Patriarchy on the Autism Spectrum - with author & illustrator Rebecca Burgess
Breaking Down Patriarchy
Amy McPhie Allebest
4.9 • 654 Ratings
🗓️ 22 April 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amy is joined by author & illustrator Rebecca Burgess to discuss their graphic novel, Speak Up!, and explore the impacts of patriarchy on the neurodivergent community. Rebecca shares their personal stories of growing up with autism, discusses the importance of representation, and shares invaluable advice for parents and peers of autistic children.
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Rebecca Burgess a freelance illustrator currently living in Bristol. Their favorite things are nature, history, comics, psychology, and cuddling their girlfriend.
Burgess is most well known for their various long and short comics that explore and explain autism. Their comics are also known for showing big feelings and loveable characters that people can connect to on a personal level. They have both written and illustrated several award winning YA and children’s books/comics, including Speak Up! and How to be Ace.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee, All the Best. Today I'd like to start by reading some song lyrics, which say, I'm creative, strong-headed, inventive, and honest too. My senses made me stronger. I'm a fighter who can push right through. Pushing forward, seeing things that no one else can see. My passion knows no bounds. Yes, |
| 0:23.0 | this is me. This is me. This is me. I'm creative, hard to see. I freak out, but I'm brave, |
| 0:30.0 | and I'm proud of that. They say my autism gives me chains. They say it hurts my family. |
| 0:36.0 | But my autism sets me free, because this is me. |
| 0:40.1 | These inspirational lines, which challenge us to rethink our understanding of autism, |
| 0:45.6 | are sung by a young woman named Mia, who is the protagonist of the book Speak Up. |
| 0:50.9 | This amazing, encouraging, and joyful graphic novel follows Mia, a middle school girl with autism, |
| 0:57.6 | as she and her best friend invent an alter ego, the music sensation LQ, and we get to follow |
| 1:04.2 | what happens when their make-believe musician finds very real success. It's a story about |
| 1:09.6 | friendship and family and about finding pride in |
| 1:12.7 | yourself. And I'm so, so excited to be discussing it today with the author and illustrator of |
| 1:17.7 | Speak Up, Rebecca Burgess. Welcome, Rebecca. Hi. Hello. It's so great to have you today. |
| 1:24.9 | And I'll just start with kind of like a professional bio so listeners can get to know who you are and then you can tell your own story after that. |
| 1:31.8 | Rebecca Burgess is a freelance illustrator currently living in Bristol, England. Their favorite things are nature, history, comics, psychology, and cattling their girlfriend. |
| 1:41.3 | Rebecca is most well known for their various long and short comics that explore |
| 1:45.6 | and explain autism. Their comics are known for showing big feelings and lovable characters |
| 1:50.9 | that people can connect to on a personal level. And today we'll be discussing their most recent book, |
| 1:55.8 | which Rebecca both wrote and illustrated, Speak Up. So, Rebecca, could you tell us a bit more about yourself and your personal background, |
| 2:03.7 | like where you're from and what brought you to do the work that you do now? |
| 2:08.6 | Yeah, I'm from the UK, Bristol, and I got into comics just because I loved drawing, |
| 2:15.6 | like, literally since I was, like, tiny, probably, |
| 2:19.2 | like, three years old or something. And I mainly got into comics through manga, because, like, |
... |
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