New 'Sesame Street' Muppet Ameera Uses a Wheelchair, Represents Children in Conflict and Crisis

A new "Sesame Street" muppet will be coming to the neighborhood to represent more than 240 million kids with disabilities and children who have been displaced by conflict and crisis across the world.

Ameera is an 8-year-old neon-green muppet who gets around using a wheelchair or crutches due to her injury to the spine. While she is not a refugee, the new character has people who have been displaced because of the war close to her heart, and she has lots of stories about her experiences, her friends, and her personal favorites.

According to Yahoo!, the character will be introduced in the "Sesame Street" broadcast exclusive to the Middle East and the North African regions for its fifth season. She will join the local cast featuring Basma and Jad, Elmo Grover, and Cookie Monster.

Shining the Light on Displaced Kids

Ameera is also a very curious muppet who loves basketball and science. She has a great sense of humor, a positive personality, with strong leadership skills.

Sherrie Westin of the Sesame Workshop in the U.S. said that Ameera's introduction would hopefully shed light on the plight of kids in places of conflict. She said that there is an urgent need to deliver a "creative and flexible approach" to explain and highlight the demographic most affected by such a crisis: the children.

While Ameera is a part of the cast in the region-specific broadcast, she will also be featured in all other markets via the short videos on the "Watch, Play, Learn" programs. This special series from "Sesame Street" focuses on health and safety, child protection, science, and math.

According to Scott Cameron via Fast Company, the production head of Sesame Workshop, the concept of a bright and bubbly new "Sesame Street" muppet was hatched more than two years ago. The character was designed with the help of advisors who ensured that Ameera's persona would capture the right representation.

Ameera was not made into a more human-like muppet, such as Ernie or Bert, so that she won't be boxed to just a specific culture. She's not going to have a particular hairstyle, clothes, and accessories so that she can be added to "Sesame Street" stories with more than one context.

Ameera Introduced in Social Media

Meanwhile, Ameera was also introduced on social media, where she may also be an inspiration to children who love STEM subjects or dream of pursuing a career path in sciences, technology, engineering, and math. Per Mashable, her English-language voice actor, Ashley Glicken, is a young woman with disabilities as well, so she could relate to the character in a more personal way. Her puppeteer, on the other hand, Leen Shark, is a young mother based in a region surrounded by centuries of conflicts in Jordan.

Ameera's introduction comes after "Sesame Street" also introduced a Korean-American muppet, Ji-Young, who loves skateboarding and rock music. The children's show also has Julia, a muppet with autism, and Karli, a muppet whose mother struggles with addiction to opioids.