Where the Air Is Sweet: Sesame Street's New Character, Julia, Has Autism
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The banged-up Sesame Street records my parents played for my brother and me when we were kids are sitting on my Brooklyn shelf, their covers so chafed you can't read the spines anymore. The vinyl crackles and skips, but you can still hear the songs, most of them anyway. Whenever I put the LPs on for my kids, my 3-year-old hums Big Bird's "ABC-DEF-GHI" song for hours, turning the entire alphabet into one giant word. Our kids (our daughter turns two this summer) have only seen the occasional Sesame Street episode since we keep waiting for the right time to start in on that slippery-slope "TV shows" phase of their lives. But the recent news about Sesame Street makes me think the time is now.
The show is introducing a new character named Julia, who has autism, as part of the regular gang. She'll be voiced by the actor Stacey Gordon, who has a son with autism. Considering that autism rates are on the rise, and everyone has friends or family with children or adults on the spectrum, bringing a kid with autism into the mix on a mainstream show is a kudos-worthy (if long overdue) move.
As Stacey Gordon put it in an interview with Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes:" It means that our kids are important enough to be seen in society. Having Julia on the show and seeing all of the characters treat her with compassion.... And like her. It’s important for kids without autism to see what autism can look like."
As Christine Ferraro, who has been a writer on Sesame Street for the past quarter-century, said about Julia in the "60 Minutes" interview: "I would love her to be not Julia, the kid on 'Sesame Street' who has autism. I would like her to be just Julia."
I'm looking forward to seeing her on the show, and to catching up with the rest of the Sesame Street gang again.
Meanwhile, just a few words on autism and its connection to having kids later in life: A recent large-scale study does show a link between advanced maternal and paternal age and a heightened incidence of autism, but it also shows links between teen moms and higher autism rates—as well as a link between autism and the age difference of the mother and father. Much remains unknown and inconclusive, and as the Huffington Post about the report said: "It's complicated."
Here's to Sesame Street for living up to its theme song: "Every door will open wide," for kids from all walks of life, facing any of the many challenges that come with being a little (or big) human on this planet of ours.
