She doesnt like the way the brush feels. Mom braids. E i feel happy i can help her. Of attention in the morning, but my big sister and i get time with my mom and dad too. That is really good at putting on jewelry. He helps alyssa while my mom brushes my hair. I like how she does it. I love having her as my little sister. She is amazing. I think youre amazing. With joslyn and alyssa and we are going to find out how amazing their family is. What do you like best about your family . Theyll treat us the same. We are all equal. It doesnt matter if she has autism, my parents wont leave us out. Lets have a group hug. Im in the middle of love. Im in the middle of love this is the best. [applause] well, welcome, everybody to this standing room only crowd. I am the president and ceo of Sesame Workshop and im delighted to be her and welcome all of you to this important and wonderful event. Sesame street and autism, seeing me in amazing in all children. I want to open by spending a few moments just talking about why and event is so important what autism is so important to Sesame Workshop. The best way to do that is perhaps to quote. This is from my angelou. This goes really to the heart of do. We are and the work we she said it is time to teach young people in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. That has really been what Sesame Workshop has been about from the very beginning, since we first started we have promoted this expansive attitude and have created one of the first truly racially diverse neighborhoods on television and one that featured muppets as well as humans of varying abilities. And just has importantly, various disabilities. Our focus has always been to vote help kids everywhere grow smarter and stronger and kinder and of course, that is what this initiative is all about. All three of those things. Let me just waking make one other observation as we are in this wonderful space in the capital. Arekids, our audience Little People that are three feet tall, they are not partisan. They are too innocent to have biases. They are too innocent to judge and so, it means something to all of us at sesame to be here represent politics, regardless of that, to be here from both sides of the aisle and be here for kids. That is an amazing thing. We appreciate that, we welcome you and hope you learn something that this and we hope is a memorable event, the beginning of a Great National conversation. That, let me turn it over to sherrie westin, our executive Vice President for social impact and philanthropy. Who leaked this tremendous group of people who have worked on this so hard, both on this initiative and this event and it wouldnt be possible without her. Come up and she will be your host for today. Come on up and thank you. [applause] you, jeff carried and most of all, thank you for your support. He has been the biggest champion of this work. Mybehalf of all of colleagues at the workshop, i think all of you for being here, to take the chime time to join this means so much. The video you saw is from sesame streets initiative, seeing amazing and all children. You may know that sesame street has a long history of looking at issues through the lens of a child and given that one in 68 children in the u. S. Today are diagnosed on the autism spectrum, we knew that this was an issue we needed to address. So we launched our initiative in the fall of 2015 and we had two very specific objectives in mind. One, to create tools and resources for families with children with autism to make every day moments easier, but second, we wanted to reach the public at large to help destigmatize autism, to help increase understanding, awareness and promote inclusion and acceptance. Plays ais where julia critical role. Heardlly by now you have that julia is an adorable little fouryearold girl. She is very serious and she has autism. She was first created online as a digital muppet and is part of a wonderful storybook that was called i see amazing 123. Written by leslie kimmelman. This initiative and julia herself from the Autism Community was simply amazing. We decided that we needed to bring julia to life on sesame street. I am thrilled to say that the episode me julia the here on julia will air on sesame street. Through julia, we hope that children with autism will have a character they can identify with, hopefully feel less alone, but by introducing julia to her friends on the set, on sesame street, we are able to raise awareness, to raise and increase understanding and to model inclusion. So when big bird tries to meet julia and she is a little less responsive, abby is able to explain that just because julia may not show it in the same way, she still wants to be your friend, she still wants to play, she still wants to be included just like all children. Feedbackonal note, the from the Autism Community is really what makes this work so very rewarding. One of my very favorite stories came from a mother who had a young daughter with autism and she used to that wonderful book, see amazing to explain to her daughter that like julia, she too had autism and she responded. So i am amazing too, right . Think that we from all of these