Julia, the muppet with autism, will join the Sesame Street TV show in April. She appeared last night on 60 minutes during an interview segment with Sesame Street writer Christine Ferraro. From NPR:
“The character Julia, she has wonderful drawing skills. She’s like a little budding artist,” said Rose Jochum, director of internal initiatives at the Autism Society of America, which characterizes itself as the nation’s oldest advocacy group for people with the disorder. “You know — autism — it brings wonderful gifts…”
“It’s not like there is a typical example of an autistic child, but we do believe that [with] Julia, we worked so carefully to make sure that she had certain characteristics that would allow children to identify with her,” (Sesame Workshop executive vice president Sherrie) Westin said. “It’s what Sesame does best, you know: Reaching children, looking at these things through their lens and building a greater sort of sense of commonality.”
Here’s the 60 Minutes segment script.
And more about puppet designer Rollie Krewson.
Sesame Street producers hope Julia’s first episode will help the audience understand when a child with autism doesn’t react as they expect. pic.twitter.com/DJCFdksPIk
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 20, 2017