Sesame Street with its Autism Awareness

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!