Episode 195: Autistic and dyspraxic actor – Ross K. Foad

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: This episode of Beyond 6 Seconds is sponsored by Dystinct Magazine. Dystinct Magazine publishes evidence-based content from specialists in an easy-to-understand format and inspirational stories of everyday role models highlighting how they cope with the struggles and hardships that learning disabilities bring. Dystinct Magazine also offers various opportunities for children to participate in its publication. They have opportunities for young journalists, designers, and illustrators. Check out their website at dystinct.org or contact Zahra, the founder, at zahra@dystinct.org to see how your children or students with learning disabilities can get involved. You can also find these contact details in the show notes of this podcast episode.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories of neurodivergent people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Carolyn Kiel: On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Ross K. Foad, a professional actor and voice artist in the United Kingdom. A second generation actor, he was just 18 months old when he made his acting debut, but would get his proper start in acting on the London Comedy Circuit as a standup comic and sketch comic actor.

He’s autistic and dyspraxic, and in 2017 was one of only 30 disabled actors chosen by the BBC for their Class Act Training Scheme, an initiative designed to help increase disabled representation on screen. Ross, welcome to the podcast.

Ross K. Foad: Thank you so much for having me. It’s an absolute honor to go from being a fan of the show to being a guest on the show.

Carolyn Kiel: Oh, thank you. I appreciate it.

Yeah, just to start off, when did you realize that you were autistic and dyspraxic?

Ross K. Foad: This goes in kind of two parts.

Because originally, the dyspraxia diagnosis came first. And rather, it was my mom who kind of noticed that something was a little different about me to other children. She said she started noticing quite, quite early on, sort of, I think so maybe around eight or so.

And she was actually trying to push for some sort of diagnosis of something. Because she obviously knew something was up, even though people were insisting that there was nothing wrong. Because I was generally, you know, averagely intelligent, so they didn’t really see a problem. But moms know best, I think.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm.

Ross K. Foad: And so she pushed and pushed and eventually she managed to get me seen by certain people who managed to diagnose me with dyspraxia at about 11. It didn’t mean a huge amount to me, but it explained a lot. Eventually it would come to mean a lot more when I, once I sort of grew up and understood, understood it a lot more.

But crucially, though they caught the dyspraxia, they did not actually catch the, kinda like wider, actually full kind of autism.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm.

Ross K. Foad: Which was always something that I wish I had had. That awareness was not great back then. And that was not realized till much later on by kinda my mid twenties. Even though I kind of in my heart I knew, I already knew cuz it, cuz dyspraxia didn’t explain enough for certain symptoms for me. So I went and got a diagnosis myself, which is quite hard to do as an adult. Sometimes it can be quite a long wait. But eventually I managed to get seen and, just to kind of confirm what I already knew: that they had indeed missed the autism earlier on, the full thing, really.

Carolyn Kiel: How did being autistic and dyspraxic impact you when you were growing up? Like you mentioned that your mom noticed early on around dyspraxia, so like what did that look like and how did that feel like for you kind of growing up?

Ross K. Foad: Growing up, well it, a lot of it was due to, because obviously dyspraxia is more, a little more gross motor skills and coordination based. And so she began to notice a lot of kind of issues there, such as I was incredibly clumsy. I would fall over a lot. I was very resistant to certain, I hated wearing shorts, which was mandatory to do in primary school for some reason. I hated it because I would always fall over, which meant I would always get hurt. And so that’s something I, I particularly remember the first thing that I sort of remember how it affected me, that part I particularly remembered.

And also just other things such as inability to be able to differentiate between left and right. Struggling to walk in a straight line, not being able to catch things. So she noticed things even if I don’t think she herself knew what was quite going on there.

It didn’t really quite hit me what it meant I think fully, until I’d say secondary school, when you, when I began to realize just how quite sort of different I was to other, other, to other children and I, I just found it harder and harder to relate to them, to other children. And I think some of that will be more the autism than dyspraxia. And I just, yeah. I think, I think there, it just grew from there really. And growing awareness of something not being, not feeling quite right, feeling very out of place. And just kind of, yeah, being in my own little world and never really quite fitting in.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, like the social aspect. Yeah. Sometimes that comes out more the older you get or when you enter the teenage years, things change.

