Have you met Julia yet?
Sesame Street has just introduced a character called Julia, who is autistic. Julia is a little girl with orange hair and a little toy rabbit, and she does things just a little differently. She has already appeared in Sesame Street storybooks, but now she is taking a more prominent role in the televised series and made her debut on screen in April.
As we explored in 12.2 Changes in Science and Society, autism as a diagnosis is only 80 years old, but the condition has certainly existed for much longer. Sesame Street is making a great contribution to promoting awareness of the condition, and to helping other children – and their parents – understand children with autism. It is an example of how the media, much maligned for contributing to eating disorders, can play a constructive role in promoting awareness of different states of mind: of people like Julia who do things differently.
You can meet Julia now over on Sesame Street.