For as long as she can remember, Abbey has wanted to be a journalist. “I am very social and I wanted to meet new people, travel the world and interview celebrities,” she tells WHO. But with autism and a rare congenital joint disorder that leaves her confined to a wheelchair, it felt unlikely that her dreams would come true.
Since leaving school three years ago, the 20-year-old has struggled to find a job and has experienced training that doesn’t accommodate her needs. This is all changing thanks to The Assembly.
In the bold new ABC show, Abbey has joined a journalism class along with 14 others with autism who aspire to careers in the media. Guided by veteran journalist Leigh Sales, they receive training through Macquarie University to prepare them to interview a different Australian celebrity each week.
“[Leigh] was very caring and supportive and helped us all the way through,” Abbey says. “The main thing she taught me was to be confident when asking the celebrities their questions. Even though I have so much confidence, it was good to learn new skills, and each week, she would help elaborate on my questions.”
It turns out Abbey has quite the natural talent for it. In the first episode, her insightful question about the greatest thing he’d learned from his parents brought acclaimed actor Sam Neill to tears. In an age when celebrities often keep their cards close to their chest, this was no small feat. And Abbey admits to being surprised about just how much some of the interviewees opened up to the group.
“Sam Neill and Amanda Keller were very emotional when talking about their families,” she says. As for the secret to getting prominent Australians – Delta Goodrem, Hamish Blake, Adam Goodes and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also all appear – to open up when others have failed?
“The celebrities felt comfortable around us and no subject was out of bounds, no question was off the table and anything could happen,” Abbey says, reciting the rules of the group. “I think that they liked our questions because they haven’t been asked them before.”
Government website Healthdirect estimates that about 1 in every 150 Australians have some form of autism spectrum disorder. Despite that being a fairly high proportion of the population, their voice has been distinctly lacking from conversations in the mainstream media. Each of the students in Abbey’s cohort has been given a paid internship at the ABC and she agrees it’s well overdue to see more representation for people on the spectrum.
“We are very honest people, we say what we want and we ask questions that other journalists maybe too scared to ask,” she says. “[Seeing us on TV] increases understanding and acceptance.”
As for her future, Abbey is full of high hopes for a career in the media and wants to find a permanent job at the ABC.
“I would love to be interviewing celebrities on the red carpet or be a presenter on Play School,” she says.
Catch The Assembly Tuesdays at 8:30pm on ABC TV.
