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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