Britton Payne: Promoting Authentic Autistic Representation in Pop Culture

About this episode

Chris and Rachel interview Britton Payne about promoting authentic autistic representation in children's animation.

This episode, Chris & Rachel interview Britton Payne! Britton Payne is an entertainment attorney who has worked with major studios like Nickelodeon and Warner Bros., and he is also the father of an autistic son. He founded The Autism Scene and created the AUSPEC Awards to promote authentic autistic representation—especially non-speaking AAC users—in children’s animation! Key Ideas This Week: Authentic Autistic Representation in Kids’ Media Matters - Britton emphasizes that autistic and non-speaking characters are vastly underrepresented in children’s animation. Because kids’ pop culture reaches every home and classroom, it has huge potential to model empathy, patience, and inclusion—especially for non-speaking autistic people who use AAC. Representation in media can teach children how to interact respectfully with peers long before adulthood. The Autism Scene and AUSPEC Awards Aim to Change the Industry - Britton founded The Autism Scene and created the AUSPEC Awards, a script competition requiring meaningful interaction with an explicitly autistic character. The competition offers resources, tutorials, sample scripts, and feedback from autism consultants, autistic reviewers…

People in this episode

Hosts: Rachel Madel, Chris Bugaj

Guest: Britton Payne

Topics covered

• Autistic representation
• Children's media
• AAC users
• Inclusion
• Empathy in animation

Keywords

• autism
• representation
• animation
• non-speaking
• AAC
• AUSPEC Awards
• The Autism Scene

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., The Autism Scene, AUSPEC Awards

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