wonderful stories, there are so many of them, we know anecdotally that we are making a difference, but i am so pleased today because today we have research to support that. There grateful to have opportunity to share this with you, to bring together a panel of distinguished experts that we will get together a little later, including researchers who looked at the impact of this work. The hope that will be a very important discussion around an issue that really does touch so many of us. Today especially honored to have a congressman mike doyle with us from the great state of pennsylvania and congressman doyle is serving his 12 term of congress. House energythe and Commerce Committee and is the ranking democratic member on the communications and technology subcommittee. Most important to those on in this room is that it was congressman doyle, along with congressman smith from new jersey founded the coalition for Autism Research and education, otherwise known as care and it is the first Congressional Membership Organization donated to autism advocacy on capitol hill. This was in 2001, i think. Are 117e were members of the bipartisan autism caucus, which congressman doyle still coaches here. For your grateful leadership on this issue and especially that you would take time to be here with us today. So congressman doyle. [applause] good morning. This is really an exciting day and i am pleased to be here. When chris smith and i got together to falling form the autism caucus, our objective was to educate other members of congress about autism spectrum disorder. Every few years, we know we need to get back to basics about what ast looks like and what we can do to reach out to our friends and neighbors who live with it every day. That is why it is so important about julia and the initiative that is been taking on taken on by sesame street. At its heart, it is taking our shared goal of education and taking information out to the widest and most important audience out there, young kids and their parents. Hennounced sesame streets Amazing Initiative in october of 2015 right here. It is exciting to see julia just one year later. Made to provide resources to families and caregivers around the country to educate them about autism. It also includes online guides and tools to help families touched by autism, overcome common challenges like brushing teeth, crossing the street, going to the supermarket. The panelists that you will meet here are going to be able to see to how effective the Amazing Campaign has been. I am going to turn it over to them, but i want to say i am honored to be part of this journey and an excited to get to know julia, can represent all of the amazing kids we know with autism. Have a great day here. [applause] thank you so much, congressman doyle. Now i am going to turn this over so we can get to our moderat or. Probably best known as an accomplished actors from 21 jump street, hanging mr. Cooper, and i think perhaps her most valuable role has been that of philanthropist and advocate. After her father was diagnosed with parkinsons and her son with autism, she and her husband rodney pete started the holly rod foundation, dedicated to hope to families living with parkinsons and autism. Her personal experience and the significant contribution she has made to the Autism Community make her an ideal moderator or todays event, but it is also worth noting that holly has a special connection to sesame street. In 1969, when sesame street first launched, her father was gordon. First and she even appeared on the show. It is great to have you here, welcome back. [applause] well, thank you. Thank you everyone who had anything to do with bringing julia to us. This is such an amazing moment. As sherry mentioned, it is a full circle moment for me. Briefly, back in 1969, i was five years old and my dad came home. Just got this great new gig and it is going to be in new york. I will commute back and forth. It is a childrens show. It takes place on your block and there are kids of all colors. I was like, good luck with that, maybe it will last. [laughter] nearly 50 years later, here i am, moderate miss monitoring. Moderating this panel i have a son who is the love of my life. Changes say i wouldnt my son for the world, but i would like to change the world for my son. Anyone touched by oz is an can relate to that. Autism can relate to that. The fact there is a muppet who has autism, that is a game changer in the Autism Community. I am absolutely thrilled to be here and i think everyone at Sesame Workshop and sesame street for approaching this in a , as ant is so authentic autism mom, this is something that is really helpful and for those of you who are not touched by autism, this is a wonderful way to educate you as well. Has a history of featuring and celebrating children of all different abilities and now, with this new see amazing in all children initiative, they are showing how amazing kids with autism truly are. Understandingtter about autism through the beloved sesame street friends makes it all the more accessible and it is all part of sesame street magic. Did somebody say magic . Goodness, it is abby, my favorite