Migration Advisory Committee's rapid review of the graduate route visa, as announced by the UK Government. Scotland needs an immigration system that supports our higher education sector to deliver the best learning, the best research and the best experience for students who choose to study to stay in Scotland. I am, along with Scotland's universities and college sectors, deeply concerned that restricting or scrapping the graduate route will deter talented graduates from staying in Scotland. I thank the minister for that response. Since 2019, international students have contributed between £4 billion and £6 billion to the Scottish economy. The UK Government has stated the intended purpose of the review is to confirm, among other things, the visa can support pathways into high-quality jobs. Any curtailment of the graduate route has serious implications for Scotland's university sector. At a time when the UK Government's decision to end dependence visas for postgraduate students has had a significant impact on demand from key international markets such as Nigeria, India and Pakistan. Does the minister agree with me that any change to the graduate route visa must ensure that it remains an attractive and competitive offer to those who wish to study here and that the UK Government must also ensure that Scotland and the UK remains open and that a warm welcome awaits international students? I absolutely agree that we need international students and graduates to make their lives in Scotland. I share the member's concern at the rapid review and the UK Government's approach to international students generally, which has already seriously impacted our university sector. I am therefore seeking to meet the Migration Advisory Committee's chair in the coming days, prior to which I am hoping to hear directly from the university and college sector on their concerns, so that I can try to ensure that Scotland's needs are reflected in the rapid review. International students play a vital, cultural and economic role in Scotland, and we should recognise and celebrate that. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to comments made by the National Autistic Society in Scotland that some autistic pupils in Scotland have to, quote, fail in mainstream education before receiving the support that they need. We want all children and young people to get the support that they need to reach their full learning potential, including those with autism. The Scottish Government continues to work in partnership with Education Scotland and a range of stakeholders to improve professional understanding of and support for autistic learners in all settings. In commitment to this work, a range of information, guidance, resources and professional learning opportunities continue to be supported and collaboratively developed for school staff for access. In addition to that, we fund a number of services to support children and young people with additional support needs and their families to get the support necessary to thrive. That includes funding a national autism implementation team. I'm very grateful to the cabinet secretary for that response and indeed earlier in these questions we've discussed the ASN situation. But let me quote Susie Martin, the external affairs manager for the National Autistic Society, highlighting the distressing reality faced by families of autistic children who often find themselves having to, quote, fight the system to access necessary support. We've heard there are 392 less specialists in the school than we've heard from the cabinet secretary about record high spending, so what is the Scottish Government going to do to assist families of autistic children so they don't feel they have to fight the system? I thank the member for his question and, of course, he may be aware that the Education Committee is carrying out an inquiry on this very issue at the current time, and these comments were discussed yesterday in that evidence session. I'm very sympathetic to the points that Ms Martin has raised in relation to parents' experience of the current system. Of course, in responding to the Morgan review that was published back in 2020, the Scottish Government, in collaboration with COSLA, committed to the additional support for learning action plan, of which we've been able to progress over half of the actions contained in that plan, which include improving things like parents' experience and young people's experience of the system. We are, and the member is right to say, investing in record numbers of people's support assistance in our schools. However, I think that the experience of parents is often a challenging one, and I look forward to engaging with the committee members on the outputs from their report, which I understand will come in the coming weeks. In the coming weeks, of course, the Government will publish our additional support for learning action plan review, and I hope that, in that plan, we will be able to identify some more tangible steps that we can take to improve outcomes for our young people, but fundamentally to improve the system for our parents and carers as well, and our young people with additional support needs. I've got a couple of brief supplementary questions and brief answers, if possible. First, James Dawn. Can the cabinet secretary say any more about the steps that the Scottish Government has taken to improve the support-available to autistic learners, and the steps that are being taken to equip teachers with guidance to support the inclusion of autistic learners? As I mentioned, we fund the national autism implementation team, who produces materials to support professional learning and development for practitioners working in the system. NEIT has also developed a framework for assessment and planning to support multidisciplinary target setting for autistic children. That was written by allied health professionals, which I think is fundamentally important in recognising the link between health and education and other factors that we considered at the education committee yesterday. We have also refreshed the autism toolbox, which provides school staff with professional advice and guidance on supporting the inclusion of autistic learners. We recently heard from Mae Dunsmure, the president of the first-tier tribunal for Scotland, who highlighted the impact that masking is having on cases involving neurodivergent children. Will the cabinet secretary agree to work with Mr Whipfield and I and the members of the education committee to analyse the impact that masking is having on autistic and neurodivergent young people in schools and how we can best support them? I'm happy to engage with the member on this issue. She should also recognise, of course, that the Government is committed to bringing forward legislation in this space. I think that the bill may offer some protection in relation to the issues that have been highlighted in the education committee. To ask the Scottish Government what support it can provide to any local authorities that are struggling to meet the rising costs associated with providing school transport so that children and young people can travel to school in a safe, efficient and affordable manner. The Scottish Government is providing record funding of more than £14 billion to local authorities in 24-25, including more than £600 million of additional revenue funding for day-to-day services, including the provision of free home-to-school transport for eligible children. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities and decisions about the provision of home-to-school transport services to rest with local authorities. I am grateful for that answer and, without giving away our exact ages, the Education Scotland Act of 1980 is older than me and the Cabinet Secretary, and many believe that the minimum home-to-school provisions are no longer fit for purpose, notwithstanding the funding that the Cabinet Secretary has mentioned. Changing legislation takes time, but young constituents in Lanarkshire and their families need urgent action right now. I am pleased that the Minister, Jim Fairlie, who has got responsibility for bus, has agreed to meet with me locally to meet some of those families, because many children will now face difficult walks of up to six miles a day to and from school. We need to find some solutions, but it is not fair on these children. Will the Cabinet Secretary agree to be part of those talks? I am more than happy to engage with the member on this substantive point, although I just put on the record, Presiding Officer. The issue that she raises is fundamentally a matter for the relevant local authority. I hope that she recognises that at the current time. She cites the age of the legislation itself, but I think that it is important that local authorities are encouraged to engage with the local communities that they serve on school transport. I have been proud to stand with local children, young people, parents and carers who have staged a brilliant campaign against South Lanarkshire Council's unsafe and unworkable proposals to increase the qualifying criteria for school bus provision. The Scottish Government is providing South Lanarkshire Council with record funding this year, and although Labour's toxic PFI legacy continues to cost the council around £40 million every year. With the school transport consultation now closing, will the Cabinet Secretary urge the Labour Council and South Lanarkshire Council not to shirk its responsibilities and to heed the concerns that communities have eared? I thank the member for her question. Although it is, as I said to Ms Lennon, ultimately up to the council to make local decisions on how best to deliver their services, Clare Haughey is absolutely right to say that South Lanarkshire Council is receiving record funding from the Scottish Government, including more than £752 million to fund local services, which equates to an extra £46.6 million, or an additional £6.6 per cent, compared with the £23.24 budget, as well as its share of the additional funding recently announced by the Deputy First Minister. There is no financial reason for the council to take this unpopular decision, and I am sure that people in South Lanarkshire will reflect on a Labour party cutting front-line services and on an SNP Government investing in communities. Question 8, Russell. Providing update on what financial support is available to those in higher and further education who choose to study online? Further education students studying through distance learning may be eligible for funds such as tuition fee waiver if they receive certain benefits or are on a low income or have a disability and may be eligible to access support from discretionary funds. Eligible students can also access help with living costs in the form of educational maintenance allowance and childcare support. Higher education students studying through distance learning will typically be awarded tuition fee funding in the form of the part time fee grant. Eligible students may be eligible for discretionary funds and if eligible are also able to apply for DSA. Work is under way, of course, to review the financial support available as part of the wider reform work being undertaken. Russell Findlay. I thank the minister for his answer. A Renfrewshire constituent has turned his back in a corporate career to retrain as a Church of Scotland minister. However, the Scottish Government student award agency refuses to pay his fees or give him a loan because his full-time Aberdeen university course is all online, yet he is doing exactly the same work as those who attend in person. Can the minister tell my constituent and others in that position why he is being unfairly penalised and what the SNP Government will do to close this loophole? Minister. The member raises a specific case and I'd be happy to engage with him further if he provides additional detail to look into that with SAS. Thank you minister. That concludes portfolio questions on education and skills. There'll be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business to allow you from benches to change.


The Kentucky Small Business Development Center hosted the 23rd annual Big Sandy Women's Symposium Tuesday, May 3rd. The symposium hosted 150 women and had over 40 businesses represented. The theme this year is called Opening Up, and we thought that was very appropriate for this year. So it's talking about growing and coming out of the coronavirus in a more positive way. And we are hoping that this will bring people out and make people more aware of what's going on in the world of work. We are Pikeville Medical Center, and we are an amazing place to work. Healthcare heroes of all types work here. All who deserve great rewards. So while our heroes are working hard to take care of our patients and visitors, we are taking care of them with top-tier benefits, higher pay rates, and great sign-on bonuses. So join our team today. So what are you waiting for? Apply today! Incredible opportunities await at PMCjobs.org. The Women's Symposium had several breakout sessions focused on marketing and business development alongside two keynote speakers. The conference also featured live music from Holly Elizabeth Forbes. Well, conferences like this for women are so important because a lot of women are not aware of the opportunities that are out there, but also are quite often not aware of the fact that they have the right to speak up and step up for their own opinion, ideas, as well as vision. And so I think it's really important for women to be surrounded by other women to feel empowered again and get a taste of what it means if we could finally start creating equality really. For more information on upcoming events, visit Kentucky SBDC in Eastern Kentucky on Facebook. For Mountain Top News, I'm Breonna Robinson.