Ross K. Foad: Yes, yes. People would, were starting to get into parties and, and dating and things like that, and none of that meant anything to me. And so I just, as you begin to grow up, it’s kind of, the gulf grows. Whereas it wasn’t so obvious to me in primary school. I just knew I had some coordination issues and I wasn’t good at catching and stuff. And, but yeah, all these things started to happen definitely more once you start hitting the teenage years, you start to realize a lot more about how you are not quite the same.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And at the same time, throughout your entire life, you’ve been involved in acting, I guess, cuz your family was involved as well, so they got you in pretty early. So, yeah. So, and, and I’m curious because I, you know, I’m late diagnosed autistic myself.

Ross K. Foad: Mm.

Carolyn Kiel: I’m not dyspraxic as far as I know, but I have always had a lot of those challenges with like coordination and not being able to catch things and just positioning. So I’m curious as an actor, like, I’m just thinking about like the concept of blocking, like knowing where to stand on a stage in a position was always difficult for me when I tried it, cuz I never knew like where I was supposed to go and coordinate in space. So I’m curious about your experience as an autistic and dyspraxic actor. Like are there particular challenges that you have or do you find that it really unlocks a lot of your strengths and, and talents or, or both?

Ross K. Foad: I always liken autism and dyspraxia to a double-edged sword. There are a lot of challenges, but once you know how to manage them, overcome them, then there’s a lot of benefits that can be used. I definitely agree with you about things like, I think it’s cause I’m so hyper aware about things like, with the blocking and getting and making sure I’m in the right position. I kind of focus to like the point of some intent. Like I, I can do hyperfocus anyway generally when I’m working on things, but I kind of like really, really work really hard to, you know, when I’m being told to try and figure out the sequencing.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm.

Ross K. Foad: I guess it’s an overcompensation. I, I focus so much on it because I really don’t want to mess it up. And I think that just that, that intense focus allows me to sort of manage it with regards to kind of instructions like left and right and, and things like that. So yeah, I’d, I’d say it’s just a combination of awareness of that I have an issue there and trying so hard to make sure that I don’t.

With regards to other aspects, so obviously certain things will definitely be out, like dancing or anything too complex with too many movements that, that I could, you know, I know, I know my limits. I’m not gonna be able to do certain roles like that or like complex fight scenes. So I know, I know my sort of limits like that. And that’s okay.

Also, I think one of the hardest things for me with, for being an autistic actor is, a lot of it is the, I’m not good at traveling really. I find it difficult to find places, because of, particularly because I have a lack of spatial awareness. So I, I don’t think there’s a technical term for it, but I cannot read maps to the point where I will, I’m almost guaranteed to, when I’m trying to find the location, I’ll come out the train station and it’s almost a guarantee that I’ll walk in the complete opposite direction just because

Carolyn Kiel: Same.

Ross K. Foad: It doesn’t mean anything. And people are like, “oh, well just use Google Maps.” It, it doesn’t mean anything to me. I, I can’t conceptualize that is me and this is here. Somehow it doesn’t work. I can’t, I’ll go that way. I’m meant to go that way. Don’t know why! And. So I have to ensure to sort of compensate for that. Again, I have to make sure that I arrive with at least an hour to spare, just to find a place because I just don’t trust myself to be able to do it. And so that’s a kind of a big panic. Sometimes you don’t get the location till quite late to where you, where you have to go. You can get the job, but it’s always, “oh, we don’t know where we’re filming yet. Kind of,

Carolyn Kiel: Oh yeah.

Ross K. Foad: We’ll confirm the day before.” And so then I’m frantically trying to focus on this map, which I don’t understand.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm.

