From a kid to @SesameWorkshop

 Dear Sesame Street,

I am a 12 year old girl. I'm not autistic, but there are many people who are autistic in my family. When I came to America as a little kid I didn't speak any English. But I watched your show, and I learned a lot. I love Sesame Street and it helped me to be ready for school.  I don't watch it anymore because I'm too old and it's boring to me now.  But my brothers and sisters still love Sesame Street, especially the younger ones.

They are autistic, and they don't like a lot of shows sometimes. They like to watch the same shows a lot over and over and don't always like to watch new stuff.  But your show is different and they like it. Sometimes when it comes on they jump up and down and start flapping their hands.

I used to think Autism Speaks was good, but then my brothers and I saw their terrible videos on YouTube. It made my brother cry so hard.  It isn't cool that Autism Speaks thinks autistic people are a problem. My brother and sister are not a problem. They sometimes get on my nerves, but not because they're autistic. It's because little kids can be annoying.

I don't care about them being autistic because I love them. That's just how they are. I don't think it's weird to be autistic, but a lot of people do think it's weird because they don't know a lot about autism. And what they do know is bad.

Kids and grown ups are always like, "Oh, I'm so sorry they have autism. I bet that's really hard."  They think it's something bad. If this is how they think now, it will be even worse when they start listening to what Autism Speaks says.  Please find somebody else to work with about autism stuff.  I don't want even more kids thinking something is wrong with my brother and sister. They're autistic. Not terrorists.