Lizzy Clark

1994– ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST ENGLAND

I don’t see my Asperger’s syndrome as a problem;

that’s just other people’s ignorance. . . . Hopefully I’m helping to bring understanding of the condition to more people.

—LIZZY CLARK

“Are you ready, Lizzy?” asked the director. Lizzy was distracted by the crew moving around behind the cameras and by the bright lights glaring in her eyes. But this was what she wanted—to be an actress. She wouldn’t let her Asperger’s syndrome stop her. She took a deep breath and nodded.

You can do it, Lizzy, she told herself.

“Okay then. Actors to your marks,” said the director. Lizzy and Dakota walked onto the set, the interior of the Fairdale Residential School. Lizzy couldn’t believe how real it looked once they were standing in it.

This was the scene where her character, Poppy, first meets Dakota’s character, April. They would become good friends later in the movie, but in this early scene, they are strangers. Lizzy knew her lines, but she was still nervous. Dakota was a famous actress—everyone in England knew her. She had been acting for years and knew exactly what to do. This was Lizzy’s very first acting job.

“Lights?” asked the director. “Camera?”

The crew quieted and took their places.

Dakota leaned over and whispered to Lizzy, “Don’t worry, you’re going to be great.” She gave Lizzy a big, friendly smile.

There are a few other famous actors with Asperger’s syndrome or other autism spectrum disorders, including Dan Ackroyd (Saturday Night Live, The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters) and Daryl Hannah (Splash, Bladerunner).3

Lizzy smiled back. She could do it—she was sure of it.

“And  .  .  .  action!”

Lizzy Clark was born in 1994 in Shrewsbury, England. She knew about acting because her mother was an actress, but it wasn’t something she knew she would do. Early in life, she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a developmental disorder related to autism. People with Asperger’s (or Aspies, as some like to be called) have higher-than-average intelligence, weaker social abilities, and a desire to focus on just a few same interests and activities, over and over again. Acting is not a common career path for people with Asperger’s—you can count the famous autistic actors on one hand.

Lizzy’s disability was subtle, so many people didn’t know she was autistic. “They see me as someone who’s a bit strange and not very easy to get on with, although I do have lots of friends who love me and support me.”¹ When Lizzy was fourteen, her actress mom, Nicky, saw an ad on an autism website. The BBC was holding auditions for a TV movie based on the children’s book Dustbin Baby. Lizzy tried out and got the part of Poppy, a teenager with Asperger’s syndrome. Lizzy’s mother said, “I think it’s incredibly positive that the BBC chose to find an actress who has the same condition as the character.”²

Lizzy, who had never acted before, described the challenges: “My Asperger’s made some things on the film set difficult at first, like dealing with the sudden noise of the storyboard, but I was soon so focused on acting that I didn’t notice anything else.”4 She was also intimidated by working with the more experienced and famous actors on set, but she soon got used to it and just enjoyed herself. It was a huge boost to her self-esteem. “It was lovely for Lizzy; it was lovely for people with autism  .  .  .  to show that anything is achievable,” said her mother.⁵

Lizzy’s performance was watched by 2.3 million viewers when it was broadcast in 2008.⁶ The movie got great reviews. The Telegraph called it “a rare treat this Christmas: something teenagers and parents can watch together.”⁷ And the praise did not go unnoticed: the movie won two Kidscreen Awards, a BAFTA Award (the British Oscars), and an International Emmy Award.

When the movie wrapped, Lizzy was eager to play new parts  .  .  .  but there weren’t any. It’s not that there aren’t disabled characters on TV and in movies; it’s just that nondisabled actors almost always play them. This trend isn’t fair, so Lizzy and her mother have decided to do something about it. They started the “Don’t Play Me, Pay Me” campaign. The campaign encourages disabled people to follow their chosen creative-career path; it urges actors to stop “playing disabled,” asks directors and producers to hire more disabled actors, and encourages theater schools to recruit more disabled students.

Discrimination is just as bad in American showbiz. While people with disabilities make up almost 20 percent of the US population, a recent study showed that able-bodied actors play 95 percent of characters with disabilities on the top 10 TV shows! Only four actors with disabilities were cast in the top shows, which is less than 2 percent of all actors on the screen. The study concluded there is “unjust and troubling discrimination of actors with disabilities in Hollywood.”⁸

Lizzy is passionate about her cause:

It is not just mentally disabled actors who lose out when nondisabled people are employed to act them. Audiences think they are getting an authentic portrayal of a mentally disabled person, but they’re not  .  .  . You can’t understand what it is like to have a mental disability unless you’ve really lived with it. When nondisabled people try to portray us, they tend to fall back on stereotypes that have done our community so much harm in the past.9

Viewers agree. A study by the Independent Television Commission found that 79 percent of TV watchers would be happy to see a disabled person host the evening news, and 60 percent think disabled actors should appear in a wider variety of roles.¹⁰ Lizzy’s advocacy is making a difference. In 2010, the BBC—the largest media company in England—held a nationwide search for disabled actors in an effort to increase their representation on its shows. Hollywood is also slowly waking up to the problem. Hopefully, there will be more parts for Lizzy and other disabled actors coming soon.

HOW WILL YOU ROCK THE WORLD?

I will rock the world by bringing positivity and confidence to others. Everyone needs that person they can talk to—a friend or mentor. I will be a mentor for kids one day, to thank those who have mentored me.

ANAMARIE LOPEZ AGE 17