fairy. High, everyone. [applause] fairy, ms. Honorary holly. I am so glad you are here, abby. Come because io want to introduce everybody to julia. She is my new friend. She has autism and she is amazing. I bet she is and we cannot wait to meet her. Well, i tell you we do all kinds of stuff together. We like to play games and we seeing. Boy, can julia same. Sing. She is a good painter too. I bet. I heard a lot of your friends didnt understand julia at first . But it didnte, take long for them to see how amazing she is. We actually have a clip of the first time that big bird met julia. Should we show that . You have that . Yes. Should we show them . Great idea,hat is a miss holly. Right now here is your snake week. [begin video] high. Hey, welcome to sesame street. We are having fun with finger paint will stop highguys. Hi, abby. I elmo. Whos this . That is julia. Hi julia. Im big bird. Nice to meet you. Julia . Julia is just concentrating on her painting right now. Julia, you are doing a good job. Big bird i dont think julia likes me very much. You are just meeting for the first time. Bird oh, so she is shy. I get that. I feel shy sometimes, too. That, too. Not just she has autism. Bird autism . What is autism . For julio, it means she might not answer you write away. And she might not do what you expect, like to view a high five. Yes. She does things just a little differently and that julia sort of way. Big bird oh, ok. Exit and she is a lot of fun. , too. Ves to play play, play, lay. [giggling] do you want to play now, julia . Thanks lay, play, play. It bird can i play . What should we play . It bird how about tag . I think that is a yes. Ms. Holly . Ms. Holly yes, miss abbey. Do you want to meet julie . I have been wanting to meet her for a long time. Can come outyou now. There she is [giggling] hollow, julia. Abby she might not say hello our answer right away. But she likes to jump when she is happy. Excited, excited we are also so excited that you are here because we are further much about you, julia. We would love to learn more about you. Tell us something to like to do. Abby as you can see, she loves her little bunny. Webster. To wet pet he looks so cuddly and soft. I can see why you would like lets start. Meet friends. S to julia, who are some of your friends. Julia friends . Elmo. He is everybodys friend. Julia big bird. Abby. And you know what . We like to play tag. [giggling] we have a lot in common. I see you have a lot in common that you are a lot different. At yes. Elmo is a monster, big bird is a bird, you are a pretty lady. Thank you. We are all friends. I am so glad you are friends. Thank you so much for being here today. I am so starstruck right now you do not even understand. Abby you are so sweet, ms. Holly. Air kisses on the other side, i am from l. A. Me and julia are going to go play while you tell the story of your life. Play, play, play. You are a amazing, abby. And julia, you are amazing. Thank you for being here. Julia thank you. [applause] well. Can i just add a superduper relevant . Y that is you mentioned i was on sesame street. I had one appears. My father did not want me to be on because he did not want me to be a showbiz kid. You can see how that turned out. I let me come on one time and just kept saying hi, gorgeous. One day maybe i will get to make up for that. I am still not over a 30 something years later. I am excited to introduce october no anthony, the leader of the Research Team whose work brings us together here today. Dr. Anthony is the Deputy Director of the center for child and Human Development and the vice chair of pediatrics at university. His Research Interests range from Childrens Mental Health services to Development Psychopathology to autism and sexual disorders. He received a National Institute of Mental HealthCareer Development award and Mental Health services and since that time he is focused on interventions with children with behavioral and health and developmental challenges. We are glad he is here to present his preliminary finding regarding sesame street and autism. He is amazing. Dr. Anthony. [applause] dr. Anthony thank you, holly. It is hard to follow julia and abby but i will try. I am really proud to have been involved with working with sesame street on the evaluation of this Important Initiative and i want to recognize the hard work of my colleagues, many of them who are in the audience today from the Georgetown Center for Childhood Development and are really great collaborators at the Childrens National health system. In this evaluation was threefold. We wanted to know, how do parents feel about the website and materials indents presentation and wasnt useful . Second, we wanted to know if exposure to the materials increased knowledge and acceptance of asd. We also wanted to know if ewing materials led to an increase in hopefulness for parents of asd children and terms of greater and gauge met with the community and feelings of increased parenting competence and less parenting strain. So, this slide shows outlines of the general procedures of the study. First of all, we really want to appreciate the more than 1000 parents of asd children and nonasd