u/Far_Fig6274

I'm a 16 year old A-Levels student in Plymouth, UK who is currently studying Art, Graphic Design, and Performing Arts. Performing Arts/Drama has been one of my favorite subjects. I've taken every school year since I was in Year 8 and took it all the way into my Year 11 GCSEs. I got top marks in my GCSE performance and I've always been praised by my Drama teacher who I have had since Year 8.

Acting and Entertaining has been a deep passion of my as far as I could remember. I remember watching Andy's Dinosaur Adventures and Andy's Safari Adventures on TV when I was little and thinking "I want to be just like that." Zoology and animals has been a deep hyperfixation of mine since I could read. I adore animals and love teaching people around me all about them. I'd binge dozens of YouTube videos that would teach all of these amazing fun facts about our worlds beautiful animals.

I've always struggled with what I wanted to be when I'm older. Zoologist? Actor? Neither? Then it finally hit me. Children's entertainer. The person you'd hire to entertain kids at a party or event. I've also considered a YouTube channel too.

I want to finish school first of course and save up with a small job and I'll obviously keep my main job to make money in between gigs or events. But where would I even start? What advice does anyone have? I'd really appreciate anything.

I'll answer any questions anyone has too I don't mind any.

(I'm sorry if this isn't the right subreddit I'm struggling to find where to post this.)

Context: I'm a 16 Year Old Autistic boy. I was diagnosed when I was 5 years old and have lower support needs than most due to the support I've received and skills I've learnt growing up but I still obviously face my challenges. I still have sensory needs that can be overwhelmed/stimulated at times.

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I'm the elder of all of my siblings (two younger blood brothers and two younger step-sisters). I share a room with my brothers and my sisters have their own rooms. At times I prefer my front room (living room) because of the space, temperature, and solitude.

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My little sister (technically Step-Sister but it doesn't matter) is 10 years old and is suspected to have ADHD but is currently undiagnosed. She experiences traits such as a poor attention span, immaturity for her age, poor memory, lack of routine, and constant talking.

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Whenever I am in the mood for front room time, whether it's because my brothers are both in the room or I've been in my room for too long, I prefer to sit on the sofa and relax doing whatever. However, it seems my little sister likes the front room too. She usually has the TV on playing whatever cartoon she likes (right now it's Shaun The Sheep) and plays on her iPad. She surprisingly keeps the iPad quiet and never blasts it. The problem however is she NEVER stops talking to herself. It's happening right now as I'm writing this. I can handle it for a few minutes, sure, but it gets under my skin after a while.

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I've asked her to stop on occasions or asked her to play in her room. But at times she reacted negatively to these requests whether that's a tantrum or bold refusal. It's exhausting at times having to endure these traits but it's also frustrating that I can't suck it up because I empathize with having quirks as I am autistic myself. I don't want to force her to mask (assuming she might be neurodivergent) but I also don't want to constantly leave the room myself when I don't have my own space while she does but chooses to sit in the front room and non-stop ramble and narrate to herself.

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I'm also wary of talking to my dad and step-mum about this, as they're very stressed out with her diagnosis and quirks. We both feel as if we're on eggshells upon the topic. I don't want to stir anything up but it is getting really frustrating.

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Any advice? I'll also answer any questions if I've left out any important information.

Edit: I do have headphones! I usually wear them all time I just know it's bad to rely on them and I don't always want to wear them but I'll make the note of using them to block noise. Thank you for your advice and, once again, feel free to ask any questions and give any advice you think is best. 👍