The children’s educational show introduces a new character – muppet Julia who has autism.
It will appear in Sesame Street on April 10. The episode titled Meet Julia will be aired by PBS and HBO. The idea of an autistic character appeared in 2015. Julia already featured in an online Digital Storybook story called Sesame Street and Autism: See the amazing in all children, but now she’s making her debut on television. In the first episode, Elmo and Abby Cadabby will introduce Julia to Big Bird.
In a few weeks, a new Muppet will come to Sesame Street. Her name is Julia, and she has autism. Meet her next on #60Minutes pic.twitter.com/DvjDfSB0xI
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 19, 2017
The new character and campaign to raise awareness of autism required long consultations with educators, experts, families and autism organisations. The main idea that inspired show authors to create Julia was to show autism to children and combat stigmas.
Julia's puppeteer, Stacey Gordon, has a son with autism. She wishes the character had been in the show years ago, when her son was watching Sesame Street. She believes the new character will help other children and parents who have faced the same problem.
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