Activist and comedian Amanda Seales recently sat down with football star Shannon Sharpe for his podcast “Club Shay Shay. ” The three-hour long conversation hit on a myriad of topics — including one viewers likely didn’t expect.

While on the podcast, Seales opened up about recently being diagnosed with autism, and how that’s changed her perspective.

“I recently was diagnosed as someone who has autism spectrum disorder,” Seales told Sharpe on the podcast. “Which is very difficult to identify in Black women because of racism.”

Seales explained to Sharpe that her diagnosis has helped her better understand herself and shift her negative self-perspective. “When you take the test you’re like hold’up,” said the comedian, “I’ve been thinking my whole life that this was a problem.”

She said that some of her behaviors finally clicked, like her need to doodle for example. “The fact that I have to be doing things all of the time to be stimulated,” said Seales. “It’s literally called stimming.”

“These are small things that are indicative of like your brain functions in a very particular way. It’s also atypical to the way our society functions.”

Twitter/X has a lot to say about Seales’ revelations — including a large swath of support from people who appreciate her bravery in speaking out.

Several people came for Sharpe for questioning Seales’ diagnosis, among other things she discussed in the interview.

However, several are also questioning if Seales was formally diagnosed with autism or if she self-diagnosed. In an Instagram Live, following the interview, Seales said that she had not been “clinically diagnosed by a doctor.”

During the interview, Seales noted that Black women tend to have a harder time getting a diagnosis and culturally relevant support for a myriad of reasons. For one thing, as an article in The 19th explains, Black women and girls are generally excluded from autism research.

In fact, the research tends to exclude Black people and women all-together, meaning we don’t have a good sense of how autism manifests in people who aren’t white men.

As for Seales, the diagnosis appears to have helped her understand herself better, and that’s a win!