Jay'La Sims - The subtle brilliance of Sesame Street’s first episode starring an autistic Muppet

ANALYSIS: Sesame Street has now taken it upon itself to try to change that, at least a little bit. And intriguingly, its efforts are not targeted at autistic kids, trying to get them to change and fit in better. They’re targeted at neurotypical kids, and designed to encourage them to change, by becoming more tolerant of kids who might hang out and play differently than they do. A perfect summary of what it’s like to grow up autistic, at least for me. You’re plunged into a world dense with rules and meanings that everyone else seems to understand intuitively without really trying. When you ask for clarification, to get let in on what everyone else already knows, the kids have no patience (and some of the adults don’t either).

SUMMARY: This is beautiful and I'm so glad Sesame Street is doing this. Representation matters! I'm glad autistic kids don't have to feel alone. Not only that but other kids get to learn autistic behaviors and how not to be bothered by them.The show’s impact on children watching it has been the subject of four decades of research, with both early 1970s studies and more recent analyses finding substantial gains in educational outcomes, especially for black children and children living in low-income communities.