Sesame Street Introduces Their New Character In Support Of Children With Autism- Meet 4-Year-Old Julia

A new character is joining the beloved Sesame Street crew. Her name is Julia, and she’s a four-year-old girl with autism.

Julia was first introduced in 2015 as part of an online-only Digital Storybook story called “Sesame Street and Autism: See the amazing in all children.” In the story, she had a playdate with Elmo and Abby. She’s now set to become a regular on the show, starting in April.

Stacey Gordon, the puppeteer who plays Julia, isn’t just an actress: she’s a mother to a child with autism. “As the parent of a child with autism, I wished that it had come out years before, when my own child was at the ‘Sesame Street’ age,” Gordon told CBS.

Show writer Christine Ferraro admits that deciding how to portray Julia was challenging. “It’s tricky because autism is not one thing, because it is different for every single person who has autism,” Ferraro told 60 Minutes. “There is an expression that goes, ‘If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.’”

h/t:scarymommy