<p>
	Through new character, children will learn not to be frightened by certain behaviour</p>
<p>
	Children&rsquo;s TV favourite Sesame Street has added a new character to its ensemble, an orange-haired muppet named Julia, who has autism.</p>
<p>
	In her first episode, Julia is introduced to the large, inquisitive wild fowl Big Bird. She ignores him, causing him to feel hurt, until the other muppets explain, &ldquo;She does things just a little differently.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	One in 68 children in the US is diagnosed with autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A recent paper from the Irish National Council for Special Education said that it was as high as one in 65 school children in Ireland. It is considered to be under-diagnosed in girls (hence Julia&rsquo;s gender).</p>
<p>
	Julia&rsquo;s puppeteer, Stacey Gordon, who has a son with autism, told the 60 Minutes programme: &ldquo;Had my son&rsquo;s friends been exposed to his behaviours through something they had seen on TV before they experienced them in the classroom, they might not have been frightened.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	Julia&rsquo;s debut happens against a backdrop in which Sesame Street&rsquo;s home station, the publicly-funded PBS, is consistently endangered by proposed cutbacks from conservative policy makers. The muppets in Washington do not like the muppets of PBS, a channel they see as an overly-expensive luxury favoured by the coastal elite.</p>
<p>
	This is despite all evidence (perhaps Count Von Count could help them look at the figures?). In 2015, a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that Sesame Street was a very effective low-cost educational supplement for children in economically disadvantaged areas.</p>
<p>
	The Future of Children, a joint report from Princeton university and the Brookings Institute, found that children who watched Sesame Street had more inclusive social attitudes than those who did not. (That said, if you&rsquo;re a Republican lawmaker you might prefer a show that glorifies the ham-fisted privatisation of public services, like, say, Paw Patrol.)</p>
<p>
	Sesame Street has always had progressive motivations. It was created in 1966 when television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and vice president of the Carnegie foundation Lloyd Morrisett conceived of a children&rsquo;s programme based on the latest educational research. It would eventually be populated by the late Jim Henson&rsquo;s puppets and would &ldquo;master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	Julia is to make her debut in April, when she will join an array of much loved characters including the aforementioned avian worry-wart Big Bird, bin-dwelling misanthrope Oscar the Grouch, obsessively numerate aristocrat Count Von Count, gluttonous baked goods aficionado Cookie Monster and, last, but not least, co-dependent alternative-lifestyle pioneers Ernie and Bert.</p>
<p>
	Yeah, it&rsquo;s a good group. Julia should feel at home there.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by the Irish Times on the 20th March 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/julia-does-things-differently-sesame-street-s-muppet-with-autism-1.3017176">http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/julia-does-things-differently-sesame-street-s-muppet-with-autism-1.3017176</a></p>
