Em Rusciano has responded to Meshel Laurie’s false accusations that she’s faking her autism diagnosis.
The 43-year-old comedian revealed she was diagnosed with autism last November, just a year after being diagnosed with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).
After Laurie unleashed a tirade against her in a now-deleted Instagram post, Rusciano said she never thought she’d receive such baseless accusations.
“Being accused of faking autism to get attention wasn’t how I imagined the end of today would be, but here we are!” she said in a Twitter post on Saturday morning.
“I’m going to put this on a t-shirt for my next merch run: ‘Autistic for attention.'”
Meshel Laurie, 49, (right) released a vicious tirade against Em Rusciano, 43, on Friday after announcing she will be taking sanctuary at Harry Style’s concert in the Sensory Room
Laurie’s vicious tirade came on Friday after the former radio host said she could take refuge in the ‘sensory inclusivity room’ at Marvel Stadium during next week’s Harry Style concert in Melbourne.
The author falsely accused Rusciano of “hopping on the bandwagon for clout,” calling her a “c**t” in a vile rant on Instagram that she’s since deleted.
She began by posting a screenshot of her phone’s Notes app, which read, “She blocked me the last time I called her but could Em Rusciano please list the concerts she’s had to leave early or that she’s been to didn’t have to attend because they didn’t provide a sensory inclusion space?’
Laurie, 49, then took to her own comments section to continue her tirade of berating Rusciano and falsely accusing her of faking her autism to “excuse me” for her past misbehavior.
“I have a close family member on the spectrum and I don’t appreciate it when people jump on the bandwagon to lobby and apologize for the appalling behavior that caused her previous poor career results,” she said.
‘A c**t is just a**t and will always be a**t. Many beautiful people are on the autism spectrum and should never be confused with the type of people who try to retrospectively claim the diagnosis to explain their bad behavior.”
After her fans turned on her, Laurie deleted the post and her comments to prevent further backlash.
Now Laurie has accused Rusciano of “jumping on the bandwagon for clout” and called her “c**t” in a vile tirade on Instagram, which she has since deleted
Meshel (left) used to be a co-host of The Project before becoming a hugely successful true crime podcaster. (Pictured from left: Laurie, Waleed Aly, Lisa Wilkinson and Anthony Lehmann)
In a series of follow-up posts, Rusciano said she was just grateful that Marvel Stadium provided a sensory space and was “confused” that her post “put people off.”
“I feel a little broken about this whole thing,” she lamented. “Why do I have to prove my special struggles to anyone? Why is it a competition?’
It comes after Rusciano made headlines on Friday when she announced she plans to take refuge in Marvel Stadium’s “room for sensory inclusion” when she attends the Harry Styles concert in Melbourne next week.
The former radio host said if her autism causes her to experience sensory overload from the concert, she may need to use the room with noise-cancelling headphones and weighted blankets.
The space was specially designed by medical professionals, and Marvel Stadium staff have also been trained to help those with sensory sensitivities.
“I’m going to see Harry Styles at Marvel Stadium in a week and as you can imagine live shows, sensory issues, autistic people are pretty stressful,” she shared on Instagram.
“But Marvel has a sensory room with bean bags and noise-cancelling headphones,” she continued.
“Well done Marvel this is amazing and comprehensive and I’m so much less concerned about this live show,” she said, before adding, “Because there’s a whole area I can go to when it’s too much.” is.”
It comes after Rusciano made headlines on Friday when she announced she plans to take refuge in Marvel Stadium’s “room for sensory inclusion” when she attends the Harry Styles concert in Melbourne next week
When Em arrives at the stadium to see Styles, she can get a sensory bag at the front desk.
The bag contains noise-cancelling headphones, toys to play around with, and visual clue cards with different moods listed so people suffering from sensory overload can communicate their feelings nonverbally by pointing to the chart.
If Em decides to use the designated sensory space, she can relax on comfy bean bags or use weighted blankets to snuggle up.
There are also fidget tools on the wall for people to play with, along with other helpful tools.
The space was specially designed by medical professionals, and Marvel Stadium staff have also been trained to help those with sensory sensitivities.
In December, Em explained how she recognized her symptoms and what it was like living with both conditions.
When Em arrives at the stadium to see Styles, she can get a sensory bag from the front desk with visual clue cards and toys to play around with
The star can lounge on comfy bean bags or use weighted blankets to soothe in the sensory room
The podcaster said she saw similarities between herself and her son Elio, who was also diagnosed with autism, and then researched how autism shows up in women and found several symptoms that she recognized.
“I can’t make eye contact, I’m really blunt, I have a lot of sensory issues with food, smell, labels on clothes, textures,” she said.
“I have problems with auditory processing, I stimulate, I’ve always tuned. As a kid, I watched other girls to figure out how to behave.”
