re: Meet Julia, an autistic Muppet who's joined 'Sesame Street's' regular cast

Sesame Street migrated to HBO the last I checked so I think they will be fine if funding is cut.

If they have a problem with it then they can cut their own funding of Sesame Street in countries like the Palestinian Authority or Egypt with the money made off touring, dvds, and toys.

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Do you think kids will even catch on that this character is autistic or even acts different? I understand why they are introducing this character but it's not for the kids who watch the show. They don't know what autism is or even if they interact with an autistic kid in real life.

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God forbid kids learn to interact with and sympathize with people who are less fortunate than them.

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I have aspergers...and this is fricking stupid.

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I have aspergers and I have no problem with it.

Of course I don't give a frick about anything so there's that.

I'm a supervisor at a behavioral therapy clinic specializing in treating children with Autism. I can't tell you how amazing/beneficial this is.

I have worked with these kids in clinical, at school, and at home settings. While some can blend in better than most expect, most of these kids exhibit behavior that is impossible to ignore, especially by other children. I can't recall how many times I have been at a park and had other kids attempt to interact with my client only to get weirded out and run back to their mother. Most of the time their parents don't have much better to say than why don't you go play with someone else which is not thier fault at all as they also have no clue how to explain or interact with these kids.

What is worse is the times at school or playground settings when I had a client who REALLY wanted to interact and just had a rough time doing it the right way. At these point's I had two tasks; teach my client how to interact, and teach other kids to be patient enough that my client could actually learn. It would have been incredible if the kids my clients interact with had some kind of prerequisite knowledge of what they were dealing with even on a small level.

I have followed this story for awhile and sesame street is doing an incredible job. In addition to introducing this new character, they have been posting video of other characters interacting with real life kids on the spectrum with varying severities of the disorder.

The prevalence of Autism is exploding and kids on the spectrum are becoming more and more part of everyday life. This is small but really admirable step!

Kids will absolutely understand that there is something "different" about that character. Kids can and will notice differences in themselves and others right out of the gate. And, of course most are not going to understand what autism means but the idea is to introduce that character in the hopes to show that there isn't anything wrong with that.

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Kids will absolutely understand that there is something "different" about that character

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All the muppets act fricked up, though. How are the kids supposed to tell this one is "different", when another lives in garbage can?

I grew up watching special-needs Muppets:



Beaker is non-verbal and clearly not neurotypical in other regards.



Animal suffers from clinical ADHD and borderline personality disorder.



Gonzo has debilitating OCD and masochistic self-image issues.

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Actually one of the more clever fictional portrayals of high functioning autism is archer.

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Lol no.

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I wonder if Julia will start hitting people if they trigger her. You gotta teach kids how autistics can act.

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Kind of a stereotype. My 16 year old son is Autistic. He has never hit another kid in his life.

More parents will be triggered by SS adding this character. Not many kids if any. Autistic kids basically DGAF what you think. They pretty much do their own thing. Its usually the parents who are so triggered by others and the way they handle kids who are Autistic.