Emily Perl Kingsley is an American writer who joined the ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
'' team in 1970 and continued to write until her retirement in 2012.
Her son
Jason Kingsley was born with
Down syndrome in 1974.
Her experiences with Jason inspired her to include people with disabilities into the ''Sesame Street'' cast, including Tarah Schaeffer, an actress who uses a wheelchair, and even Jason himself. Jason's story was the topic of an hour-long
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
television special in 1977, titled "This Is My Son", and with co-author Mitchell Levitz, Jason wrote the book "
Count Us In: Growing Up with Down Syndrome".
In 1987, Kingsley wrote "
Welcome to Holland", a widely published and translated piece which compares the experience of someone finding out their child has a disability to having a trip to Italy rerouted to Holland. The same year a made-for-television movie she wrote ''Kids Like These'', premiered on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. The film, about a middle-aged couple who have a son with Down syndrome, won numerous awards.
Kingsley has written over 20 children's books and two ''Sesame Street'' home video releases (''Kids' Guide to Life: Learning to Share'' and ''Elmo Says Boo!''). She has had written for other companies as well, including two video games for
Disney Interactive
Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversees various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company.
History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings
In December 1994, Disney announced that it w ...
.
She has won 23
Daytime Emmys
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...
through her work with ''Sesame Street'', three EDIs and a Grand EDI from
Easter Seals, and an award from the National Theatre of the Deaf.
Credits
Filmography
Bibliography
Emily has won 22 Emmy Awards for her work as a writer of ''Sesame Street''.
In October 2008, Emily received a special award from the U.S. Government Department of Health and Human Services in recognition of her groundbreaking work including individuals with disabilities on ''Sesame Street'' for 38 years.
See also
*
"Welcome to Holland"
References
External links
Journey of Hearts(archived link, January 11, 2006)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsley, Emily Perl
Living people
American children's writers
Year of birth missing (living people)
American television writers
Daytime Emmy Award winners
American women children's writers
20th-century American women writers
American women television writers
21st-century American women