children who participated in this evaluation. Of those 1000 who completed the this work end all of was to run Online Survey about half completed the follow up one week later and almost 200 parents of asd children completed the onemonth followup. So here is goal one. Reactions to the website content. Overwhelmingly, parents view the website as an engaging, informative, and useful. This graph shows a High Percentage of parents who agree made facts accessible, provided a better understanding of autism they had before and almost 90 of parents thought they would recommend this site to parents of asd children. Also, although each component of the website was rated as highly generalg, parents in found the routine cards most helpful. Designed tords foster positive child behaviors by teaching parents how to simplify the everyday activity to help children manage common situations that could be challenging. For all children, but especially for asd children. Quote from we elicited comments from parents, and this is one quote that really points out the creative theseat parents used materials. This parent used the card, putting it on a poster board. Parents also reported they really enjoyed the videos for asd children and their families. You can see from this quote the videos created greater acceptance and another child about his friend. A sixyearold nephew. Again, these comments were really quite informative besides the actual data. But here is that sorry that is the there we go. Ok, sorry. So now the amazing, amazing results we have been able to compile. Were of all, what changes seen in parents of nonasd children. So, we looked at two things. Knowledge and acceptance. To gauge knowledge, we had parents answer questions about asd link to content. It asked about things that can often be more difficult for asd children as well as popular autism. Out except we also wanted to know about acceptance of parents watched a short video and then answered a question that assess the level of comfort they would have if they were interacting with the child and meet video. The questions were like, the child in the video makes me uneasy or the child in the video are differentthey than others. You can see that parents of nonasd children showed significant increases in their knowledge about asd but more partly, their feelings of acceptance of asd children. At the children showed half of the childrens parents showed increases in these measures. Now, these slides shows some of the most powerful results. Changes reported by parents of asd children. Survey asked about comfort in including their child in Community Activities. Parents were asked how much they agree with questions like i am comfortable with explaining to other parents how to best include my child. Or, because of behaviors i have cut down on my visits with and send relatives. You can see more than half of the parents felt more hopeful and their asd child in the Community One month after exposure to the website. Parents were also asked to rate how much there behavior has resulted in parenting strain like feelings of worry, unhappiness, tiredness. A majority felt reporting less strain related to raising their asd child one month followup material. Ing the finally, scores reflecting parenting competence, there feelings of confidence in general parenting and behaviors increased significantly from baseline to follow up. This slide points out it is important to note exposure to the website seemed most beneficial for those parents reporting the highest level of parenting strain. So, this figure shows that highly stressed parents showed reductions of the stigma, embarrassment, or sadness over their childs behavior. More striking, there is a very large of Parent Community engagement and the likelihood of getting involved in Community Activities with their child. Often, final thought, searching for supportive and Accurate Information has been a particularly risky prospect for those who want to know about asd. The first search can often louche ofht a misinformation, frightening statistics, and terrible predictions for the future of tilde with asd. Louche of [no audio] findings show that focus can help reduce bias and stigma, increase acceptance and inspire asd children with knowledge and powerful information about themselves amidst many negative messages. So we are looking forward to new ways to watch Sesame Workshop, new ways to increase the range and impact of this initiative and we feel very privileged to have worked so far with them. Thank you. Applause] i am preempting for a second but i want to introduce a distinguished guest we are tunate to have with our with us. That is congressman chris smith. When you heard from congressman doyle, you heard from him that it was congressman smith that process. The autism he is a Senior Member of the Foreign Affairs committee. We want to thank you for your leadership on the autism and initiative and for taking the time out to join us today. So [applause] thank you. I will be brief. I want to thank you for the Sesame Workshop for its very enlightened and i think Transformational Initiative that is going to help more and more young people and their parents and really, this country and thankfully, the world, too, because i believe this will be global over time. To understand is with asd, their families. With julia as a muppet who brings to life the daily challenges that a child with asd faces, i think it will have a really huge impact on the community. I have a third three laws on autism. Besides 1. 