On the second episode of the fourth season of “Love on the Spectrum,” Cottonwood Heights native Emma Miller performs a song called “My Own Fairy Tale.”

At first, the lyrics are an emotional ode to the fairy-tale romances that Miller once dreamed of, but they quickly turn to confronting the realities of dating.

“But now that I’m older and I have learned no dragon’s fire could ever burn like the loneliness inside my room,” the 23-year-old on the autism spectrum sings. “I won’t be waiting fair and pale ‘cause I design the details in my own fairy tale.”

Miller co-wrote the song with Josh Palmer, a teacher at her school, ScenicView Academy in Provo, for a talent showcase featured on the popular Netflix show.

“It’s called ‘My Own Fairy Tale’ because I thought of love as a fairy tale when I was little, as most little girls do,” Miller said. “But now that I’m older, I think of it more realistic. It’s not always a picnic.”

The message she wanted to share with other people through the song was simple: “You don’t have to rely on someone else to make your own fairy tale. That could go out to any young woman or any young man in general.”

That’s exactly what Miller did when she asked her mom, Liz, to help her apply to be on the Netflix dating show that features people who are on the autism spectrum.

From watching the show to starring on it

Miller and her mom watched the Australian version of “Love on the Spectrum” together years ago.

“I said, ‘Emma, if they knew about you, you would be on the show so fast,’” Liz said.

“And then surprise: foreshadowing,” Miller said. “Now it’s happened.”

Cian O’Clery and Karina Holden are the co-creators of the Netflix series. While working on another, separate show on people with disabilities looking for employment in Australia, the two met a lot of young adults on the spectrum.

“[We] heard a lot of stories from people that they didn’t just want to find jobs. They wanted to find love,” O’Clery said. So they took their idea to the national public broadcaster in Australia, which said yes.

Liz’s email to the show creators was just a paragraph.

“I just talked about how [Emma] was so fun-loving and she’s not really monotone. She’s more like a cartoon character,” Liz said.

They got a reply right away, set up a Zoom, another in-person meeting and a few weeks later, they were filming. “It’s the fastest thing that’s ever happened in my life,” Miller said.

“Soon as we met her, we just loved her,” O’Clery said of Miller. “She’s just so lovely and has an infectious personality and that real desire to find love.”

The show also focuses on Miller’s faith as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how that plays into her dating life.

During the season, Miller goes on three dates, one with a man named Austin at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, where they make a snowman.

And two others with Eric Casper — first at Lehi’s Tulip Festival and then at La Caille, which was her favorite date because it’s where her mother took her wedding photos and where a scene of “Dumb and Dumber” with Jim Carrey (her favorite actor) was filmed.

Miller said after the show ended, she and Casper went on a few more dates, to places like the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium and to Porcupine Pub & Grill, but ultimately decided to stay good friends.

Holden, the show’s other co-creator, is a big fan of Miller’s, describing her as “the epitome of joy.”

“If there was ever a moment that you ever doubted the world, then all you have to do is look at Emma,” Holden said. “Her expression of joyfulness and exuberance is just so wonderful.”

The moment Miller sings her song has also stuck with Holden.

“I get shivers just thinking about it, because it just goes to the core of this true heart of so many young women,” she said.

Miller is still interested in dating, but isn’t seeing anyone at the moment.

But she wants people to know, “There’s always hope that you can do something incredible while being on the spectrum. Don’t think of being on the spectrum as a curse, think of it as a blessing.”