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There has been concern that a new autistic character on Sesame Street could lead to children taking up autism in response.
Julia, a four-year-old autistic muppet with a favourite toy rabbit called Fluffster, has been praised by autism groups for helping break down barriers and erode ignorance, but there are also a great many people who are bothered by breaking down barriers and eroding ignorance.
“No, I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” said Simon Williams, the sort of person who considers the Metro to be ‘the Paper’.
“Because there’ll be kids who’ll see that, and they’ll go – ‘well, she’s autistic, that looks fun, maybe I’ll go all autistic’.
“And then before you know it they’re injecting marijuana and joining ISIS.
“What you want to try and do is stop children finding out about autistic people and then that way, they won’t think it’s normal and will stay away from it.
“It’s just common sense.”
However, Mr Williams didn’t hold out a great deal of hope that his views would be noted.
“No, I’m just a normal bloke, so they won’t listen to me, they never do.
“So, I’ll probably just parade my ignorance about autism in the forums and then go and have a Findus Crispy pancake.”
