I became a playwright because I’m tired of characters of disability being showcased on stage as the obstacle, or this “King Kong” that people should to be weary of. As a playwright of color, I want to use my platform to teach. My plays are written out of a need to inform and help the people in them. This play sample I submitted is about shifting from the narration of normalcy to a narration of Autism. My aim is that by putting “normal” characters through such extremes, similar enough to autistic tendencies, that the audience’s own narrative will shift and expand after the curtain falls. I am successful with this play when THAT new understanding interacts with a person of disability. And does so, with a greater understanding because of the road I have paved using this little-family drama about Autism. That is what this play has become to me. But originally, it was started as a challenge by a very amazing young professor at Texas State University. Jeremy Torrez was leading a Directing II class and he wanted me in it. It was going to be my last semester before graduating. He told me, “lets sign you up for it and just take the Christmas break to find a play and we will go from there.” I couldn’t find anything. I had a million other things that I could be doing. Went to him in January and I was very upset. I told him, “I don’t want to waste your time and I think I should drop out of the class.” He listened to me. He listened to everything I spewed. He listened to ever idea and reason I gave for why I should pass on his class. Then he said, “Just write something then. It’s okay if nothing speaks to you. That’s fine. But write what you want to direct.” And in a moment that defined me as the artist I am today, I simply said, “Okay.” I left from that meeting and 52 hours later, with no experience writing a play, I had 25 pages of my first act. That’s what I directed that semester. That’s what I submitted to playwriting residencies. And that was the foundation of my Artistic career. As an artist, it’s my goal to create work that will uncover aspects of our society that are unfair. For my grandmother and hundreds of thousands like her, struggling poor with dementia is challenging enough. But when you tack on all the unseen obstacles she has in her path created by legislation and restriction on entitlement programs like Medicaid and Medicare, it feels predatory. It’s important to tell our stories. But it’s more important to recognize solidarity in one another through them. As a country, we have a national dialogue with our art. As a playwright, it is our job to help steer that dialogue with our work.