Simphiwe Dana opens up about living with autism: ‘I couldn’t get out of bed and lost friends’

Simphiwe Dana has opened up about how her autism affected both her personal and professional relationships.

She revealed her condition – to much surprise – on 24 June 2020 with a tweet:

Autism is a development disorder that affects the way a person interacts and communicates. Autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently to others. The disorder varies in severity and people with it are often misunderstood.

Since then she has openly spoken about her condition and the impact it has on her life.

On 18 July 2020, Simphiwe explained: “My autism makes me very honest. And I lose clients and friends.”

One Twitter user then responded: “I see a fight was starting to brew in here. Autism in women/girls doesn’t present the same as in men/boys. People must not expect to SEE autism signs on a person. That is why there are more boys diagnosed with autism than there are girls.”

Simphiwe stated that she was under the impression the disorder manifested itself through her music.

In an interview with OkayAfrica in May 2020, she revealed the reason she is able to effortlessly sing about various topics on her new album Bamako is due to her autism.

“I am kind of a genius. There’s a part of me where I’m also autistic which means my attention to detail is very obsessive in a way. I’m a perfectionist,” she said.

Autistic comedy writer Sara Gibbs detailed her experience on Twitter: “Autistic people can become very good at masking our autistic traits.

“So often in situations where a friend thinks I’ve coped magnificently, there’s a hidden aftermath they will never know about.”

Simphiwe responded to this by disclosing that last year she was barely able to get out of bed and even lost a few friends.

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