Will you be tuning in? The young boy will make his debut on the show on April 5 during World Autism Month on PBS Kids!
Max who will be a recurring character on the show moving forward is teacher Harriet’s nephew. Even better from a representation standpoint: Max is voiced by someone who’s actually autistic in Israel Thomas-Bruce, a 13-year-old eighth-grader who was diagnosed with autism when he was 4. To further making sure the character was as realistic as possible, the team behind the show consulted with the University of Missouri’s Dr. Wes Dotson.
This isn’t the first time PBS Kids has featured a character on the autism spectrum. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Christine Ferraro, Co-Creator and Head Writer of Hero Elementary who feature AJ Gadgets, an autistic superhero on their show. You can watch the interview I did with Christine above.
I applaud PBS Kids for their continued work here as an autism entertainment consultant who understands the true importance of representation. Growing up with autism, the only entertainment projects I knew about that featured an autistic character included Rain Man. I’m glad more of the spectrum is now getting to be spotlighted. You can learn more about my work as an autism consultant here on projects such as Joyful Noise, Jane Wants A Boyfriend and Mrs. Fletcher and how I can help you with your next project by contacting me here. You can check out my new e-book Autistic Characters That Are Featured On Netflix, Disney+ & More! here.
It’s also helpful to have representation in projects that are for younger children because, if we can educate our loved ones about autism at an early age hopefully they will be more understanding and accepting of autistic individuals for their entire lives. That’s a big reason why I wrote a children’s book about twins on the autism spectrum that you can learn more about here.
Would you like me to virtually speak to your group/school for World Autism Month? Contact me at Kerrymagro@gmail.com for more details!
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My name is Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum that started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue a post-secondary education. Help support me so I can continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