3 billion for cdc and other important aspects, it also provided for a study young people000 who mature can lead status to adulthood every year and what are we doing to be prepared for that . We also asked and got the second installment of a study as to, again, that same population and demographic. This kind of initiative and the tourist town study which i read the executive summary which i think is outstanding just providing the changing for communities, changing both parents and non parents of nonasd children, and the attitudes, the behavioral change, the understanding. That will not only change every community, every household in america but it will also provide a climate where more effective legislation can go forward at the state and federal level. Our next challenges the services bill. That is why we did the autism care. Andod study going on at nih cdc, but also to figure out what do we do next on every single category from housing to education to Employment Opportunities how a release department ought to deal with someone who is on the spectrum, particularly if they are severely autistic. All of those challenges we now have a blueprint and we are informationthe pursuant to that law. Like sesameormation street, which is the gold standard, my kids all grew up watching sesame street, it has such a positive impact on attitude and understanding. So take you again. Andives imperial backing prove to the great work being done and it is a privilege to be with you and say thank you for your leadership. Applause] ok. Well, i was over there doing social media and of course my periscope jumped. Social media is alive. It i got it done. Laughter] i am so excited to introduce you to our panelists. Our esteemed members today, you are all going to be involved in a very stimulating conversation. Dr. Anthony, your findings just were they had me gasping. Hearing some of the things you said. As an autism mom, thank you for doing this work. Laura anthony, phd, specializes in the assessment and treatment of children and teens with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families. Her Current Research is concentrated on developing classroom strategies, learn practice,and flexible and she did her training at the university of maryland medical system. She was on the faculty at maryland for eight years and has been with Childrens NationalHealth Services since 2007. So welcome laura anthony. Julia bascom is the executive director at the autistic self advocacy network. Previously she did statelevel work at her state of New Hampshire where she worked on the Developmental Disabilities council and coled an Interagency Team to revitalize self advocacy within the state. She is part of loud hands. Autistic people speaking. Writings by of autistic people and she currently serves on the disability quality index advisory war. And sory Council Disability quality index advisory board. Lets give her a round of applause. That a court is the senior Vice President for u. S. At Sesame Workshop where she oversees community and Family Engagement initiatives that engage children, family, caregivers with researchbased resources designed to meet the needs of typically underserved communities. She is directed sesame street workshop in areas such as Early Learning basics, military families transition, incarceration of a parent, and of course, autism. Welcome dr. Ben accord. Applause] holly welcome, everyone. Im going to shift over here. Im so excited to be with you all. So, first of all lets talk about dr. Anthonys findings. What do these results mean . I know how i felt about them is an autism mom but speak to me about what the results mean and why is increasing knowledge and acceptance about autism so very important . I think knowledge so far that is not the finding i am most excited about. Excited about the increase in accessibility particularly with the families who do not have a child with autism. That is where we need to have changes in our community or attitude. So that we can all be together. We can all be amazing, of course. Our friends and colleagues with autism are able to share this with us. Holly absolutely. Julia, what do you think . What are some of the reasons why this information is so crucial and valuable right now . Julia i think in a lot of ways it validated that knowledge is not just in and of itself enough, you need to focus on increasing inclusion, acceptance, and when you provide positive stories and information and talk about appropriate services and support and so on, that has the impact and it tangibly increases acceptance and increases inclusion along with that. I wanted to also say, autism people experience a very tragically increase of manipulation, anxiety, depression, and i know this is a being street event but able to see these kinds of interventions can make a