Eva Erickson: What Her Autism Story And Seeing Joe Helping Her During Her Time Of Need Taught Us About Disability And Awareness – And Why Disability Representation Done The RIGHT Way On Reality Television Matters So Much

‘Survivor 48’ made headlines a couple of weeks ago, and in the best way possible. Something very special happened on the March 26 episode. It was one that brought Jeff Probst to tears — something he confessed has never happened before in 48 seasons of hosting the show for 25 years. It was a moment between contestants Joe Hunter and Eva Erickson, which involved Eva being overstimulated and having what she called an ‘autism episode’ during an immunity challenge, followed by castaway Joe helping her come back to normal.

Of the moment in question, Eva opened up in an interview with People. She said, ‘I kept failing over and over again. My brain just got put in this big cycle, and I’m stuck in a loop of ‘I can’t do it. Why can’t I do it? What’s going on?’ The second that I finished all of this stress and pressure that was overstimulating me just took hold of me, and I became ungrounded, and everybody around me didn’t know what was happening. Externally, it just looks like I’m screaming a bunch. This compression helps calm me down, helps bring me back, get grounded, and this just works wonders on me in a situation like that. And I was able to get my head out of that loop, like this loop that’s been spinning and spinning, now I’m able to break that and actually re-center myself and reset and rejoin the game. It was crazy seeing Jeff cry — I’d never seen that. Seeing Jeff get so emotional about the situation and thinking about his own family and his kids, that was the moment when it hit me, that this is a moment that is going to be remembered. He’s seen so many people and been through so much through all of years of ‘Survivor’, and now seeing that this moment broke him, I was like, okay, this is bigger than I can imagine. It was a big thing for me, realizing, wow, I am actually representing so many people here, and seeing that reflected in how Jeff reacted to this, I was like, this is going to mean so much to so many. I want to tell Joe that he’s my superhero. He is an amazing man, and I am so thankful I got to meet him through ‘Survivor’, and that this is someone who, regardless of what happens in the rest of the game, he will always have a place in my heart. He saw me in this hard situation — and he had the tools and knew what to do — and he acted on that.

It was a truly special moment. I myself shed a few tears as I watched everything unfold. In the clip, Eva’s teammates cheered her on as she finished her challenge. They embraced her, unaware of what was actually happening to her and why she was screaming. The only person that knew of her diagnosis and what was actually happening to her was Joe. She opened up to him about her life on the spectrum back when they were teammates, and walked him through on what to do and how to call her down if anything like this were to happen. He was the only person she told at the time. At the time, they were on the same team, but after a tribe swap, Joe was no longer on Eva’s tribe and unable to comfort Eva since tribes weren’t allowed to co-mingle. As he looked on, watching her struggle and knowing exactly why, the cameras penned to him. You could see that all he wanted to do was give her a hug. By doing just that, he put himself on the line as he could’ve been eliminated for breaking the rules. But he didn’t care. He just wanted to be there for her; for someone in need. That was more important to him than the competition itself. In a ‘Survivor first, Jeff gave Joe permission to to leave his tribe’s mat in order to console Eva as he noticed Joe’s worried demeanour, but I believe Joe would’ve came to Eva regardless of whether he had permission or not. That’s just the type of person he seems to be. He’s a caretaker by nature.

When asked why he did what he did, Joe said, ‘If it exposes, it exposes, but she was in need and I would want someone to treat my daughter that way if they were playing this game.’ And as Eva revealed to the rest of the team that she’s autistic, Jeff, while holding back tears, said, ‘There is a young girl or boy just like you watching right now going, ‘Hey, mom, hey, dad.’ Now you got me. I’m a parent too, and I do see it. Wow, this [crying] has never happened. But I see it too, and that’s why I love ‘Survivor’. I really do.’ I myself have NEVER watched a single season of the show in the 25 years since it’s been airing. I haven’t watched this ongoing season either; only the 7 minute clip posted on YouTube. And nevertheless, it made an impression on me.

That particular scene had so much meaning to me on a personal level for more reason than one. It made an impression on me as a disabled person, as a woman, as well as a mother. As someone who has both a physical disability and an invisible disability, I can honestly say that it’s much harder to live with an invisible one; mostly, it’s because when you have a disability that can be be seen, at least people understand why you are the way you are. I’m excluding the part where people make assumptions about me as a person strictly based on my physical disability. When you live your life with an invisible disability such as autism or epilepsy, people don’t understand the ‘weird’ things that you might do. Eva’s episode is just one example of this. For me, personally, people I surrounded myself with didn’t, and still somewhat don’t, understand my lifestyle and my choices. They’ve mostly assumed that me deciding to stop drinking, or taking my diet restrictions, or going to bed before 11 PM is just me overreacting and me being over dramatic when it comes to my health. And if I have a seizure in public, my friends just freeze while looking at me because they just don’t know what to do.