Ross K. Foad: And kind of figure out what train to get. That honestly, it’s, it’s like got almost nothing to do with acting, but it’s because, it’s because acting involves a lot of travel like that for live jobs that the, the autism kind of comes into play there, and that can be so off-putting to me sometimes. It’s something I, I shouldn’t have to focus so much on that, but I do, because that’s kind of the difficulty. Once I get there, once I’m doing it, then you know, then I’m in my element and there’s not as many problems. It’s honestly, that is kind of one of the biggest barriers for me which is almost incidental to the actual process.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Yeah, I, I can relate to the whole not being able to read maps and always getting lost. Like, things are better for me now that things like Google Maps and, you know,

Ross K. Foad: oh good.

Carolyn Kiel: Things like exist now, but even then, like it, it’s helpful to a point, but it’s almost like the closer I get to the destination, it’s less and less meaningful to me. It’s like, okay, I know I’m like a block away, but I have no idea how to get like the final distance to where I’m supposed to be!

Ross K. Foad: Yeah, it, yeah, should be simple, but sometimes it just isn’t.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like how you were saying, you really have to hyperfocus on like your, your, your blocking and sort of movements and have to leave extra time for that. Yeah. I always have to leave that extra time to get somewhere. Or sometimes, you know, if you have time to do a dry run, so I’ve seen it once. It’s like, okay, I think I can remember where that is. But yeah, if there’s last minute changes that’s really hard, about like, “oh, we’re just gonna go over to this street in 15 minutes,” it’s like, “wait, where, where are you going? Where are you going? I need to come with you. Because I don’t know how to get there.”

Yeah. So you’ve been acting now for many, many years and you’ve done like a lot of different things including voice acting. So what’s your favorite kind of acting that you like to do?

Ross K. Foad: I love both voice acting and and live action acting. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. I think I wouldn’t want to only do one, because I would miss the other. But if I, you know, had to, then I would probably pick voice acting, just because it allows for more roles than people might see me for, well, they do see me for, and you know, limitations that I do have. I don’t really see myself playing a super tough Marine on screen, yet I’ve played many of them in audio dramas or in video games. Live action, that acting is obviously based a lot more on looks and voice acting, you’ve kind of got a bit more freedom to, a bit more range of, of different roles. So in, in that way, I, I like it for that.

But you also, at the same time, you cannot beat being in the same room as someone and having someone to act with. Because voice acting is a lot more solo. It just requires a great deal of more imagination of just imagining everyone else speaking and you responding. That I enjoy in itself. But yeah, that I would probably, I would say just cuz of the more diversity of roles that are open to me is probably why voice acting kind of appeals to me a little bit more for that, for that aspect.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense!

Another thing I want to learn more about is the BBC training that you were in. So, as we said earlier, in 2017 you were chosen by the BBC for its Class Act Training Scheme. So yeah, tell me about that and how you got chosen, what that was like, things like that.

Ross K. Foad: Sure. Yeah, that was kind of a major that, that was a major boost for my career. So 2017, the BBC ran a, as I said, an initiative to where they basically, or put, put out an open casting call for any disabled actor to audition, with the idea being the ones they would choose would go onto this scheme, this special training scheme for them. And I obviously jumped at the chance to audition, not really knowing where that would, where it would go, but ended up being one of the chosen 30, which meant a huge amount to me.

And so once we were part of that, then that kind of started a, like I said, a training program that featured the whole host of things, like being trained by some of their top directors they had, sort of networking events opportunities to have access to certain auditions. And so it was kind of a complete package of the idea being they wanted to increase disabled representation on screen. Because they, they felt there was not enough of it. And they put it out. They, they told a lot of their production companies, because they don’t produce everything in house themselves. They said to a lot of the production companies that work for them, you know, we want more disabled representation. They came back saying, well, we don’t know where to find people, so we don’t know how to do that. Which intensifies them to make up this scheme to kind of make some, make some of the, what they class best disabled actors more prominent and give them more opportunities.

