Many, perhaps most, people in the autism community know that Sesame Street has introduced a new muppet, Julia, who is on the autism spectrum. It has drawn a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Some people are glad that it shows a more realistic autism than movies like Rain Man. Others are upset that it didn't get into the harder aspects of the disorder, like diapering older children and violent outbursts, feeling like Julia doesn't show thier life with autism. The things is everyone on the spectrum is different and Sesame Street is a show for children. Julia's role is to help preschool children learn how to make friends with people who are different in ways they don't understand. She is there to teach understanding, inclusion, and acceptance of differences.
There is almost no situation where everyone will be perfectly pleased with anything in this world. When you are discussing a topic as vast and complicated as autism spectrum disorder that problem just gets magnified. There is no way to make a character who has all the complexities, issues, comorbidities, strengths and complications that can be involved with the whole spectrum of the disorder. What does get included for public consumption on screen has to be all about the audience and the goal of the show and character.
I watched the original segment and it had me in tears. It shows the things my Little Bear does as different, but okay, and as something to understand and accept rather than something to hide away and pretend doesn't exist. He is ten now and I still take my Little Bear away, often with special stuffies just like Juila, when he is melting down for whatever reason. Loud sounds used to break him down almost exactly like the siren did Julia; they still do on hard days. I still coach him through deep breathing to calm him down during meltdowns. This show changes autism from some scary "other" to avoid into just differences in a friend. Once again Sesame Street is teaching inclusion and friendship. This is why Julia is so special to my heart.
Someone has to pick and choose what to include, what to explain, what to just show, and how the interactions will go. Theater is so much easier than real life on the spectrum because it is all scripted. Someone is in charge of every detail. A soap opera will get a very different character than a show for preschoolers. A documentary will have a very different feel than a fictional romance or a cartoon. Rather than have issues that a preschool show puppet character is not as severely affected as any one particular person with autism, we should applaud the fact that a show as influential as Sesame Street has a character with autism who is noticeably affected by the disorder. It isn’t a teen boy with a couple minor quirks who gets the girl in the end, but a child with meltdowns who echoes and is only somewhat verbal. This is a huge step forward, a huge preschool sized step, but childhood is where everything starts.
