How many disabled characters did you see in cartoons when you were a kid, or the last time you watched TV with a child in your life?
The reality is not many shows have disabled characters. According to the Geena Davis Institute, in 2023, representation of disabled characters in children’s programming was down from 2022. There were no disabled leads in popular children’s programming, and across new programming, only 0.8% of leads were disabled in 2023.
But this month, PBS Kids released a new show that stood out for being different from the trends. Carl the Collector is PBS Kids' new show about a warm-hearted autistic raccoon and his neurodivergent friends' adventures collecting.
Recently, WBFO’s Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins interviewed local kid collectors and their parents about the show and what it means to them.
You can watch Carl the Collector anytime at pbskids.org, on YouTube, or on WNED PBS on your TV. There will also be a Carl the Collector Marathon on WNED PBS from 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, November 29th.
PLAIN LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION: This week on the Disabilities Beat, Emyle Watkins discusses the lack of disabled characters in children's TV shows, citing a Geena Davis Institute report showing only 0.8% of leads in new children's programming were disabled in 2023. She highlights PBS Kids' new series "Carl the Collector," which features an autistic raccoon, marking the first central character with autism in PBS Kids' programming. The show also employs neurodivergent writers and actors. Eight-year-old Lawson and his mother, Lauren, share their positive experiences with the show, appreciating its representation and affirming portrayal of neurodivergent characters. The show can be watched on PBS Kids' platforms, and a marathon is scheduled for November 29th.
TRANSCRIPT:
This is a rush transcript provided by a contractor and may be updated over time to be more accurate.
Emyle Watkins: Hi, I am Emyle Watkins, and this is the WBFO Disabilities Beat. This week, I want to ask you, the listener, how many disabled characters did you see in cartoons when you were a kid, or the last time you watched TV with a child in your life? The reality is, not many shows have disabled characters. According to the Geena Davis Institute, in 2023, representation of disabled characters in children's programming was actually down from 2022. There were no disabled leads in popular children's programming, and across new programming, only 0.8% of leads were disabled in 2023. But this month, PBS Kids released a new show that stood out for being different from the trends. Here's Beth Fronckowiak, the Director of Learning and Engagement at Buffalo Toronto Public Media, which operates both WBFO and WNED PBS.
Beth Fronckowiak: So Carl the Collector is the brand new PBS Kids series that features a warm-hearted raccoon who is on the autism spectrum. And it's actually PBS Kids' first series with the central character on the autism spectrum. And the target age group for that is kids four to eight. And Carl just has a whole lot of fun with all of his friends who also have different degrees of disabilities.
Emyle Watkins: And Carl the Collector doesn't just feature neurodivergent characters.
Beth Fronckowiak: They have writers who are neurodivergent also, the little boy who voices Carl the Collector is on the autism spectrum, so it's just a really special production overall.
Emyle Watkins: Earlier this month, WNED PBS held a local premiere of the show and invited kids from around the area to showcase their collections. I sat down with a few of the collectors to get their thoughts. One of them is 8-year-old Lawson who chatted with me while flipping through his Pokemon collection.
Emyle Watkins: You saw Carl the Collector as one of the first kids in Western New York to see it. What'd you think of that show?
Lawson: I thought it was very, very, very funny.
Emyle Watkins: What was funny about it?
Lawson: When they put all the toys on the ceiling, and then they immediately all came toppling down on their heads. And then when they put all the toys under the bed, and then they sat on the bed and then all the toys went in the pile and were next to the bed.
Emyle Watkins: Oh, wow. So collecting can be kind of messy and silly sometimes.
Lawson: Yeah. Which before I had this binder, Pokemons were taking over the back room. There was Pokemon cards everywhere you look, stacks of them all on the walls.
Emyle Watkins: Do you feel like you can relate to Carl and his friends?
Lawson: Yes.
Emyle Watkins: What's relatable about them?
Lawson: I have ADHD and autism, and they have ADHD and autism.
Emyle Watkins: Is that the first time you've seen someone with ADHD and autism in a TV show like that?
Lawson: Yes.
Emyle Watkins: And Lawson's parent, Lauren, also said the scenarios in the show were meaningful to her.
Lauren: We loved it. We were very excited. I think a lot of times, especially when I was younger, maybe characters were coded as neurodivergent, and it was normally played off as a laugh or it was something to kind of tease or joke about. And so as a neurodiverse family, it was wonderful to see that Carl and his friends were not only just coded as neurodivergent, but it was outspoken that they were neurodivergent. And I really especially loved... There was a scene where Carl lost some of his bouncy balls. Do you remember that part?
Lawson: Yeah.
Lauren: Yeah. And all of his friends, nobody belittled him for losing them. Nobody said it was not a big deal, "It's just a bouncy ball, we can find it again." Instead, they said something along the lines of, "If it's important to you, it's important to me. Let's find these bouncy balls." And that's just such a great way to talk to someone who has a collection or an interest, or is neurodivergent, by affirming their interest and their collection and making it just as important to us as it is to the collector.
Emyle Watkins: If you want to check out Carl the Collector, you can watch anytime at PBSKids.org, on YouTube, or on WNED PBS from your TV. There will also be a Carl the Collector marathon on WNED PBS from 6:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. this Friday, November 29th. We also have more interviews with our local kid collectors on YouTube and Instagram.
Emyle Watkins: You can listen to the Disabilities Beat segment on demand, view a transcript in plain language description for every episode on our website at WBFO.org. I'm Emyle Watkins, thanks for listening.
