The producers of Sesame Street, a long-running children’s television show, announced that “Julia”, a character first introduced in 2015, will be regularly-featured on the program. Julia is described as a “wide-eyed little Muppet with a big smile” who happens to have autism. The show’s writers acknowledge the challenges of writing for a character with autism, since people with autism are very unique, and it is important to avoid turning Julia into a caricature or imply that she represents the experiences of every person with autism. Julia’s puppeteer, Stacey Gordon, has a son with autism. She hopes that the addition of the character will help future generations to understand children with autism and other disabilities and be more accepting of them.
