Building on Mister Rogers' Legacy on Inclusion with Jay Manuel and Kristin DiQuollo

Voice actor JAY MANUEL and Co-Executive Producer KRISTIN DiQULLO introduce Jeff Mouse on the PBS Kids series, Donkey Hodie. 

An intrepid explorer and avid nature lover, Jeff Mouse was born with congenital muscular dystrophy, which limits his physical abilities, but not his can-do attitude! He was created in honor of Jeff Erlanger, a young guest who appeared in an unforgettable episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and sang a moving duet of Fred’s song, “It’s You I Like,” with the famous show host. 

To portray Jeff Mouse authentically, Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy Pictures engaged Disability Belongs, the national disability-led nonprofit that works to empower people with disabilities to have a better future, to advise on the development of the character and Permobil, a global leader in power and manual wheelchair solutions, to help create Jeff’s chair. 

 With the introduction of this endearing new character, Donkey Hodie is helping to further Fred Rogers’ legacy for today’s preschoolers of inclusion and kindness.

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JAY MANUEL is a music producer and content creator based in Georgia. Despite facing challenges such as being hard of hearing and living with a rare brittle bone condition known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type 3, as well as Autism, Jay has dedicated his career to breaking barriers and representing young professionals with disabilities in the music industry.

As a full-time content creator, Jay produces engaging content that showcases his unique perspective and personality. He has collaborated with top companies like Coca-Cola and Snapchat and has produced songs for both independent and label artists such as Yung Bleu, Fred the Godson, Boldy James, DJ Luke Nasty, and many others. Jay is a member of the Atlanta Chapter of the Recording Academy and mentors up-and-coming music producers while continuing to create content that positively impacts his community.

As Co-Executive Producer of Donkey Hodie, KRISTIN DiQUOLLO provides leadership and creative vision to Fred Rogers Productions' and Spiffy Pictures' puppet series for preschoolers. which is inspired by characters from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  Prior to joining the company, she led production of broadcast and digital content for the PBS Kids series, Cyberchase as executive producer and story editor of WNET New York, helping to spearhead its expansion on digital platforms, including strategies for accessibility, as well as its evolution as a series focusing on math and environmental themes for 6-8-year-olds A nominee for multiple Daytime Emmy awards, and a winner for Cousin Hodie Playdate, Kristin was honored with Parents' Choice and Kidscreen awards and oversaw Cyberchase's national family and educator engagement efforts, broadening the series' reach to new public media audiences.

Experienced in using research to inform development and design of content, she has worked on several projects that investigate learning outcomes from educational media. Kristin previously worked in educational outreach and marketing for the IMAX Corporation and as an associate editor and projects coordinator for Merlyn's Pen, a magazine and website showcasing the works of teenage writers.  She received ther B.A. in Englihs from Providence College.

HOSTS

Steven McCoy

Angie Castro

WEBSITES

PBS Kids

Disability Belongs

This episode co-produced by Steven McCoy with Alison Grand and Christina Gorski. Our producer is Akira Nakano.

www.innovatinginclusion.org

Transcript

Opening Theme Music Starts

ANGIE CASTRO

Welcome to Innovating Inclusion, Everyone, where it is certainly a beautiful day in the neighborhood. 

STEVEN McCOY

Today we're headed to someplace else as we are privileged to explore the legacy of inclusion left behind by Children's Television pioneer, Fred Rogers, with the hit puppetry series, Donkey Hodie from Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy Pictures 

KATIE CORBETT

Now in its third season, this series is inspired by the funny, quirky side of Mister. Rogers' Neighborhood

ANGIE

Donkey Hodie and his friends welcome a new character. Jeff Mouse, named in honor of Jeff Erlinger, a young guest who appeared in an unforgettable episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Jeff Mouse was born with congenital muscular dystrophy and like Jeff Erlinger, Jeff Mouse uses a power wheelchair to get around.

STEVEN

To portray Jeff Mouse authentically, Fred Rogers Productions engaged Disability Belongs to advise on the development of the character and Permobile to help create Jeff's wheelchair.

KATIE

Angie and Steven get to speak to Jay Manuel, the actor portraying Jeff Mouse, and Co-Executive Producer Kristin Diquollo about their groundbreaking show.

ANGIE

Enjoy today's episode. 

Music Fades.

ANGIE

Welcome, Jay and Kristen, it's such an honor to have you here.

KRISTIN

Hi everyone, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me. 

JAY

I am so happy to be here. If you can't see me, I am smiling right now and I'm just super excited. 

