World Autism Day: 2 April 2017

World Autism Day is celebrated annually on 2 April. The United Nations established World Autism Day on 8 December 2007. The General Assembly recognized that awareness of autism in the general community should be marked with an international day. The theme for 2017 is ‘Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination.’

Autism affects approximately one in every 150 children around the world. It is a neural development disorder that affects the use of verbal and non-verbal communication. Its first symptoms can be seen as early as 6 months and is most noticeable around the ages of 2-3 years. There are usually three types of symptoms: problems socializing, problems with communication, and a limited number of interests combined with repetitive behaviour.

It is classified as a spectrum of disorders ranging in severity, and includes Rett Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and Asperger Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is the presence of autism symptoms with no impairment of language development.

In 2017 the children’s television program Sesame Street will introduce a new muppet character. Her name is Julia and she has autism. She is four years old with red hair and green eyes, and she loves to paint and pick flowers. She often repeats what she has heard Abby and Elmo say, and Big Bird needs to repeat himself to attract her attention.

Julia will make her television debut on Sesame Street on 10 April 2017 on platforms where the show’s programs can be found, including YouTube, HBO, and PBS Kids. It’s planned for Julia to appear in two episodes of the current season, with more to follow in the next season.

Jeanette Betancourt has been developing Julia for about three years. Jeanette and the Sesame Workshop consulted with 14 autism groups to create Julia. Stacey Gordon is the puppeteer for Julia, and her own son is on the autism spectrum.

Georgetown University researchers studied families who’ve experienced Sesame’s autism materials to see how effective they found the program. Approximately 1,000 families were surveyed, more than a third of whom have children with autism. Their preliminary findings suggested that the material helps families with autistic children feel more comfortable incorporating them in broader community activities, and just as importantly, families whose children don’t have autism are more accepting of children who do.

While there is no “typical example” of a child with autism, Julia is a carefully constructed character. Sesame Street said, “We worked so carefully to make sure that she had certain characteristics that would allow children to identify with her.” Julia will be one of the Sesame Street gang and will never be treated like an outsider. The goal of introducing Julia to Sesame Street is to promote a better understanding of the “range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech, and non-verbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences.”

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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