A new muppet named Julia is coming to join the gang at Sesame Street, the series’ first character with autism.
According to Deadline Julia will make her appearance on Sesame Street in April, and will be introduced to the neighborhood by Elmo and Abby Cadabby. The announcement of Julia’s addition was made on a recent segment of 60 Minutes.
In the 60 Minutes segment Julia’s puppeteer, Stacey Gordon, spoke about the meaningful addition to the series. “As the parent of a child with autism, I wished that it had come years before, when my own child was at the Sesame Street age.”
The Sesame Street writing team worked with autism organizations, educators, and families to help develop Julia, and how to explain autism to children. Julia first appeared in a Digital Storybook called Sesame Street and Autism: See the amazing in all children at the end of 2015.
“We’re going to tell you more about what that means, and why she’s acting this way,” said Senior Vice President for Curriculum and Content at Sesame Workshop Rosemarie Truglio. “Give children that information. She’s acting this way because she’s on the autism spectrum.”
“It’s tricky because autism is not one thing, because it is different for every single person who has autism,” said Sesame Street writer Christine Ferraro.