ANGIE

Let's start the questions with what does inclusivity mean to the both of you?

KRISTIN

For me, inclusivity means bringing in different voices at every stage of what we do to tell a story in children's media. We are always bringing different points of view into what we do. Our latest example of this is the introduction of Jeff Mouse, which we will talk a lot more about today. Excited to be chatting with Jay here today, too. But I would say on a broad level, that's it. It's having everybody having a voice at every level.

JAY 

And what inclusivity means to me in just a roundabout way, I feel like everybody has a story and that those stories should be shared no matter who you are, and including those voices in the conversations, whatever that looks like. That's a short version of what I think inclusivity is and what it means to me.

STEVEN

Oh, that's so great. And Jay, do you want to share with everyone why, personally about your mission and how important it is to you and why? 

JAY

For me growing up, I didn't see anyone that really looked like me, especially in the music industry until I met my late friend and mentor. His name was Simon, unfortunately, he passed away in 2022. However, he had the same physical disability as me, which is Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type III, a brittle bone disorder. So that was the first time I had seen anyone that was doing the same thing as me. And especially since his passing, it has inspired me more to continue on that legacy of just being the person that I needed as a child and being the person for other people and hopefully inspiring others to do what they want, even if it's not in the music industry and just wanting to achieve their dreams, especially when it comes to disability and things like that. 

STEVEN

Kristin, before we get to you, I just wanna ask you, Jay, if you could elaborate a little on your disability.

I know that it also causes hearing loss as well, which is something like my myself. I have Usher syndrome. So I would love to know more about your disability. 

JAY

Of course. So I, as I have mentioned, I have Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type III. I also am Autistic and I'm hard of hearing. So with the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type III, it is a brittle bone disorder, so I'm unable to walk. I'm short stature and it also in turn has caused mild hearing loss, so I do utilize hearing aids as well. And then I am autistic too. Yeah, I always say I have a grab bag of disabilities because I'm just impacted in every single corner with the disability, I feel, like spectrum. in some ways.

Yeah. So with OI, especially, I utilize a power wheelchair full time to get around due to the fact that I'm not able to walk and stand. And I got my first power chair at like five years old and manual Chair when I was in preschool. So I've been rolling for a long time around here. So yeah, that's just a brief description about all the disabilities that I have.

STEVEN

Thank you from us for sharing that with our listeners. And Kristin, are you able to elaborate on your mission and why is your mission so important to you?

KRISTIN

I have always, for my entire career, since I got out of college, found a way to work in educational media in different forms. One of my first jobs out of college was working for what had been an independent classroom magazine that published writing by teenagers and bringing voices of teenagers to other teenagers, other students across the country, and that was something I loved. I used to review submissions. I got to provide editorial feedback to teenagers who were submitting writing themselves, and it really instilled in me the power of being able to just show somebody that their voice not only was heard, but acknowledged and shared because we would engage directly with the kids who sent writings.

So that was one of my very first jobs. From there, a few years later, I got the job working at WNET in New York, which is the public television station in New York that produces Cyber Chase, and that's a math series for kids. It's been on PBS Kids since the early 2000’s, and by the time I left I was Executive Producer.

But in terms of personal mission. This idea of bringing forward stories, of creating meaningful experiences. I was a full TV kid, like, you know, my friends were TV characters when I was younger. No doubt. Right? So the idea that I have the chance to help create those experiences for other kids and other families is really powerful. And it's something that very much drives me. And our mission at Fred Rogers is to bring these experiences of value to as many kids and families as possible.

STEVEN

And now you're (an) Emmy Award winner. 

KRISTIN

Yes! A few weeks ago won an Emmy for Donkey Hodie for our Cousin Hodie Playdate Game, which is a game that we produced for neurodivergent children first. And it has a lot of customizable settings and experiences.

It's a game to build empathy skills that help young kids start to recognize emotions and name feelings. Yeah, we're very excited and it's just one example of the work we're doing. 

STEVEN

Congratulations.

KRISTIN

Thank you. Thank you. 

STEVEN

Absolutely.

ANGIE

Kristin, congratulations on your Emmy. Can you talk about the strategies for accessibility that you brought to the table?

KRISTIN

Yeah, happy to. One of the last projects that I worked on before I left WNET was producing a game called Cyberchase Railway Hero, which is what we called at the time, a born-accessible game. We partnered with Bridge Multimedia. Bridge, if you don't know, they're an incredible organization that promotes accessibility and inclusion at all levels of media production and in other ways.