Eva did the right thing by telling at least ONE person in her surrounding of her autism diagnosis and a guide of what do in a case of an ‘autism episode’. That’s what I do myself when I’m with friends, especially when I’m one-on-one with them without my husband there. I give them a step-by-step guide on what to do in a case of me having a seizure. In an interview with Access Hollywood following the March 26 episode’s airing, Eva was asked why exactly she chose Joe to be the one person she told of her diagnosis, and she said that she knew from the moment she met him that she wanted to tell him, and only him, after hearing him talk of him being a father to his kids rather than his job as a firefighter first and foremost. It just goes to show that she had, what I call, a sixth sense.

And Joe – he showed the world what healthy masculinity really looks like. He showed every man out there what he shouldn’t be afraid to be – kind, empathetic, respectful, caring, genuine, and just a well-grounded, lovely man. It’s all the best qualities of a man that men are told from young age are signs of weakness; even today, that’s the case. He showed the world how people in general how to treat people with disabilities and different abilities. This is something I’ve had issues with for most of my life. This is why I don’t feel like I have a lot of friends. That’s why I have such a tough time living in the outside world where society tells people that people like me are less than and therefore should be treated as such. Now unintentionally challenged that notion.

As a mother, this is a teaching moment for me as well. My aim in raising my son is to teach him of empathy and compassion towards others; especially towards those who might look and differently than him. I’ve started telling him about my story of my cerebral palsy and epilepsy as early as he was 3 months old. He understands my hands look different. He’s seen me have seizures. He understands that his mommy needs help sometimes, and he’s happy to help. I always tell him, ‘People with disabilities aren’t limited. I’m not limited. I just need a little help sometimes, and that’s okay. We all need help sometimes. You’ll need help sometimes.’ Now, when we go grocery shopping together, he assumes everyone needs help, so he comes to ‘aid’ others in pushing their shopping carts. As a mother, it’s beautiful to watch.

But my knowledge of disability is limited, of course. I don’t know EVERYTHING there is to know, and I’m not even going to pretend as though I do in any shape or form. I can tell him how to show kindness and empathy towards someone with cerebral palsy. I can tell him how to show kindness and empathy towards someone with epilepsy. I can show him how to help someone if he sees them having a seizure. Otherwise, I’m limited. I can’t tell him from experience, for instance, how to show kindness and empathy towards someone with autism, for instance, or any other disability, such as Down Syndrome. These are things I need to be taught myself. Luckily, I have someone like Eva to look up to, and I have the courageous fight for the price to use an example in my own life. And I have the clip between Eva and Joe to show my son in the future as an example of healthy masculinity and how to show empathy and grace towards someone who has autism.

As of late, more and more celebrities have been opening up about their children’s autism diagnosis. Maybe it has to do with the fact that April is Autism Awareness Month; who knows. But I’ve come to realize that more and more celebrities have been open about that fact. Most recently, it was Fat Joe and Brittany Cartwright who opened up about their respective children’s diagnosis. Fat Joe’s older son, Joey, who’s now 34 years old has autism. When he appeared on Today and was asked about Autism Awareness Month and his son, the rapper said, ‘We’re so proud of him, and he’s in a state of happiness. Euphoria of happiness. He’s never not happy this guy. It’s hard. It’s not easy, and so if it’s not easy for me and I’m all right, just imagine the regular, average person who has to deal with autistic kids. And so they see somebody like Fat Joe — we more than embrace and love our kid. It gives them every reason to know they’re doing the right thing, showing their kids love. So that’s why it’s so important to us.’

