I'm glad of this step Sesame Street has taken. Much better than the short-lived Sesame Workshop character with a parent in prison. We need these new characters to continue to live and work through the special problems that come with the burdens they carry. We have a lot of children in this country who are trying to live well despite their parent's incarceration, and they deserve all the help we can give them.
My 9.5 year old son (adopted at birth) has autism and ADHD likely from FASD (fetal alcohol w/birth mother & his older birth father's sperm. Man. Oh. Man. Im tired. My little guy's gotta be. If that yard and a half of fleece can make one day easier, we all win and I'm going to kiss her little fuzzy brown lips.
I commend Sesame Street for their well-intentioned efforts. However, the important thing is to find out what is causing so many of our precious children to be born with or develop autism. No matter how much you try to "normalize" it, it is an impairment and a life sentence that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Something - probably the pesticides, untested chemicals and other toxins we are all exposed to - is harming far too many childrens' lives.
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Being autistic is "a life sentence you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy"? What a horrible thing to say. I have a joyful autistic son. I treasure him, and I wouldn't trade him for anyone in the world. Thankfully the people around him love him, respect his differences, accommodate his needs, and help him reach his full potential. You should learn more about neurodiversity--and kindness.
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Being over 60 and looking back at my childhood classmates, I can recognize several cases of undiagnosed Asperger's. I suspect the more serious cases of autism were diagnosed as retarded, as was referred to lack of reasoning capacity back then.
To me it is like dyslexia. My father (born 1917) in hindsight clearly had dyslexia. My brother (born 1954) clearly has it. My niece (born 1992) was diagnosed as dyslexic when she started school. She had ameliorative intervention and graduated from college, a project that her dad and her grandfather had each started but been unable to finish. My otherwise sensible social worker mother in her last years would often lament that she had no gotten that help for her son and I would have to remind her that no one identified dyslexia when he was a boy,
To me it is like dyslexia. My father (born 1917) in hindsight clearly had dyslexia. My brother (born 1954) clearly has it. My niece (born 1992) was diagnosed as dyslexic when she started school. She had ameliorative intervention and graduated from college, a project that her dad and her grandfather had each started but been unable to finish. My otherwise sensible social worker mother in her last years would often lament that she had no gotten that help for her son and I would have to remind her that no one identified dyslexia when he was a boy,
“Spectrum” implies a common physiological cause, differing only in severity. Sharing some symptoms, while differing enormously in say intellectual ability, does not establish anything more than suspicion of a common cause.
And folks, exactly why are new, costly episodes of Sesame Street necessary? All those years of past episodes lie dormant. They already done terrific.
And folks, exactly why are new, costly episodes of Sesame Street necessary? All those years of past episodes lie dormant. They already done terrific.
New episodes of Sesame Street are welcome, particularly to address contemporary issues like this one.
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If I hear one more person say "I was diagnosed with autism in my 30s" or "40s" or whatever, I will explode. You do not have autism, even though you'd like to think you do. If you truly had autism, you would have been diagnosed at 2 or 3 years old. All you are is socially awkward. You can call it Aspergers if that makes you feel special. In fact, a lot of us are socially awkward but, over time, we learn what works. I am sick of people saying, "Tee hee, I am so socially awkward. I totally have autism." Even Jerry Seinfeld and Darryl Hannah claim that they have autism. Out of respect for people who truly have autism, like my daughter, please stop it. Yes, it's a spectrum, but you are not on it.
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That's certainly an opinion. Some of us who are 40 years old have been diagnosed with many psychiatric and physical disorders, given numerous medications and treatments. None of it worked. It only made me feel more alienated. I thought my response to noise at work was absolutely bizarre. So did my boss, unfortunately. Too many footsteps or voices outside of my office and I would become irate. Then I'd shut down and fall asleep. When my sister's 2 year old was diagnosed, so was I. The very same day! What a relief it has been to get appropriate treatment. Don't ever tell another person what they do or do not have. It's discouraging and not very thoughtful.
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As the sibling of someone with autism there are few things I've learned. The problems other people have with anyone who is different don't end once the person is an adult. They continue and, in some cases, get worse. If there is a way to take advantage of a handicapped adult, especially one who has autism, it will be done. If it's to a person's advantage to portray someone like my brother as a danger that will be done. If there's a way to say he's a sexual predator even though he's not, that's done too.