difference and increase toeptance and inclusion increase the trajectory for some people is a huge deal. Thank you. Absolutely. How are you making sure to reach families with kids with autism and families with kids without autism with these resources. We talked about how important it is for those who do not have children on the spectrum to understand our kids. How are we reaching out to them . The whole effort is inclusion. Actually thees are voices we have heard. Part of what were hearing now in terms of Impact Research really came from what we call our formative research. We went out, had experts such as here but also heard from the voices of children families of children with autism as well as nonautistic children so we feel very strongly this is representing that scope. We worked with many partnerships. Those directly servicing families as well as those that inclusive. Our call to all of you is to help us continue to share these resources that are so easily accessible. One of the things is that my son said to me, he is 19yearsold now, he is a young man and he said, i wish i had a. Because as a parent, i had to teach them so much and the kids actually knew more about autism than the parents did. When i hear my son say i wish i dida julia, because he have a lot of bullying and socializing was tough. Imagine if he is in school and children watching julia get to hear and see elwell and abby and forbird, you know, advocate julia. That is a pretty powerful tool. In the context we are seeing, i think what we heard from the results, right, is this idea of feeling i am not alone here it is suddenly seeing yourself in a positive manner. We often heard what you hear is the negative side and here with this commonality we are seeing what children share. Aisles and wanted to say i also wanted to say i feel the workshop brought together a Diverse Group of people and organizations to cover all sides. Often, sometimes my son says he does not hear from people with autism in a. I think that is very true. We are talking about the initiatives today, families, and what sticks. What sticks with me as the anecdote about the mother who autisme book to explain to her fouryearold and the child said, that is amazing. People are often left out, and the reality is that across the spectrum you hear over and over again that people figure out pretty early there is Something Different about us. We get treated differently, have different experience than other people do. If someone does not explain why, the only explanation a fiveyearold can come to is that theres something wrong with me here that they are bad and it is their fault. That can lead to difficult experiences for a lot of people. A lot of selfadvocates talk about the power of knowing why. I think we like to say that labels go on said cans, not people but that word can relate to people so they can see. Youre not bad, youre not broken. There is a reason. Through. I think one of the other things you talked about and i speak about my son who is 19yearsold and education and getting a job. Eventually, these young people that julia will impact the much will grow up and have to work and be selfadvocates and all of that. So this core understanding of what autism really is is just so powerful and as they matriculate through life, when corporations look to hire our total and that are on the spectrum, it is amazing how much stigma that julia is going to eradicate just by her appearance on this iconic show. So it is pretty phenomenal. What else do you think will be the long Lasting Impact of julias appearance on sesame street . I think you are bringing up a really great point about inclusion i think is important. The results we are talking about today, that was just from people looking on a website, right . That is a very small dose of exposure. And, if we want to reach the broad community, how would we get parents to that website to get that information . That is a hard thing to do, right . That having julia on sesame street and who does not watch sesame street, right . I dont know, right . Everybody watches sesame street. So she has been a part of the community. The end of there was a way that every young, autistic kid could see not only to be able to julia on tv but to have a julia dall at home, because julia could really be a symbol for everything that is positive about autism and something for onto. O hold that is amazing. One of the other elements we talked earlier about everyone knows sesame street is all about diversity and something that is synonymous with sesame street. But going back to 1960 91 my father first told me about the show, it was very groundbreaking to have children of all colors and backgrounds be representative. To me, having julia on with her autism is just another way to include and to have even more diversity on sesame street. Do you all agree with me . Yes. Dr. Betancourt, do you . Dr. Bennett court of betancourt a history disabilities and looking at it between racial groups, languages, most importantly we are also showing in every day moments like we all experience. That is one of our key messages. It is inclusion. It is not difficult if you have the understanding