Cartwright, a reality star who’s appeared on ‘The Valley’ alongside her ex-husband, Jax Taylor, recently announced that her young son, 4 year old Cruz, was recently diagnosed with autism. In a recent interview with People, she said, ‘He crawled early, he walked early. He was talking, he was saying, ‘Mommy,’ ‘Daddy.’ He was saying ‘Hot Dog!’ from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then, as he got closer to 2, we started noticing that he was regressing in his speech. He stopped talking almost completely. It can be difficult because I’ve never heard him say, ‘I love you,’ but he is so loving, and he shows me he loves me every single day. He is such a mommy’s boy. Our life is going to look a little bit different, but I feel like I was meant to be his mom. He is my better half. He is my little partner in crime. He is everything to me, and even though he can’t talk, I know everything that he wants, everything that he needs. We’re just so synced, it’s incredible. Yes, it might be challenging at times, but I couldn’t imagine my life being different. It can be sad at times because you want them to live life to the fullest, and he does, he just does it in a different way. What I really want people to understand about autism is he sees the world so much more vibrant and amazing than any of us ever will. It doesn’t mean that he’s not going to be the smartest in his class. It doesn’t mean he is not going to work for NASA one day. There aren’t any limitations to what he can do. This is the time he’s building his brain. I’m just trying to do everything I possibly can to help him live the happiest life ever. I feel very blessed that I’m able to give him everything that he needs, and that’s why I want to help as many mothers as I can. I have learned so much over the past couple years. I just make sure that he never misses a class, never misses a therapy session. If I have to work, I have the most amazing nanny in the entire world, she is literally my family. I don’t know what I would do without her. Sometimes Jax will take him. I want him to learn things as well, but the majority of the time, it’s me. And I feel like I need to be there, I need to be learning what’s going on, so that I can really work with him at home as well. It’s been hard to take care of myself, honestly. It is definitely hard for me to accept help. My friends are always like, ‘You need to have a little bit more time for yourself.’ I just feel like I need to be there 24/7. But’s that’s my new thing in 2025: I need to put myself first more. I need to focus on my health more. Going through this divorce and everything has really made me so much stronger. At the end of the day, everything I’m doing is because of my son. I’m just so proud of everything about Cruz. He is just the love of my life. He’s learning and growing every single day. With everything I have going on, I always try to stay positive. It can be hard sometimes — I have my ups and downs — but I just feel like I can be proud of myself that I’m staying strong for my son.’

Cartwright and Taylor’s journey into getting an official autism diagnosis for their son will be documented on the newest season of ‘The Valley’. And in other reality TV news, the Kardashians recently gifted us all with a showcase of empathy and grace towards someone with a disability; particularly, towards someone who’s severely disabled. On the April 3 episode of ‘The Kardashians’, we see the family gather together to celebrate Amari Thomason’s 18th birthday. Amari is the younger brother of Tristian Thompson, Khloe Kardashian’s ex-boyfriend and father to her two children. Amari suffers from a severe form of epilepsy, is bound to a wheelchair, and requires 24/7 care. After his and Tristian’s mother passed away, Tristian gained full guardianship of Amari.

On the April 3 episode, Amari suffers a seizure while conversing with Noel Rojas and Alba Flores. This happened off camera, but we did see how witnessing the seizure affected Kris Jenner. She seemed to be visibly distraught and in tears at the sight. Attempting to console her, Khloe assured Kris that Amari frequently endures seizures and has consistently recovered. Khloe said, while reflecting on the day in a confessional, said, ‘Amari will never be a burden or anything like that. Amari is one of the most special souls I have ever met. When you meet someone who’s so wonderful, and something so terrible happens to them, you do want to help, you do want to fix it and be there as much as you can. And I think my mom feels the exact same way. She has such a connection to Amari. When Amari’s having a seizure, I know how to stay calm. I’m around Amari a lot, I’ve seen a lot of seizures. He has multiple seizures a day, I know what to do in these situations. But for someone who hasn’t been exposed to that, it can be very scary and a very helpless feeling.’

Following the scary episode, the family went on and continued celebrating Amari’s special day. Also in the episode, Kim’s children seemed to have been afraid to connect with Amari, and I honestly have to say that I appreciated her approach in teaching her kids about disabilities right at that moment. In a confessional, Kim said, ‘They have a lot of questions and, at times, they might not be the most comfortable. I think it’s so important that they play with him and they really get to know him.’ While speaking to her kids, she encouraged them not be afraid of Amari by calmly explaining to them, ‘Are you girls a little bit scared? There’s no need to be. You know? But it’s OK if you are.’ Kim’s son, Saint, could then be seen going up to Amari to wish him a ‘happy birthday’ after Kourtney Kardashian’s 10 year old son, Reign, did so, as well.

As for Khloe’s kids, Khloe revealed in a confessional that they’re much more exposed to Amari than the rest of the kids as Amari has lived with them, and were therefore much more worried than frightened. She also said, ‘I do think it’s important for our kids and everyone’s kids to be exposed to all different types of people.’ Boom! I couldn’t have said it better myself. And I guess there’s beauty in me having not one, but two freaking disabilities for my son to be exposed to. My husband and I are already teaching him the value of not being afraid of people who aren’t as abled as him, as well those who might be different than him. He doesn’t need to watch reality TV, or any TV for that matter, to be first introduced to it, because he’s already been introduced to it through me; like Khloe Kardashian’s children are. He’s exposed to the much milder versions of cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and I aim to teach him more about other disabilities as well when the time comes for it to happen. During one of my most recent episodes, I had a grand mal seizure in the bathroom. My husband came to aid me, and our son came in to the bathroom looking scared. As I was having my seizure and my husband helped me come out of it, I heard him give our son almost the exact same talk to him that Kim Kardashian gave to her kids about Amari. With that said, I think Kardashians’ exposure to Amari’s disability isn’t just a great lesson on showing empathy and grace towards disabled people, but a lesson for parents on how to teach their young kids on people with disabilities.

