So did you hear? Sesame Street has welcomed a new character. Her name is Julia and she has Autism.
Z likes two Sesame Street videos (Elmo at the Beach and Elmo’s Potty Time) but that’s it. He’s never been big on the Sesame Street TV show. So I heard about this and thought that’s nice but didn’t pay too close attention.
Until I saw a post in the Autism Community. Basically, this mom was talking about it to her son and then he matter-of-factly told her there already was a character on there with Autism. So she was like “Really? Which one?” And he tells her… Fozzie the Bear. So she reaches out to the community and asks other parents to ask their kids if any characters have Autism. Guess what? They ALL said the same thing.. Fozzie the Bear. Think about it, he does scripting (“wocka wocka wocka”) and he always seems to be missing a part of whatever is going on. Interesting, right?
Then our respite company handed out new books introducing Julia. So I read it to Z and he was totally bored (granted, reading books is not his fave). And as I read further, he got the look on his face that shows he is totally processing what you are talking about but thinks it’s weird. And to be honest, the book didn’t sit well with me either.
So here’s what I picked up on from these two scenarios. Sometimes you don’t have to be over-the-top stereotypical to get your message across. Some aspects of autism are subtle. As I’ve said, it could take about 5 minutes before realizing Z is different (and even then you don’t know it is autism). And when he was younger I could get away with a whole chunk of time just saying things like “oh, he doesn’t talk much” or “yes, we’re still potty training..” And all kids at that age had “tantrums”.
So yet again these kids with Autism are teaching the world. I think this recognition of Fozzie is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. We went years with the feeling that Z was just different, a little quirky, doing his own thing, talking gibberish. But we always saw him as “normal”. Then you get the diagnosis and suddenly things make sense. But those “quirks” are still part of his personality that you have grown to love. Sesame Street could have taught this lesson by coming out to say “Fozzie has Autism”. Instead they build the character from scratch, make her a girl (btw… there is a higher chance with boys), and try to sell that she’s been playing with Elmo all along and he has become this voice explaining to the other characters how to interact with her.
It’s great to incorporate disabilities in these children shows. I am 100% on board. I also like this Julia and like the messaging about her not making eye contact, being slow to respond, speaking with few words, being uncomfortable with loud noises, and liking her food a certain way. But it feels forced and almost text book. I think going the route of “discovering” the secret could have gone a lot further. We all grew up with Fozzie the Bear, we enjoy how different he is. He was probably someone’s favorite character. Now imagine if they had instead said “Oh, that character you love? He actually has Autism!” I think that would have sparked a different level of understanding.
In my humble opinion….
Copyright 2019. All Rights Reserved.
Tilted Axis 