SINGAPORE: With her bright orange hair, diamond-shaped nose and bright green eyes, Julia, the newest muppet on Sesame Street looks to be a charmer. And charm children she did, at a special screening at Pathlight School on Monday (Apr 10).
It marked the Singapore television debut of Sesame Street’s first autistic character. Mediacorp’s okto, which is a free-to-air channel for kids and sports, is the first in Asia to broadcast Meet Julia, a special episode of Sesame Street in support of the autism community.
About 200 students and teachers from various special education and mainstream schools attended the screening at Pathlight School. The students, who came from schools such as Pathlight, Eden School, St Andrews’ Autism Centre, Rainbow Centre, AWWA School as well as Townsville Primary, also took part in a sing-along session.
Students taking part in the sing-along session (Photo: Howard Law).
Sesame Street developed Julia as part of an ongoing initiative to increase awareness and understanding of autism. She was introduced in digital form last year.
Julia, Sesame Street’s new muppet. (Photo: 60 Minutes’ Twitter page)
“We hope that screening Meet Julia will create conversations surrounding autism, said Ms Debra Soon, Mediacorp’s Chief Customer Officer. “We also really want to develop kids who are future-ready, who are accepting and inclusive, and who will be active citizens.”
Many in the audience cheered and laughed as she painted pictures and made friends with Big Bird and Elmo.
“She’s wonderful, and exceptionally nice,” said 10-year-old Vijaynarayanan Saaiarjun. “I hope you guys liked seeing Julia as much as I wanted to be her friend.”
But beyond entertainment, Julia’s on-screen presence sends a powerful message of inclusion.
“I think (the students) can identify with Julia,” said Pathlight School’s principal Linda Kho. “Not in a negative way, but in a way that it is okay to be different…it’s okay to play differently and do things differently.”
“I liked that – it’s very positive and there’s an affirmation … that there’s nothing bad about being different.”
“I think the fact that okto is the first channel that brings in this feature speaks a lot about what Singapore is trying to do,” said president of the Autism Resource Centre Denise Phua. “To be progressive in making sure that we are indeed an inclusive nation and that education needs to start from young.”
Meet Julia aired on okto at 12.00pm on Apr 10 with a repeat telecast on the same day at 6pm. It will also air at 8.30am on Sunday (Apr 16). Viewers can also watch the episode as catch-up on Toggle.