I’ve been very critical on this blog on disability representation on reality TV, and I still am. Just check out my blog post on ‘Love Is Blind Brazil’ where I criticized ‘Love On The Spectrum’. My biggest issue, however, is with reality dating shows. There have been numerous other cases where the representation was positive, as well as NECESSARY. Disability representation in media is, in fact, important for simultaneously breaking down stereotypes and promoting inclusivity. Positive, but most important, accurate portrayals can challenge misconceptions along with educating and bringing awareness to audiences. Examples of positive disability representation that we’d previously seen on reality TV include:

• Raven Sutton, who is deaf, joined ‘The Circle’ in Season 5 with her best friend and interpreter, Paris, and managed to make it to the final table, although she just missed the mark and didn’t end up with the final prize. Whenever the TV showed Raven, she always had a smile on her face and was clearly enjoying her time with her friend and playing the game. 
• Briony May Williams was a contestant on Season 6 of ‘The Great British Baking Show’, and the audience then realized that she was missing her left hand. She had made the choice with the executives to not point out what she called her ‘little hand’, and instead managed to make it to the final four without any accommodations. 
• Christine Hà, a chef, writer, and TV Host, impressed Gordon Ramsey on Season 3 of Master Chef. She won the competition after her time on the show and was awarded the title, grand prize, and cookbook deal. Hà is also blind. 
• Amy Purdy was a competitive snowboarder for five years when she contracted meningitis and was forced to amputate both her legs in 1999. She is now an award-winning Paralympic snowboarder and joined the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ cast of Season 18. She worked her way up with Derek Hough to 2^nd place while consistently earning perfect scores. 
• Christy Smith, the first deaf contestant on ‘Survivor’, made it to the final 6, although her teammates became fearful of her power as a swing vote and so she was (unfortunately) eliminated.
• Susan Boyle first broke everyone’s hearts when she auditioned on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ with the song, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’. She initially believed that she was too old and not pretty enough to audition. And yet, she went through to the finals and came second to dance troupe Diversity. Her debut album sold more copies than any other debut albums and scored her three world records in the Guinness Book of Records. Boyle has autism.
• Lost Voice Guy, whose real name is Lee Ridley, was also a contestant on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. He was born with cerebral palsy, and begun performing comedy in 2012, in which he went onto perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013 and in 2014 he won the BBC Radio New Comedy awards. He appeared on the ‘Britain’s Got Talent in 2018, made it all the way to the grand final, and became the show’s first comedian and first disabled contestant to be crowned the winner.
• Dave Levey wasn’t born disabled, but when he was a part of the sixth season of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’, he broke his arm when his arm got stuck between a truck door and step while completing his and his team’s punishment, resulting in a fractured wrist and a torn ligament. Not confident Levey could go on competing, Gordon Ramsey still allowed him to stay on the show as Levey begged him to let him stay. He went on to win the competition while using one arm to cook through the rest of his season. His tough spirit was an inspiration to every disabled person out there to never, ever give up – even when it’s hard.

I believe that showing inclusivity is so important in media; to a core. But what’s even more important is doing it right. I appreciated shows like ‘Survivor 48’, ‘The Valley’, and ‘The Kardashians’ showing the the attributes, trials and tribulations that people with disabilities, as well as what their caretakers, families and friends go through on a daily basis. It’s not about exploitation. Instead, it’s about spreading awareness. It’s also about showing others in similar situations that they’re not alone. Reality TV, at its core, is about showcasing the diverse spectrum of human experiences. To truly reflect reality, these shows must include the voices, stories, and bodies of differently-abled individuals. We’re on the right track, but so much more work needs to be done. We need to have a requires a concerted effort from producers, casting directors, and networks to actively seek out and include differently-abled individuals in their shows. It also requires viewers to demand more inclusive content and support shows that take the bold step of representing all members of society. As someone with a disability myself, when multiple disabilities, I want to see more influential inclusion of people like me, and a positive representation of people like me, so I have something to show to my son. Less filters. More authenticity. Disability representation matters, but it has to be done right!