Short for self-stimulating behavior, stimming usually consists of things like common body movements and hand habits.
“All these things that I was very ashamed of, I now recognize as symptoms.”
Explaining what it feels like to have two conditions at once, she said, “Autism and ADHD hate each other, it’s light versus dark, it’s not great.”
In a recent Facebook post, the former radio host also explained some of her ADHD symptoms.
Her list included difficulty following recipes, maps, and directions.
“I can’t wear a hair tie or hair tie around my wrist, I feel like I’m choking,” she explained.
“I understand that I may not fit with your prejudice about what autism is, but it’s not my job to do that. I was diagnosed by a specialist in the field,” she said.
The podcaster’s young son also has autism, which prompted Em to make her own diagnosis
The popular podcaster still tours and performs live music across Australia
Em rose to fame on Australian Idol in 2004 and went on to have a successful career on commercial radio.
She now hosts her own hit podcast Emsolation, exclusively available on Spotify, and still tours as a comedian and musician.
Em reflected on her disastrous career on commercial radio when she spoke about her ADHD diagnosis at the National Press Club in August.
In an emotional speech to the Canberra-based club, the 43-year-old said working on the breakfast radio brought out the “worst” of her then-undiagnosed ADHD.
“I now know that a person with rejection sensitivity, dysphoria, low self-esteem, time blindness, someone who is very outspoken, has a complete inability to regulate their emotions, and is overly sensitive to external stimuli, nowhere near the breakfast radio environment should be,’ she said.
“It brought out the worst of my undiagnosed ADHD symptoms. It brought out the worst in me as a person,” she added.
Em reflected on her disastrous career on commercial radio when she spoke about her ADHD diagnosis at the National Press Club in August
The media personality said the early morning hours on the breakfast radio caused trouble sleeping, which only made her symptoms worse.
“I used to get up at 4 a.m. every day because I didn’t fall asleep until at least midnight,” she admitted.
“Chronic and cumulative sleep deprivation significantly worsens ADHD symptoms.”
Em also revealed that she was diagnosed with postnatal depression after giving birth to their daughter Odette in 2007.
Odette, now 14, has since also been diagnosed with ADHD, while Em’s son Elio, four, is autistic.
Em is also autistic and has passionately shot at trolls who questioned her neurodivergence.
She also said her stint on breakfast radio left her with “a severe PTSD.”
The former Australian Idol star got her start in radio in 2005 and later hosted her own weekly show on the Hit Network.
In 2017, she joined 2Day FM’s breakfast spot, but left after just a year after reviews and reports of employees who quit to not work with her returned after just a year.
“I was constantly being told I was angry, I needed to be nicer to people, I needed to smile more and my tone was controlled,” she said last year.
“I was under this microscope the whole time. Meetings would be on a screen and if I wasn’t smiling the whole time there would be three emails about what’s up with Em,” she added.
Em’s most notorious appearance on commercial radio was in 2017 when she co-hosted 2Day FM’s breakfast show alongside Grant Denyer (centre) and Ed Kavalee (right).
Em also revealed that she was diagnosed with postnatal depression after giving birth to their daughter Odette in 2007 and suffered from “severe PTSD” after working on radio
Em claimed it had been a “tough” time, which was made worse by a miscarriage and she was told her show’s format would be changing.
She also claimed her colleagues had been “feeding bulls**t stories about me” to the press, and felt there was a “really toxic work environment” overall at the Southern Cross Austereo-owned station.
For her part, Em acknowledged that her own behavior on 2Day FM “wasn’t great” but said that nobody around her was willing to “let me down”.
“I’m still dealing with everything, but I feel like I understand it a little bit better,” she concluded.
Prior to her departure, according to multiple reports, employees of 2Day FM were left and others were looking for new jobs due to Em’s “hiring”.
“Things are at breaking point, people just can’t work with their energy. There were … victims at the hands of Em Rusciano,” a source said at the time.
“The audio producer is now working on another show, the publicist is refusing to work with her and one of the producers has told the company he is looking for another job.”
“I was constantly being told I was angry, I needed to be nicer to people, I needed to smile more and my audio was being monitored,” she said of her time at 2Day FM (pictured in the studio).
Speaking to Wil Anderson’s Wilosophy podcast in April 2020, Em acknowledged that many of her peers in media and entertainment “hate her fiercely” and “resist working with her.”
Em confessed that she tends to go into “fight mode” in stressful situations.
“The fists are up and you either have to get in or get out of the way and my behavior on the radio was pretty appalling,” she explained.
“Every time I get on radio my behavior deteriorates and it’s appalling and I know it and that’s why I will never go back to radio because I hate the person I’ve become.
“I think a lot of this is my fault, but I also know I’m not. Radio Em isn’t who I am… I’m actually a pretty friendly person and a pretty reasonable person most of the time.