icon

Sesame Street with its Autism Awareness

April is World Autism Month. A nonprofit educational organization, behind Sesame Street, called Sesame Workshop came with an initiative. Sesame Street debuted their newest muppet, Julia, on HBO on April 10, 2017. Julia made headlines earlier for being the first Sesame Street muppet with autism.
Articles
04 April 2018
Country(s)
iconiconiconiconiconiconicon

Sesame Street debuted their newest muppet, Julia, on HBO on April 10, 2017. Julia made headlines earlier in the year for being the first Sesame Street muppet with autism. 

Julia is part of the Sesame Street initiative. The character was introduced alongside the program called “See Amazing in All Children,” an initiative headed by the nonprofit educational organization, behind Sesame Street, called Sesame Workshop, that helps to provide support to families, teachers, and caregivers around the country.

Her debut marks a new phase of Sesame Workshop’s autism awareness initiative, “Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children”, which provides resources “designed to serve autistic children and their families”, and also to teach children about autism. The role of Julia is performed by puppeteer Stacey Gordon, whose son is autistic

Sherrie Westin, Sesame Workshop’s executive vice president discussed why they decided to pick a girl character versus a boy character. Westin told the LA Times, "We made sure she was a girl namely because autism is seen so much more often in boys. We wanted to make it clear that girls can be on the spectrum, too. We’re trying to eliminate misconceptions, and a lot of people think that only boys have autism."

Today, boys are diagnosed with autism 5 times more often than girls (1 in 42 vs. 1 in 189).
Watch Julia’s introduction from the episode in the video below. 


If you have autism or support someone with autism, we want to hear your story. Your stories will help increase understanding and acceptance!

What to read next


Celebrating World Environment Day
05 June 2023
Celebrating World Environment Day
World Environment Day 2023 accentuates "Ecosystem Restoration" as its theme, urging actions to repai...
World Blood Donor Day
16 June 2022
World Blood Donor Day
Every 14th of June, World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) is celebrated around the world to celebrate all blo...
World No Tobacco Day 2022
01 June 2022
World No Tobacco Day 2022
World No Tobacco Day is commemorated every 31 May to fight the negative effects of tobacco.