of acceptance and we hope we are constantly modeling that for everyone, big and small. The other pieces hope. Of of the things a lot people get a end our family did when we got our autism diagnoses, we did not have a real hopeful moment then. We will we were told everything he would never be able to do. We called it the everyday. He is able to take a lot of those off of his list. I am very proud of him. He is a job now and it is pretty amazing. I also wonder if i had a vehicle like sesame street, how much more hope i wouldve had earlier. Because of parents getting this diagnoses, it can be really devastating. And what you do not want to be as hopeless. I feel like this initiative and this whole concept is amazing and all children. That is inclusive as a slogan. It will give parents hope. Dont you agree . That it will give more parents hope . It will help us in our parenting and in our daytoday lives. Hope so. To add on to what julia said a few minutes ago, if parents were hopeful, if they feel less stigma, less worried about their kids if they feel like they know how to get the services their kids need, they know how to advocate for their kids and they can convey a positive message to their kids, i think that is not only going to help the parents, that communities, but it will be awesome for the children and what you know was saying earlier about the amount of scary information on the internet, you know, if you have not done this, those of you in the audience, just google autism. Much, the first thing that will come up today will be julia. She is already trending. [laughter] but one week ago, you would have seen things that would make you feel like autism was a tragedy. And those of us who know and love kids with autism who i am not saying they are not difficult, right . A tragedy. Ot no, it is not a tragedy but autism parents need help and they need support and as long as we have help and support in this form and we are able to see my favorite thing about julia is you know,ird asks, what is autism and he says, for julia it is this because for those of you familiar with the Autism Community, we always say, if you have met one kid with autism you have met one kid with autism. Because it is a wide spectrum. In africanamerican and some other communities, children of color get diagnosed a lot later the end their typical peers in other communities. So, considering how diverse and how many children of color watch sesame street and parents, i believe this is going to help them get their children diagnosed and get than the Early Intervention they really need. I think that is very important as well. That is an interesting point because this is truly the entirety of the initiative. Effort a very specific to be as comprehensive in levels of impact, racial and ethnic diversity, different settings and gender. Girls. We saw boys and now it is also available in spanish. So we have everything we can do to bring as much of this as we can. Terrificare doing a job. Any thing anyone wants to add before q a . Can i just say about the ish breaking news. I think what is important about color andmmunities of hispanic and latino kids are actually diagnosed later of any of our kids. So, that is such great news. Not only that but just really keeping it real on sesame street. You know, we, and i dont know of i speak for my africanamerican community, but we tend to be scared of anything brain. Ith the diagnosing the stigma in our community can be very deep so a cousin that we are often scared to diagnose our kids and a cousin that the diagnosis is later for intervention to come, so i feel this will help get more kids diagnosed and help the parents process it as well. So with that, i believe we have a couple of questions. Can we take a couple restaurants . Anybody want to ask a question . We have a microphone for you. Hello. My name is sarah luger meant. Person atmunications the University Center on disability switches a bunch of Disciplinary Research centers all over the United States in terms of development develop an development disabilities. I wanted to ask, would julia ever have the opportunity to meet julia . I would personally really love to see julie of the muppet interact with julia who is such an important figure in our community. I just, i dont know, i would love to see julia interact with autistic adults. It is just so meaningful to me. O see someone like julia what are any chances of that, maybe . What is exciting is that julia, by coincidence the name over time. Be julia it has been part of our process and see beginning. Keep in mind what we did was we had 14 organizations participate every step of the way. Was actually so helpful in summary points from not only the way the whole initiative and its messages were, but also she went over designer julia, descriptive julia and so many ways. As we go forward you will see new things happening and that is a possibility. [laughter. Hello. I am lives with the association on disability. My question is going specifically around on sesame street, i know that in the late 80s or early 90s, you talked downseople syndrome. Because i had a friend on the show with downs syndrome. And my question