So, you know, a mixture of workshops, training classes, events. Apart from being amazing to be around so many other disabled actors, which, you know, it was, it was very much where you, you know, for the first time you, you’re kind of in a room where you don’t feel completely like you are the odd one out. It’s like everyone is on the same, everyone kind of has their own, has their own thing. It was just very enjoyable to as well, to just meet, meet other disabled actors and get their stories and see what they were struggling with.

And as a result of that, ongoing on that, I was able to get an agent off that. Plus it led to one of my favorite roles, which was on a BBC Four radio drama called Our Liam of Lourdes, where I played a autistic character called Noah. And that was, it was good cuz you know, they obviously asked me to audition simply cuz they knew of me through the BBC Class Act. So I got it through that. And it, it was good. They wanted, I think they ideally wanted someone who was autistic to play it. And so thankfully it matched up. And that was probably one of my favorite roles to date. There was gonna be a film version, feature film version that we were going to do, which unfortunately got canceled because of the pandemic. But you know, the radio play is still one that is very dear to me. It’s a lovely story and it just meant a lot to me, because it was the first time I worked on a direct job for the BBC. And so yeah, a lot, a lot of good came off of BBC Class Act.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, it sounds like a great opportunity to meet and work with a lot of other really, really talented disabled actors. Did you also get, as part of the program, like mentoring or were you in, in classes? Like what did it look like when you were in there?

Ross K. Foad: Yeah. Well we got assigned kind of our mentors, which were all in-house BBC directors at, at, at the time. People who had done a lot of their shows. I had Rebecca Gatward, who’s kind of known for such things as, she was on EastEnders, which is a really big soap over here in the UK. She did a lot of work on EastEnders. More recently, I don’t think she’s actually with the BBC anymore, but I know more recently she directed Alex Rider, the TV series adaption of the Anthony Horowitz books. I know she was directing a lot of episodes on that. So she was, she was, she was great. So we got some training from her and the, the mentoring.

There was all sorts of classes as well, including one that I managed to go on called Physical Movement in Theater, which was obviously a very helpful one for someone like me. And it was just, it was just nice to go to a course where they completely understood that this kind of thing was gonna be difficult because to go to a normal kind of like dance movement class for someone like me, they’d probably, even if you maybe explained it, they’d probably get frustrated with you if you weren’t like, because you would’ve been around a lot of people who would’ve probably been far more advanced.

And so yeah, it was just nice to do training like that. So yeah, a mixture of, mixture of training, mentoring, events, auditions. And so it was huge, huge benefit to me. So I’m very proud to have been part of it and it was a big boost to my career.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s awesome. Yeah hopefully people will at least know where to find and source that talent, so that what you were told a few years ago as related to the BBC is like, okay, now you know where to find all of this great disabled and neurodivergent acting talent. So let’s go with getting everybody represented and working.

That’s awesome. Cool. Well, yeah, Ross, how can people get in touch with you if they wanna learn more about your work or maybe see or hear some of the shows that you’ve been a part of?

Ross K. Foad: Best way is, well, I’m on Twitter at RossKFoad. I’m also on YouTube which again, if you just search my name, you’ll be able to find me. I’ve a lot of videos up there. Those are probably the best, best kind of places to kind of keep up and follow what I’m up to, really.

Carolyn Kiel: Okay, cool. I’ll put links to those in the show notes so people can just go right there.

As we close out, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know or anything that they can do to help or support you?

Ross K. Foad: Only if there is anyone who needs some voice acting and is interested, would be interested in checking out my animation show reel is on my YouTube page, or it’s actually, it’s also a pinned tweet on my, on Twitter. So if you have any voice acting that you think I might fit, I would love to audition for you, if someone who hears this, might want to kind of collab on something. So feel free to get in touch.

Carolyn Kiel: Okay, awesome, great. Well, Ross, thanks again for being on my podcast. It was great talking with you and I appreciate you sharing your story and your experiences.

Ross K. Foad: Oh, thank you. Absolute pleasure.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help me spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give it a shout out on your social media, or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of my episodes and sign up for my free newsletter at beyond6seconds.net. Until next time.