What I've learned is that normal people are more of a danger to my brother than he is to any of them. Even the police don't know how to deal with someone like my brother. Even seasoned educators prefer to call the police rather than tell him to his face to leave them alone. It's not enough to introduce a Muppet that is autistic to a children's show: how about introducing a few adults who are autistic to serious adult shows?
What I've learned is that normal people are more of a danger to my brother than he is to any of them. Even the police don't know how to deal with someone like my brother. Even seasoned educators prefer to call the police rather than tell him to his face to leave them alone. It's not enough to introduce a Muppet that is autistic to a children's show: how about introducing a few adults who are autistic to serious adult shows?
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Hey hen3ry, thanks for reminding us why you are so righteously tough. Hang in there.
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As an adult who diagnosed himself with high functioning autism after my son was diagnosed, I share your hope that Sesame Street's Julia will lead to greater acceptance of Autism.
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Another character doing that: Sheldon Cooper on the Big Bang Theory. Jim Parsons has said that he plays Sheldon Cooper as Autistic. I think he gets it right - in a comic way. The show's creators have danced around the Autism issue - but maybe that's a benefit: we can get to know Sheldon Cooper as Sheldon Cooper (with all his Autism inspired quirks) because Autism isn't played up in discussion of the show.
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All of that said, I am eager to see how Julia is portrayed on Sesame Street; and whether Jim Parsons will come back and appear in a skit with her.
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Another character doing that: Sheldon Cooper on the Big Bang Theory. Jim Parsons has said that he plays Sheldon Cooper as Autistic. I think he gets it right - in a comic way. The show's creators have danced around the Autism issue - but maybe that's a benefit: we can get to know Sheldon Cooper as Sheldon Cooper (with all his Autism inspired quirks) because Autism isn't played up in discussion of the show.
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All of that said, I am eager to see how Julia is portrayed on Sesame Street; and whether Jim Parsons will come back and appear in a skit with her.
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If people say they've learned about autism from watching this show, will the response be "You've watched a muppet with autism, that means you've watched ONE muppet with autism"?
It's wrong to think you know something about it from a nephew or a neighbor, but a fictional character it's OK?
It's wrong to think you know something about it from a nephew or a neighbor, but a fictional character it's OK?
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I think a lot can be said about how others respond.
When my autistic daughter was in elementary school, she walked the perimeter of the playground. The other children used her for target practice. They got the most points if they hit her in the head with a ball. Will Julia help with bullying?
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What evidence do you have that diversity in programming doesn't have any affect on how these groups are perceived? There is evidence that 1. Children watch and enjoy Sesame Street, 2. They learn from it and 3. Increased presence of racial, ethnic, abled, LGBTQ, and religious diversity in the media does change public perceptions. You may not "see" race, but then you're also not hearing perspectives that are different from yours!
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Folks on the autism spectrum only have some things in common, each is also a unique individual, like the rest of the neurotypicals. Yes kids and adults will continue to be intolerant, but it can become less acceptable to be intolerant, just as it is now unacceptable to praise the institution of slavery.
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Um...based on the comments here few appear to have a clue about what autism is. I am not saying that this is the case with the writer and her family, but I also suspect that docs may be diagnosing too many people with autism, just as they have done with "attention deficit disorder." That said, I am all for Sesame Street, its autistic puppet, and its groundbreaking work in general over the years. I wish it started even earlier and that our current president had the oppurtunity to watch it on his gilded TV and perhaps learned something about empathy, that is, assuming he is not the sociopath he appears to be.
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To be brutally honest, I think this idea for an autistic muppet is ridiculous. It's not like including all this "diversity" in children's programs really does all that much to make kids more tolerant. Kids are always comparing themselves and each other. This just feels like a waste of time to me.
