Thomas and Friends announce first autistic character, Bruno the Brake Car

Children's television show Thomas and Friends have announced the introduction of their first autistic character, Bruno the Brake Car.

Elliott Garcia, the nine-year-old autistic actor who will voice the new character, says Bruno "can get really overwhelmed, he can get worried and uses comedy to get past situations."

Tom Purser from the National Autistic Society said: "It is important that everyone sees autistic characters on our screens because there are 160,000 school-age autistic children in the UK, and they want to see their stories told."

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