Page 36 - Lauren Lolo Spencer Issue

time someone says to me, ‘Oh, René, I really couldn’t live your life. It must be so hard,’ I just want to show them what I do every day and be like, ‘I don’t know. It’s actually quite nice to be me,’” Schaar laughs. In order to ensure Elin depicts people with disabilities well, he interviewed other disabled people from within the com- munity. He shaped Elin to be the character on TV he always wanted to see when he grew up. And Schaar continues to involve the disability community in his work. When they told him the muppet’s size didn’t match up with the proportions of the wheelchair, the team of the Sesamstraße reworked the wheelchair to make it look more accurate. “To be fair, it’s also a mat- ter of functionality because the puppeteer has to sit between the wheels to direct Elin’s movements and expressions,” Schaar gives behind-the-scenes insight. Once the first episode was written, Schaar received the script and, again, re-connected with activists all over Germany to ask them whether the storyline was plausi- ble and authentic.
Diversity & Inclusion
Sesame Street has been widely praised for how effi- ciently it is preparing young children for school and
promoting diversity and inclusivity. “All Sesame Streets around the globe share that they are normalizing differ- ences. However, the Americans began a lot earlier to highlight people from varying marginalized communi- ties,” Schaar says. It’s not new that they talk about top- ics around LGBTQIA+, and immigration has always been at the core of the TV show with muppets in differ- ent colors and sizes. And with characters such as Elin, finally, they are ensuring children with disabilities will feel seen and represented as well. “Elin is an extraordi- nary muppet we’d love to move into other Sesame Streets as well,” Junk shares. And we agree! With 20 percent of the world’s population identifying as dis- abled, Elin is more important than ever. “We want chil- dren to not only have a good time watching the Sesam- straße, but we also want them to understand that the world is colorful and diverse and to feel empowered by every one of our episodes,” Junk ends.
sesameworkshop.org by Karina Ulrike Sturm
36 ABILITY