During the Saturday Night Live (SNL) show on May 9th 2021, Billionaire Elon Musk reveals he has Asperger’s, which as of 2013 in DSM-5 is now considered part of the Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Elon made reference to his monotone speech when he said “Sometimes, after I say something I have to say ‘I mean that’.. that’s because I don’t always have a lot of intonational variation in how I speak … I’m actually making history as the I’m first person with Asperger’s to host SNL, or at least the first to admit it”. Though he is not the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL, this is the first time he has announced publicly that he has Asperger’s which falls inside the Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Elon also pointed out that he won’t be making eye contact wit the cast tonight and continue to say “But don’t worry, I’m pretty good at running ‘human’ in emulation mode” traits usually present in people across the autism spectrum.
Elon Musk, one of the top richest man in the world, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been mostly known for innovation in electric car industry and his rocket-ship projects like Starship. He has also been known to write controversial tweets, for which during SNL he said “I know sometimes I say or I post strange things, but that’s just how my brain works. To anyone who I’ve offended, I just want to say I re-invented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?”
Elon Musk’s reveal on his diagnosis helps to bring down the stigma of Autism, and helps people see that Asperger’s or Autism is not represented by one single person. He is a unique representation in the Autism Spectrum, it does however help to bring down the stigma of Autism by seeing another public figure share their diagnosis.