They helped us figure out how to design a game for children with a range of disabilities, physical and cognitive. And one of the cornerstones of this game is that it was completely playable, or it still is. It's still out there, by children who were blind or low vision. So the game has full audio description and is playable with keyboard controls.

At the time, we were certainly the first PBS Kids series trying to bring that forward and out into the world. May have even been the first major children's media brand to be doing that. I can't say for sure. But now at Fred Rogers, we… and I need to credit also our team here, especially our interactive team, our Director of Interactive and our Head of Production, our Chief Creative Officer, Ellen, who really help drive what's next and what we can do. And the Cousin Hodie Playdate Game is the latest example of that. 

But on all of our platforms, whether it's interactive, or TV, or other, or out in our communities, we are always striving to make our experiences as innovative and as accessible as possible, because our mission is to reach as many kids as possible, and to remove as many barriers as possible to engage with our stories and have fun with our characters.

ANGIE

Thank you so much for sharing, Kristin. I definitely can say that I value accessibility. 

STEVEN

Yeah. I think it's always just so thoughtful. People don't realize how important accessibility is. Let's talk a little more specifically about the Emmy Award winning Donkey Hodie. Jay, you're voicing a new character, Jeff Mouse.

Can you tell us about this character and what was that feeling like just being able to introduce the audience to Jeff Mouse. And how does it reflect on Fred Roger's philosophy and how did that help further his legacy? 

JAY

So Jeff Mouse is honestly, he's just full of adventure, right? And I was so excited when I was introduced to the character myself, 'cause I was like, man, this feels like me. If I was a character. This is who I would be. And he's my favorite color, which is blue. So I'm like, man, this is great. It's meant to be right here. Most importantly, I love the fact that it's starting with children, right? And it's something that as a child, I would've loved to see that kind of representation included, especially in television.

And the way that he's introduced, you know. He's talking about how he's able to do things, and maybe they look a little differently, but he still can be included on the team. He still can be a part of things, and if he needs help, he'll voice that. And I think it's great, especially when we're talking about youth.

We're saying it in a way and using language that most children will be understandable. We're not having high level conversation about disability and accessibility and all those things. It's in a way that as a child, for most children that will watch this, will be understandable and, and at their age range and things like that, which I think is incredible. 

And also, Jeff now is going to be able to help allow conversations to happen in the home between parents when it comes to talking about whether their child has a disability or not. If their child is able-bodied having these conversations about what your friends may look like or if that child has a disability. What you may go through and what is possible for you by putting it with your now new favorite character, Jeff, what he's able to do, and he's able to have fun.

It may look a little different, but he's still able to be included with his friends and be a part of something. So I think that's really what furthers the message and philosophy of Fred Rogers and, inclusivity because. Even though someone may have to do something differently doesn't mean that they shouldn't be a part of something bigger or a part of a team. And that may look different in adapting it in a way that is still able to include people, which I think is something that's just really beautifully done with the character. Going back to Jeff of what's being done and starting at youth because when you start at youth, those ideologies will in turn carry them on into adulthood and just create a better world of people. So I'm super excited to be a part of something bigger, and I really think that Jeff is a part of what's going to just make things better, especially when we're talking about inclusion and what disability and how it could be incorporated into media and forms of media like this show Donkey Hodie.

Voicing this character heals my inner child because when I was growing up, I never saw any characters that looked like me. Just as of recently, I'd started to see more characters with disabilities being featured in mainstream media, and so it's definitely just something that is so important to me, especially as an adult, and you don't even realize sometimes how important something is to you until you really get to be a part of something like this, like this really does matter to me. It's just very special. 

When I got the role, I, first of all, I thought it was a dream. I was like, are you sure you picked the right guy? Like y'all didn't send the wrong email to somebody. I'm super grateful to be a part of this. I mean, this is my first role that I've had, so that was like nerve wracking. However, it is one of the most satisfying and honorable roles to have. My little Jay is very happy, even though I'm still little technically, but I'm super grateful. 

STEVEN

Oh, stop it. 

JAY

I'm super grateful for what, uh, younger, younger me would be, would be excited for me. 

KRISTIN

Gotta say, all of our characters on Donkey Hodie are childlike. They're not children necessarily. Yes, but they're childlike. And one of the things that stood out about Jay's audition when we were listening was that the childlike enthusiasm that came through just immediately connected with us. And I said, that's Jeff, because Jeff is a character when we first meet him… He's excited to collect photos of mugs for his photo, for his scrapbook. He's just got this hyper specific thing that he's like geeking out on, and it's so great and he's so excited about it and he's excited to bring Donkey and Panda along on the ride. So that's what connected with us about Jay's audition. And I can say that we definitely picked the right guy.

