Taskmaster star Fern Brady has reflected on the importance of a "happy, positive" representation of autism on the show.

In a new post on Instagram, the comedian opened up about how the show has helped her be more accepting towards her autism and why it is important to have a healthy representation of it on screen.

"It is absolutely staggering to me that a show where I painted a self portrait with a raw sausage on a toilet seat was the thing which made me profoundly accepting of my autistic self but there you go. Initially I was just excited about getting the job as I’d wanted to get a new kitchen put in," she began.

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"But when I was lurking on the TM [Taskmaster] subreddit before this series went out, it was pretty apparent how many autistic people watched the show.

"I realised that by being my unmasked self while having fun I’d reach them way better than by doing some serious on-the-nose documentary about how shit my life had been when I was undiagnosed (I mean it WAS, but there are so few media images of happy autistics and I want newly-diagnosed people to feel some optimism moving forward)," she continued.

“I'd noticed that, no matter how much weight I lost or nice clothes I wore on TV, I could still spot my autism and failed attempts to mask it onscreen. Even when people don’t know what autism 'looks' like, their lizard brains recognise something different about us and they use that as an excuse to exclude us.

"I knew a big part of doing well on Taskmaster was being yourself but if you're autistic you're so frequently punished for being yourself that it was a scary move. I figured instead of trying to blend in & failing as usual, I'd try being the MOST myself. I'd wear a costume that made me look like an alien, a secret wink to any ND folk watching."

taskmaster series 14 contestants dara ó briain, fern brady and john kearns in the studio
Avalon//Channel 4

Related: Taskmaster lineup confirms Ghosts, Feel Good stars

She then discussed how she felt doing Taskmaster was better than doing a standard documentary where she would just be crying because she'd rather "people see a happy positive depiction of neurodiversity". And that is what they see in Taskmaster, a show which "ostensibly has nothing to do with autism".

She concluded: "It's in the ridiculous way I solved my final task, in my openly stimming on camera while I concentrated on my next task, in my screaming at the birds to shut up because I hear all noises at the same volume, in my tendency to anthropomorphise every inanimate object on set.

"So cheers to Alex and the whole TM crew for being the kindest and the best, there’ll never be another job like it. #taskmaster."

Taskmaster will return for its Taskmaster's New Year Treat one-off special this festive season on Channel 4, then series 15 is expected to air in 2023.

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Shivani Dubey

Shivani Dubey is a freelance writer covering entertainment, culture, social trends and lifestyle. She has been published in Vice, Vogue India, Refinery29, Mashable, i-D, Little White Lies, HuffPost and The Daily Beast among other titles. You can find her on Twitter.