is, do you think sesame street will ever talk cput other disabilities like or other kinds of issues . I can answer that. I can answer that. I think you effort we have a history of representing anderent abilities disabilities. D we have actually shown a diversity and different challenges. Everything as you mentioned from cognitive challenges as well as we have had Cerebral Palsy and lsers toarcite and invisible andislees. Ase or e sty of sesame ofand including the model of dfent disabilities. It is very exciting. Tnke veneor weston over here. Ello. I am very grateful for the to thaouaing awareness about africanamericansatos th is the population i serve. Get qsts w w this. Dimportanto sseminate information rhtwa the ture f reah future thiss sensitivitan the School System and bngbl measure that. Wh our ilens havingheir peers be understanding. Ats t m hey get older and more empowered. May be liable tacklefirst qu. Particullyheto a t we did research on how to delir cte a wkn inonxtfcceptable Digital Content goes with it and is very useful. So everything at samth wdeulal y okha of rng f un pki uputtons. We also have it available as an nnload aga that is ses appavlae kdl so on i ininer of looking th, i how y degn t rources wh everyone here in mind. Th famil ashose wnt wt th i am going to turn it overo my colleagues on the research becatoo, but i ulloo arirs. We he lo of julia is onan have auc mee ofcctae. D o ok at what en now and particularly om child perspectivehich we are not abltoetnl when it is online. Which if i work aseme re, ic ithey are going to turn y microphone off i paper bookt some cards and which are incredib popular availableand the proceeds could go organizations yochse and may be a little bit of it could go tourer research. You know, i think i to say again, even with just looking atheebte acceptance changed. Red, most ofur campaigns increasing awareness. They might inc not increase acceptance, right . Ers mein very special ousemetrt. In off course. Yokn, erisomhi ve uqu and i woulda really go b. Go big or go home, right . [laughter]see you have not t is outt all. His just came ra julia, jeanette. Thank you souc dranon thanone my name isom i am with Autism Speaks, a volunteer for Autism Speaks and brerough an Organization Called pathfinders st going aro explag side of the story and my thition to yo is, do you ju thepanelist kw u veoved isifou met one persoth ti yth autism, but do you think ppl o are more impressionable, like little k w wch me street, do you think if like veon as kehi is any concern ors at meing we a n wry ou rt a goodeson jua ar of this set has gone into hright dig if we even ard it here, that it is oindaow uniquausm of diversity, the focus isha we are not saying this ishe e andyrytrg phng tt sci ltlgi r ti i particular to her. Feel at a adults i in ainthchlee of a single story the onould be0 julias which i would bee th but [laughter] otherho, project ou bdog awe. Right. Think there wl be a sesame street affect where peleil srtesti me reestaonof whatutm oklike in their communie anth rll inspired. Yes. Winsreeople to goiring and it ouwhat autism is incommunities relympt. We are toward the end ofuri wanl ofou f fa fl rc men fothe y in 1969. He was the very first guy to walk out and im goon and welcome to sesame street. Full circle menfome he pse a hat there is hisa advocating for grandson, rj, whohi ally lovely. It i dutiful. I cannot think a better way t take off autm awarenesssesa see. W, i am going tohr a tt veoorou to enjoy. Greateron. [applause]. Sure, weip] and n py meor can i play with you guys . B. Anlle ies. Yeah. We all have our ownci atakus we are ar and wcaalshe ke be differentan all we can albe we can all beto bui aittle bett but cllla tetr wcaalberiends acsser thing we have in all we can all be friends fls ltlbeer when we alloghe p tetr th b ll clip] gain. Torn ustaken withase julia outback. Was holly great choice for modera[applause] unbelievable p. We have one more surpri reprenti nwe t highest rankingapopatns committm hoork s en die osesame street sma yrs. Andl friend sro thank you. I am just going to say a Ranking Member inppropriations i have been particularl, the committee onnde veot to increase t to the year out the numbers for ausmousts keeps increasingndncasg and awareness and ecati olistess s importan effort. So i am sorry iisd ttfilm, but m a great supporter and mock e ti walk every year and what kd aeal eye for all of us is the number keepcrsi a iree do not know why. Thank you need up. Lch everyon anunr f nd, e na fimae on the nomination ofud frid. Moatha eugvos to filibusteromination in republicans are mns to hold procedural votes to change thnuerf voteseqreto confirmme Court Justice from 60 votes to a simple marity. You can seeheot fm the afaylin cspan2 sunday night n blue on blue, a internal cop. I spent 41 years in the nypd. I s as of courage, bravery, teit buthe aaythat sll nuerfke y at nig. Mayas pcit mmander, tweyid n tst and the r firsidotrustim her either. Wh t internal i brought the anngfferon brd and weou a regular basis like, command are you a little concerned about . Whinoucoankeeps yo . Nounce wch afterwords sunday night time on bk. Announcer