STEVEN

He's amazing. And you know, all this talk about authentic casting, because you most certainly could have cast an actor without a disability… How important do you think it was to be able to have someone that had some of the experiences and someone with a disability?

KRISTIN

For us, it was a given that that's what we wanted to do, that we wanted to have authentic representation behind the role. Yeah, and so casting. A wheelchair user was top of mind for us, and so we did put out that specific casting call. We worked with a casting director who has experience specifically casting disabled roles or disabled talent, and we put out a wide net for wheelchair users or anybody, obviously anybody could audition.

It just so happened that Jay is a wheelchair user and that was exciting once we, once we heard his audition, because Jeff Mouse does use a power wheelchair, so I think it just adds that layer of authenticity and representation to the experience, which we also had in developing the character because we worked with an organization, Disability Belongs, to develop Jeff Mouse and our lead advisor at Disability Belongs, Sam Krauss, uses a power wheelchair. He has muscular dystrophy just like Jeff Mouse does. And so making sure that there was an authentic development process and representation behind this character from start to finish was just a given.

ANGIE

Thank you for sharing that, Kristin. With that being said, let's listen to a clip of Jay Manuel as Jeff Mouse in Donkey Hodie. 

DONKEY HODIE CLIP - “Exploring”

DONKEY HODIE

Maybe we should start our search in the forest. 

PURPLE PANDA

Oh yeah. There's a lot of moths in those trees.

JEFF MOUSE: Hey, good thinking. Let's go. 

DONKEY laughs

PANDA

Uh, do you think that you'll make it through the forest in your wheelchair, Jeff?

JEFF 

Huh? 

PANDA

Oh, it's just that it's not a very smooth path. There's a lot of bumpy vines and rocks and things like that. 

JEFF 

Hmm. Oh, well, you know, there are some things that I can't do, but there are a lot of things that I can do. I'll ask for your help if I need it. 

DONKEY

Awesome. Let's go explore!

KRISTIN

Donkey Hodie is a show that celebrates friendship and joy. And what makes each of us unique and special, and that is something very much ingrained in the legacy that we're building… legacy of Fred Rogers and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood that we build on with Donkey Hodie. We just are excited to continue telling stories that celebrate what makes each of us special.

Jeff, we haven't mentioned is named in honor of Jeff Gerlinger, who is a young guest on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood who used a power wheelchair. It's an honor to be able to continue building on his legacy and to bring these characters forward and to continue telling stories that speak to and excite and bring joy to all kids.

STEVEN

I am definitely one of those kids that watched Mister Rogers growing up, and I always just remember kindness and just embrace diversity. That played a huge role in my life. So I'm just glad that his legacy gets extended… led throughout the years and throughout decades… and it really introducing even just with the character Jeff Mouse, reintroducing people to this amazing legacy. I’m even proud to be interviewing you guys because we are on the brink of something changing to even just to change the face of disability. It just really breaks the barrier and allows people to just be the human form, and that way there's no judgment. That's a powerful thing that is being played, especially in the climate. So it's definitely, this is more needed more now than anything. So just had to make that comment, 

ANGIE

In what ways do you hope getting the perspective of people with lived experiences of disability will contribute to representation in television shows moving forward?

KRISTIN

As a producer, I hope that the work that we're doing inspires other producers. When we decided to introduce Jeff Mouse, it was over two years ago. There's a conference called the Kids Screen Conference. It's a huge conference for makers of children's media and producers and distributors of all levels, and.

Lauren Applebaum from Disability Belongs, then called Respectability, was moderating a panel about inclusion and representation on screen and children's television. And our Chief Creative Officer here, Ellen Doherty, was on the panel to speak about characters from our other shows, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Alma’s Way that have disabilities.

And I was sitting in the audience thinking about a character. Who, how we could really take advantage of all the opportunities of our live action puppetry series to bring into our neighborhood a character who has a physical disability. And that's sort of where the spark started. And I think if anybody else who works in this industry at any level can see Jeff, can hear our story, can see what so many producers are doing, and so many shows are doing to do this work, and can only help inspire more of that like intentional, thoughtful work. I think that's very exciting. I hope that that can be the case. 

JAY

From my perspective, what I thought was an amazing thing for me, especially with having a physical disability, is how intentional everybody that I've worked with, when it even came to like transportation, you know, there were things that had to be thought of to even get me over to record all of the voicing and everything and all the accommodations that surrounded that.

