Julia, a muppet with autism, makes her debut on Sesame Street
Elmo makes her feel very welcome.
By Practical Parenting
March 21 2017
We met her back in 2015, but now Julia, a muppet who has autism, is ready to make her debut on Sesame Street.
Airing on ABC in Australia, cast members Elmo and Abby will introduce Julia to Big Bird, reminding him that she might not want to hold his hand straight away.
"We had to explain to Big Bird that Julia likes Big Bird," Elmo told 60 Minutes US. "It's just that Julia has autism. So sometimes it takes her a little longer to do things."
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, longtime Sesame Street writer Christine Ferraro said they worked really hard with autism organisations on how to portray Julia.
"It's tricky, because autism is not one thing, because it is different for every single person who has autism," said Ferraro. "There is an expression that goes, 'If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism.'"
Ferraro added: "I would love her to be not Julia, the kid on Sesame Street who has autism. I would like her to be just Julia."
