Charlotte Bachelor: Mapping Out the Motor City, Life with Autism

In recent years, there has been more awareness of autism among the general public due to making their voices heard through social media. 

Charlotte Bachelor, 23, shared her perspective on being a Black woman who was diagnosed with autism last year. As a result, her journey to seek a diagnosis, and personal and professional achievements, led to her becoming a disability justice and autism advocate. 

Bachelor founded the Detroit Accessibility Project, a nonprofit that provides accessibility information to tourists and entertainment attractions. 

“I was in a community publishing class and originally my project was going to be something else, but I got this idea because there are a lot of great things to do in Detroit for people who love museums, concerts, and live entertainment,” the Detroit native said. 

After receiving a $10,000 grant, Bachelor created a website in Fall 2022. The site lists nearly 70 venues that allow service animals, elevators, wheelchairs, and sensory-friendly areas for some of the most visited areas. While she is currently focused on Detroit accessibility, she hopes to extend it statewide. Bachelor also started a Black autistic writer’s group. 

“I kind of started working on social media in 2023 and that’s actually how I got linked up with Visit Detroit. They had a marketing manager, who was a Michigan State University alumni,” she said. Visit Detroit, an organization that promotes The Motor City, then hired her as an accessibility consultant. 

“I decided to start a Black autistic writers group because writing has always brought me a lot of comfort, and I use it as a tool to educate and empower,’’ Bachelor said.

In 2022 while studying in Oaxaca, Mexico, she had to make adjustments due to the culture shock. She experienced an ‘’autistic meltdown’’ due to someone racially harassing her and other Black and brown students during the trip. After returning home, she was advised by her psychiatrist that she had bipolar disorder. Bachelor, proactive in advocating for her mental health, refused to accept that diagnosis and sought a new psychiatrist. She was then referred to an outside clinic, where she was waitlisted, for an autism diagnosis. It took almost a year to get tested. 

The diagnosis helped her better advocate for herself, her relationships, and her partnerships. She wanted to find a community of other Black autistic people.

Bachelor attended an all-Black private school from preschool to fifth grade, until transitioning to a public school for junior high, she was placed in a larger and predominantly white school where she first endured racial prejudice. Bachelor then attended high school, describing it as “rough with a lot of racial tension,’’ where Bachelor was subjected to racist harassment and assault.

She prevailed and graduated from Michigan State University last May, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Professional and Public Writing, with a minor in African American and African Studies. At MSU, she found a small tight-knit Black community and became involved in student advocacy for those on the spectrum and other disabilities. 

She spoke at a virtual conference in April, ‘’Autism in Black,’’ tied to an organization with a website and podcast of the same name, founded by Maria David Pierre, a late-diagnosed autistic who is also a mother of autistic children. Pierre is a licensed therapist and mental health professional. 

The conference offered Bachelor a chance to connect to a larger community. She met other Black people, especially Black women who have been fighting for the same things for the last 15 or 20 years. In addition, she was excited to be a presenter on authentic media representation and tell her story through social media. 

She wants people to understand that autism is a spectrum — different among many people and that the label is not one size fits all. Every autistic person is not a savant-like “The Good Doctor”. 

”I think the idea of a spectrum goes over some neurotypicals’ heads,” said Bachelor. She described the spectrum as being either very talkative on some days or very introspective on other days. 

Bachelor had some parting words for young Black people with Autism. “It gets better, it doesn’t get better all at once, that you will still be frustrated, you will be angry, you will have meltdowns, but you will find where you are meant to be.” 

To join her group, Black Autistic Writers, they meet every Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET on Google Meet.

Zipporah Pruitt, (she/her) is an L.A. homegrown journalist, who covers entertainment and culture. Follow her on X and Instagram: @zippzapps.

Edited by Nykeya Woods