And I think sometimes that for maybe some companies, that can be seem like it would be a lot to do. And I hope that this inspires other companies that are looking to cast people that have these lived experiences, to do it more and being willing to accommodate needs that may be needed by that individual that has a disability. Because that was what was just so special to me. No one made me feel like I was a burden or anything. Everyone was wanting to accommodate whatever needs that I needed, even beyond my physical disability, 'cause as I mentioned, I also am autistic, so that affects me as well. So it was just really great as the voice actor to be accommodated and made to feel a part of something and not made to feel different. Like I'm different than any other voice actor that they would have voicing a role, so I just hope this inspires other companies to do this more in any form of media. And then I hope this also inspires other voice actors you have with experiences with having disabilities to just go after these kinds of things, uh, because it is possible.

ANGIE

Thank you so much for sharing. 

STEVEN

Yeah, thank you so much for sharing that. I mean, it really is important and you guys are most certainly challenging the entertainment industry, the music industry as well, Jay. I mean, I think it's so beautiful that we're seeing different images and different representation. That's why it was so important, even with you consulting with Disability Belongs on playing Jeff Moiuse. And I've also with a part of Disability Belongs as well, and they were a grantee for the Fox Family Foundation, our sponsoring organization. So can you talk about the importance of getting the feedback and the input from someone with a disability so that we're represented properly? How would that process for you as a consultant? 

KRISTIN

No one from Disability Belongs is on call right now. They were our advisors for the development of Jeff. When we decided to introduce the character, we had the idea to introduce a character who uses a power wheelchair on Donkey Hodie.  And the immediate first step was, we're reaching out to Disability Belongs to consult on this because they're great. We knew they're great. They have deep experience in this, and we knew they would find the right advisor for us. And by right, I just mean like one who was so collaborative and wonderful to work with. And he was. So working with their entertainment team, Vanni Lee and Sam Krauss and others, we talked through what Jeff's disability could be, because we knew he wanted to use a power wheelchair, and Sam was our advisor who has muscular dystrophy.

We thought that Jeff having a diagnosis of muscular dystrophy would work well for the character and how we wanted to present the character visually, but also because of the realities of puppetry and Jeff's movement as a puppet. And the fact that muscular dystrophy presents in different ways for different people gave us some latitude to perform Jeff. 

In terms of working with Disability Belongs, they were essential and smooth and collaborative and wonderful every step of the way. Once we landed on Jeff's muscular dystrophy diagnosis and what the realities and profile that were, Disability Belongs helped us come up with a movement profile for Jeff with things like, he can't lift something more than five pounds. You wouldn't be able to put two hands above his head. What the mechanics of just his movement through Someplace Else in the world were what kind of chair he would use. They connected us with Permobil to help develop Jeff's chair visit, like the actual prop of the chair, which is based on a demo chair that Permobil brought to our art shop in Chicago. And our team did a wonderful job, but their input came through every level of the process, not just who this character is and how this character moves. They reviewed many drafts in our scripts, the reviewed prop and set builds of our world, like the rainbow tree, where the episode culminates. They looked at the elevator build… what that ramp looks like.

They took one look at the ramp at the rainbow tree, said Jeff cannot go up that with his chair, which is actually what led to us putting an elevator into the tree, which is wonderful if it's perfectly into our whimsical world. It was one of our solutions for that. They also worked with our onset puppeteer, Stephanie, to figure out like what would it look like when Jeff's chair moves over bumpy ground? What would it look like, you know, as Jeff is rolling on a smooth surface. So really figure out the nuances, how that performance is gonna come through physically.

Jay also met with Stephanie before we filmed Jay recorded reference dialogue for us, which was his point of view on the character, and met with Stephanie, our puppeteer, to help Stephanie inform the performance.

And it was really from start to finish. And just in terms of Sam and the importance of that authenticity and that representation, there are things in the episode that specifically came from Sam's lived experience, not the least of which is Jeff's grabber, which I know that Jay can relate to as well. 

JAY

Yes.

KRISTIN

But the pouch on the side of his chair also, there's a moment in, you know, our core message for the show. I should back up. In this episode, Jeff Donkey and Panda are on a mission to find the Kiki Hider moth. It's the last moth that Jeff needs to photograph his scrapbook, and it's been elusive. So they're looking for this, and we design every episode around a core message. And the core message in this episode is we can do the same thing different ways, which you heard Jay talk about a little bit. And Sam helped us think of all different kinds of examples of how Jeff might do things, different ways than Donkey and Panda. The grabber might be one way that he would reach something far, whereas Panda and Donkey could use their arms.

