It’s always satisfying when something you worked on previously has such an impact it carries over into a new project.
A few years ago I co-created a series of animations for the NHS-funded National Autism Trainer Programme, a training programme led by Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou and Dr Ruth Moyse, and delivered by Anna Freud; all designed to help NHS and allied health professionals working within mental health, to learn, reframe and reflect and support changes in practice.
I wrote and narrated the scripts, with feedback from a small broader team, and worked with an animator to develop the visuals.
Of the many animations created, the ‘Introduction to Monotropism’ and ‘Introduction to the Double Empathy’ animations alone have had well over 100,000 YouTube views.
I was thrilled when Autism Central asked me, along with original animator-extraordinaire Josh Knowles, to create more animations for Autism Central, a project funded by NHS England, and freshly taken over by Anna Freud.
About Autism Central
Autism Central is the National Peer Education Programme for families and support networks of Autistic people of all ages in England. The programme is delivered by Anna Freud and commissioned by NHS England. The programme offer families education, coaching, and connection through resources, one-to-one peer support, and community events.
You can find out more here: Autism Central
And read about my involvement with the project here: Autism Central
Animations about Autism
The plan is for us to create a steady stream of accessible, easy-to-absorb animations over the coming years.
The animations will be written to inform, reframe, support, and validate Autistic people and those who support us, predominantly family members, but professionals too.
The animations will be set in a town called Autism Central with different characters reappearing and different settings being revisited, all promoting a growing familiarity, a connection, and grounding the themes and storytelling within a community which is connecting, learning, changing, evolving and reshaping together.
The first animation of those animations is ‘Busting Autism Myths’.
It was a big and complex place to begin; especially in the current climate of misinformation, and rising injustice, but we hope we’ve done it justice.
Busting Autism Myths Animation
Keep checking back for more animations!
Original Animations about Autism
As well as the new series of animation you’ll find many of the original animations on Autism Central’s YouTube channel, ‘Autism Central Learn’.
A range of topics are covered such as Montropism, Double Empathy, senses, siblings, safety in predictability, low mood, and much more.
An Introduction to Monotropism Animation
An Introduction to Neurodiversity Animation
An Introduction to Autistic Masking Animation
Autistic People and the Senses Animation
Low Mood and Depression Animation
Siblings of Autistic People
Safety in Predictability Animation
Autism Central Blogs
Over the project I will be regularly contributing to the Autism Central blog with original pieces of writing. I will post the links here as new articles are published.
Words Build Worlds – Responsibility, Harm and Hope (Nov 2025, co-authored with Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou).
“Language does not simply describe reality, it builds it; and when that language is careless, soaked in stigma, or rooted in fear, it harms.”
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Training from Kieran
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You may also enjoy my book ‘Autism: A Collection of Essays’ which gathers together my most read articles;
