Alsager autistic actor is featured in BBC’s “revolutionary” BBC show

An autistic actor said that his appearance in the new CBBC drama A Kind of Spark was a breakthrough.

The story is about Addie who is autistic and her attempt to create a memorial for witches in her village.

Caitlin, from Alsager in Cheshire is Addie’s older sister Nina.

Elle McNicoll, neurodivergent author said the drama was based on the award winning book.

“Being autistic myself it’s been an absolutely wonderful project,” she stated.

A Kind of Spark features Addie (played by Lola Blue) and her two sisters – Caitlin, who plays Nina and Keedie – played by Georgia De Gidlow.

Caitlin explained that Addie feels a connection with witches now that she has learned about them at school.

“She believes that the witches were not really witches. They were women wrongly accused of witchcraft, and most likely autistic.”

McNicoll, a best-selling author, said that autistic people are often misrepresented. She wanted her characters “to feel that their way is something to celebrate and find happiness in, and not something to hide or suppress.”

She claimed that all autistic characters are played and “many of those larger cast and crew members are neurodivergent.”

Caitlin stated that the CBBC’s representation of autism was “revolutionary” for her.

She said, “We live with autism every single day. It’s something that I was born with, and it doesn’t stop me doing anything.”

“But these are also the things we sometimes struggle with, and it just shows what it would look as if we saw it through the neurodiverse lens instead of the neurotypical lens we usually see things through.”

A Kind of Spark will be available on BBC iPlayer as a streaming video and on CBBC beginning 17 April.

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