But there was also a suggestion he had for using the horn on Jeff's chair. To get someone's attention because, maybe Donkey and Panda, their voices aren't working. And so then Jeff would beep the horn on his chair and that is actually in the show where we see them come across a penguins who are blocking their path, and Jeff beeps his horn to get the penguins to kindly move outta the way.

Those are just examples of what the feedback from Disability Belongs really meant to us, and how organic so much of what they brought to this process, how organic it was to the story and the character. 

STEVEN

Wow, that's so powerful. And just really a thank you for caring. 

KRISTIN

Thank you. That's very lovely to hear. We're just introducing this character. So we've been getting a lot of feedback like yours and reactions like yours, but I think that once this character is out in the world starting Monday, April 14th, it'll be amazing to see what the reaction continues to be. And our hope is that Jeff resonates with all kids and families.

Music plays.

STEVEN

Now off the rapid fire question. Woo!

ANGIE

So the first question, if you could have one superpower to help you with your advocacy work, what would it be? 

Music fades.

KRISTIN

I'm gonna throw that one to Jay. 

JAY

Okay, look, I would definitely fly that way I can, no wait. I flying… no heights. Teleport. Okay. Yeah, maybe let, let's go back. I wanna teleport, 'cause I'm, I'm not a heights person, so I would wanna teleport that way I can go to as many places as possible and different places all over the world. So yeah, I would, I would teleport to, 

ANGIE

I'm with you there on that one for sure. Yeah. 

STEVEN

I think if we had need or even… I don't know where it just able to fly… I just wonder, do we still need our passport? 

JAY

Not sure. 

STEVEN

Yeah, exactly. But yeah. Our next rapid fire question would be what is it that you would like to see?

KRISTIN

I think…  can I take a long time with a rapid fire question? I'm kidding. I would most like to see us helping children and families learn that kindness and openness and appreciating and respecting differences at different points of view is the way to build community and to be neighborly. And that leading with those values of kindness and, and building and making connections is something that I would love to see.

JAY

Just to add on to that, something I always say is that kindness is free. You know, it doesn't cost you anything. And so I would just love to see more kindness and love be included in the world and it be very intentional, people being intentionally kind and loving towards people that may not be the same as them.

And so, yeah, that's what I'd love to see. 

Emotional music begins.

ANGIE

I agree with you. On that one, I honestly have never imagined myself talking to a cast member from a Fred Rogers production show and somebody who works for a production company. I really wanna thank you guys for keeping Fred Rogers legacy alive, and I will always fondly remember watching Mr. Rogers on TV as a child.

KRISTIN

You know, the introduction of Jeff Mouse on Donkey Hodie is the latest in a legacy that we've had. Going back to Mister Rogers, as you all noted, of promoting inclusion and representation, and we've been doing this in all of our shows, not just in Donkey Hodie. We have the character of Max on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood who is autistic. Max was introduced a few years ago. There's also a character Chrissy on Daniel's Tiger's Neighborhood who has leg braces and uses crutches. And she is also named in honor of a former character, Mr. Rogers guest on Mister Rogers named Chrissy Thompson.

And on our series Alma's Way, there's a character Eddie who has cerebral palsy and uses crutches. And so this work, both in terms of our storytelling on screen and our TV shows, and in our digital games, in our community events that we work with PBS stations around the country to bring to kids and families…

We are always looking for ways to promote accessibility, representation and like, uh, I think I said earlier, to really create experiences where children and families can see themselves represented in many different ways.

NARRATOR

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood spinoff Donkey Hodie is an Emmy-winning series for preschoolers produced by Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy pictures, which encourages preschoolers to embrace challenges and learn about inclusion. It is currently available on PBS kids and on streaming at PBSKids.org.

Innovating Inclusion is a production of the Fox Family Foundation whose mission is to break the link between poverty and disability. Our goal is to teach students to innovate with universal design and inclusivity in mind, where young entrepreneurs of all abilities create side-by-side. So as they become the next generation of leaders and hiring managers, any stigma is gone and the world is accessible to everyone.

Our theme song was written by Alex Kapp, with incidental music by Travis, a King, Kylie Cooper and Bruce McGinnis. Our hosts today were Steven McCoy and Angie Castro with Katie Corbett. This episode was co-produced by Steven McCoy with Alison Grand and Christina Gorski. Our Producer is Akira Nakano.

Please visit our website InnovatingInclusion.org.