Celebrity interviews are usually pretty boring. Nothing against celebrities but the format, especially the “talk show” format, is set up for a lot of fluff and very little in the way of spontaneity. Carly Fleischmann is an autistic young woman. She has been on television as a spokesperson of sorts for the autistic community. Carly suffers from a severe form of autism that involves her use of numerous “stims.” Stims are the behaviors that everyone has (to some degree) but that are exhibited much more demonstrably by people with autism. Common “stimming” behaviors include things like waving hands, humming, covering ears, rocking, and making repetitive noises.
These are behaviors used by people with autism to help control the barrage of outside stimuli they are having a tough time dealing with. It can be a very soothing practice for many. Carly Fleischmann cannot speak, and for many years had no real form of communication but she had a breakthrough about nine years ago and since that time has learned to write, and communicate via typing into a computer—not unlike Stephen Hawking.
She has always wanted to be a talk show host, having been in communication over the years with people like Larry King and Ellen DeGeneres, and a couple of days ago she launched her own YouTube channel—a talk show titled “Speechless with Carly Fleischmann.”
Her first guest? Star of the silver screen, Channing Tatum. Pretty good “get!” The interview is funny and amazing and Tatum is clearly disarmed by Carly—and it is a refreshingly heart warming thing to see.
You can learn a bit more about Carly’s story in a video below the fold.