I had plenty of non-white friends growing up for instance. It's not because of black history month or any of the *insert stigmatized group here* week/month initiatives. Really, the less tv or anyone spoke to us about our "differences," the more we were willing to hang out. We just saw other kids- not black, white, asian, paraplegic, what have you. Suddenly you consciously bring up someone's differences and say that their "special" in their own unique way and you're just giving kids ammo to attack each other. It doesn't make anyone more tolerant, it's validating the fact that they're different. Telling kids "this person's different, be nice?" Not going to do anything other than put them on display.
Kids already are looking for reasons to insult or exclude each other. It's unfortunate but normal, and part of growing up. Don't put certain kids on display- you're just giving other kids one more reason to stigmatize them.
I had plenty of non-white friends growing up for instance. It's not because of black history month or any of the *insert stigmatized group here* week/month initiatives. Really, the less tv or anyone spoke to us about our "differences," the more we were willing to hang out. We just saw other kids- not black, white, asian, paraplegic, what have you. Suddenly you consciously bring up someone's differences and say that their "special" in their own unique way and you're just giving kids ammo to attack each other. It doesn't make anyone more tolerant, it's validating the fact that they're different. Telling kids "this person's different, be nice?" Not going to do anything other than put them on display.
Kids already are looking for reasons to insult or exclude each other. It's unfortunate but normal, and part of growing up. Don't put certain kids on display- you're just giving other kids one more reason to stigmatize them.
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What evidence do you have that diversity in programming doesn't have any affect on how these groups are perceived? There is evidence that 1. Children watch and enjoy Sesame Street, 2. They learn from it and 3. Increased presence of racial, ethnic, abled, LGBTQ, and religious diversity in the media does change public perceptions. You may not "see" race, but then you're also not hearing perspectives that are different from yours!
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Actually, in my life experience, it definitely was more a matter of "the less we point this out, the more likely we are to shrug off difference." I'd hang out with other kids of diverse backgrounds and get a better understanding of their lives BECAUSE we weren't consciously talking about race. You go to another kid's house not thinking about the fact that they're different from you, and you're just immersed in a different world, and it's interesting, but at the end of the day you really don't treat them differently and you're still treating each other civilly on the schoolyard.
Now I go to university, and all this diversity programming has people buying into these fabricated or half baked realities of what these groups are like. You get a student from a wealthy white suburb who never actually dealt with the people featured in diversity programs, and they think what they're told is the whole story, and act on this impulse. And it creates a xenophobia in its own right. Like I'm against BLM not because I'm racist, but because I've seen the statistics, I've worked in situations side by side with people in these communities, and BLM doesn't seem to be hitting home at the real issues as I see them. But you have all these kids who grew up with their spoon fed realities based on diversity programs and the like, and they just shut off as soon as you tell them otherwise. "My school said this" or "the tv said this," and suddenly that makes it correct?
Now I go to university, and all this diversity programming has people buying into these fabricated or half baked realities of what these groups are like. You get a student from a wealthy white suburb who never actually dealt with the people featured in diversity programs, and they think what they're told is the whole story, and act on this impulse. And it creates a xenophobia in its own right. Like I'm against BLM not because I'm racist, but because I've seen the statistics, I've worked in situations side by side with people in these communities, and BLM doesn't seem to be hitting home at the real issues as I see them. But you have all these kids who grew up with their spoon fed realities based on diversity programs and the like, and they just shut off as soon as you tell them otherwise. "My school said this" or "the tv said this," and suddenly that makes it correct?
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When my son was little, another mother complained to me about all those black and hispanic muppets. "What are they trying to prove," she asked. I replied that it's nice for kids who watch The Muppets to see themselves reflected in the characters. She was stunned. Apparently, it never occurred to her that some of the children watching Sesame Street aren't white.
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I think it is an interesting idea to introduce Julia along with additional materials for families to discuss and learn from her role. Given that I don't see how having an autistic muppet makes it any easier for her children to "navigate the social world". That requires going out and just doing it - even if you're a neurotypical as she calls others. They would also do better with coaching from their mother who seems to have found success with the diagnosis.
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It’s a particular problem with kids who rarely speak and then when they do, they don’t speak normally.
My son has autism spectrum disorder and he is 4 and he goes to a preschool specially for kids with disability's and now he is talking like he should be.
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Ed, that's inaccurate-- autism is much greater of a spectrum and much more complicated than what you described.
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism
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