Sesame Street Introduces A New Character With Autism

Abby and Elmo have a new friend: Julia. She has autism.

Three years in the making, yesterday Sesame Street Workshop launched a new nationwide initiative: Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children, with the aim to reduce “the stigma of autism”, that is geared toward families and communities with children between 2 and 5 years old.

“If you’re five years old, and see another kid not making eye contact with you, you may think that child doesn’t want to play with you. But that’s not the case,” Sherrie Westin, Sesame Workshop’s executive vice president of global impacts and philanthropy, told People. “We want to create greater awareness and empathy.”

Not only does it try to help explain autism to young children with some storybook materials but it also includes a free downloadable app with video and digital story cards designed to make daily life tasks easier for families of children with autism.

“Children with autism are five times more likely to get bullied,” Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, the senior vice president of community and family engagement at Sesame Workshop, told People magazine. “And with one in 68 children having autism, that’s a lot of bullying. Our goal is to bring forth what all children share in common, not their differences. Children with autism share in the joy of playing and loving and being friends and being part of a group.”

We’re still not sure if she’ll be in the TV series but Julia is on the site in a free digital storybook called We’re Amazing, 1, 2, 3!

The story very simply emphasizes what Julia has in common with Elmo and Abby and does a great job of normalizing their differences.

Abby at first thinks Julia doesn’t like her, but Elmo helps explain: “Elmo’s daddy told Elmo that Julia has autism, so she does things a little differently. Sometimes Elmo talks to Julia using fewer words and says the same thing a few times.”

And when Abby doesn’t understand why Julia covers her ears inside Hooper’s store, Elmo says that “Julia has really good ears. Sometimes she hears noises that Elmo doesn’t notice. Like the noise the blender makes. She really doesn’t like it!”

There are even more stories than just Julia’s though:

“Sesame Workshop is uniquely positioned to play a meaningful role in increasing peoples’ understanding about autism,” Sherrie Westin, executive vice president of global impact and philanthropy at Sesame Workshop, said in a statement. “This project is an extension of the belief we’ve always promoted: ‘We are all different, but all the same.’ I am passionate about this initiative, and am so proud of the partnerships with the autism community that have led to this.”

You can see all the resources for parents, caregivers, teacher and kids at SesameStreet.org/Autism.