“Sesame Street” will introduce Julia, a 4-year-old female muppet with autism on April 10. This is the first time the long-running children's television show has had a character like Julia. Creators of the show are bringing awareness to autism. "Sesame Street" has been promoting the debut of Julia through YouTube videos and news about Julia on the show's website.
A segment about the first episode was aired on "60 Minutes" last Sunday night to introduce Julia to viewers. Officials of the series want to let children and their parents see the characteristics of autism in a positive way.
By seeing Julia, viewers will be able to see how children with autism act during day-to-day activities. The aim is for people to understand autism better and will perhaps get rid of myths and wrong beliefs about the condition.
On Monday, officials of the series announced that more is being done to introduce Julia to the world through new videos, books and e-books in both English and Spanish.
About Julia
Julia is a happy little girl who loves to sing. She has a very good memory for lyrics. In fact, she can memorize the words better than some of the others. She does a good job singing the theme song, "Sunny Day." Julia has the gift of drawing. She gets along well when she plays with the other kids.
There is one thing that viewers will notice immediately. Julia doesn't like loud noises. She becomes emotionally upset when she hears noises like sirens from ambulances and police cars.
The voice and actions of Julia are done by Stacey Gordon, a puppet artist from Phoenix, Arizona. She is a mother of an autistic child. Therefore, she knows the behavior and mannerism of someone with autism.
During the "60 Minutes" interview, Gordon said she is intrigued by Julia. She wished someone like Julia had been on the show years ago when her own child was growing up. The puppet artist is sure it would have been helpful to her and her child.
We’re excited to announce a new friend joining us on Sesame Street! She’s Julia, a 4-year-old with autism! #SeeAmazing pic.twitter.com/xDS3x2a5za
— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) March 20, 2017
Popularity of 'Sesame Street'
"Sesame Street" made it debut on television on November 10, 1969 and is now in its 46th season.
At the end of last year, the show had received 167 Emmy Awards. That's more than any other show on television. A survey shows that most children have watched the series by the time they are three years old. It is so interesting that the survey also showed that about 95 percent of preschoolers had watched "Sesame Street." It has been estimated that about 77 million of all American adults have watched the series either as children themselves or with their children.
