#julia muppet

julia from sesame street hates autism speaks! autism speaks does NOT speak for her.

Two characters who have done a lot to help kids understand autism. I think they’d make good friends.

Though I'm well out of your target age group by now, last year I saw your photos of Julia in the Macy's parade, wearing noise cancelling headphones just like I would in a noisy, crowded place, and almost cried from happiness. It was the first time I ever looked at an autistic character and said "Hey, that's me!!" And so I now feel compelled to express my deep disappointment with your choice to partner with Autism Speaks, an organization that has long undermined autistic people's right to be treated as people.

Until a couple of years ago, Autism Speaks explicitly had finding a cure for autism as part of their mission statement. They have a clear history of spreading so-called awareness in a way that treats autism as something monstrous, and not in the sense of friendly monsters like Grover! Their website mixes potentially useful information with known harmful approaches, such as ABA therapy and restrictive gluten-free-casein-free diets, and does not differentiate between the two. I understand they're now using Julia to promote an information packet that does the same. Their informational materials also dispense a generous dose of inspiration porn. We are more than what we have "overcome"!

For these and many other reasons, Autism Speaks is widely condemned by autistic adults. In partnering with them you also lost the support of ASAN, an organization that genuinely IS by and for autistic people. I'm worried about the eventual impact this will have on Julia and how she's presented as a young autistic child. Will she continue to be a real friend of Abby Cadabby and Elmo and Rosita, or will she be separated out as someone they're nice to because she's "special needs"? Will she still be allowed to wear her noise-cancelling headphones in the Macy's parade, or will noise be a thing she's expected to build up a tolerance to? Is she going to be drilled on eye contact? Is she going to stay a person (well, a Muppet), or become a problem to be solved?

I can't answer these questions myself, but with Autism Speaks as the primary developmental "expert" on Julia, I worry about what the answers might someday be. I expected better of you, Sesame Street. You've always put so much work into basing your show on sound child development research. But the biggest experts on autism are autistic people. I'm astonished and appalled that you would even consider risking all the good you've done with Julia, to work with an organization (no matter how prestigious) whose reputation is so terrible in the autistic community. Autism Speaks is popular among some parents, it's true, but you have a far more vulnerable population you need to reach: autistic children themselves.

I urge you to pull the PSAs Autism Speaks has aired, end your partnership with them, and apologize both to ASAN and to the autistic community at large in a public statement. You did an amazing job with Julia and autism representation in the past; please do everything you can to fix this enormous mistake.

Sincerely,