Sesame Street has always vouched for inclusion, with its colorful character such as Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch delighting audiences for almost 50 years.
And now, Sesame Street is introducing a new muppet character in the TV show, Julia.
Julia has already been introduced in digital and printed books, but will be making her TV debut in April soon.
The character has orange hair, a toy rabbit, and has autism.
A year after announcing her introduction in the children’s books, execs wanted to expand her role and include her in the series.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Sesame Street writer Christine Ferraro shared:
“The big discussion right at the start was, ‘How do we do this? How do we talk about autism? It’s tricky because autism is not one thing, because it is different for every single person who has autism.'”
Julia will be exhibiting some common characteristics in her debut episode, such as ignoring Big Bird when introduced to her.
Confused, Big Bird thinks “that maybe she didn’t like me”. But the other muppets tell him: “She does things just a little differently.”
Kudos to Sesame Street for featuring characters from all walks of life!
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