Why 15-year-old Coby Bird is an actor with autism, not an autistic actor

Coby Bird has appeared on the TV shows "Speechless" and "The Good Doctor" where he's played autistic characters. But the 15-year-old actor with autism has a bigger goal: landing the part of a non-autistic character. “[It would show] I can go beyond the boundary,” he said. “I love playing characters with autism, because I’m sharing a message, but being a character who doesn’t [have autism] would show kids with autism they can do it too. I want to show people that we can also do this.” He continued, "“I can do this,” he said. “Put my autism aside and see what my skills are, see what I can do.”