Sesame Street, the beloved children’s show for over 50 years, is introducing its first character with a developmental disability. The character’s name is Julia who has autism. The show aims to portray the day to day reality of having autism and how friends and family can better understand autistic children. Julia has been a part of the “Sesame Street” family via its storybooks and was so popular that the decision was made to add the character to the TV series.
One of the shows writers, Christine Ferraro hopes that along with educating viewers about autism the new character will become a permanent fixture in the neighborhood. “I would love her to be not Julia, the kid on Sesame Street who has autism,” the Ferraro said. “I would like her to be just Julia.”
Check out the following 60 Minutes segment where they visit the “Sesame Street” set for the debut of Julia.