#asd representation
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awetistic-things · 5 months ago
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this one scene set autistic people back thirty years
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Do You Know This (non-canon) Autistic Character?
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Propaganda:
America is explicitly stated to have trouble making and keeping friends due to poor social skills (not in those exact words, but that’s what it boils down to), and he has trouble with boundaries. He also has a strong sense of justice and has a very black and white way of thinking and perceiving the world. He’s incredibly blunt, and is shown in canon to have trouble understanding sarcasm and reading the atmosphere.
He’s genuinely compassionate and want to help others, but has low empathy (for the record, this means he can’t understand others’ feelings and emotions and has trouble putting himself in their shoes). He also makes a lot of arm movements, which could be stimming. America also mainly eats hamburgers and junk food, which could be a sensory thing. He has a canon hyperfixation on heroes. America also is loud/has volume control issues.
Anything else
Hetalia IS a problematic series and should be consumed critically. The dub is far more problematic than the sub/manga, but the sub/manga still has problematic elements.
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fumifooms · 1 year ago
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Laios Touden and autism; admiring the non-human
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Do you think people exaggerate when they scream about Laios being autistic? Do you feel like it’s weird that so many people including autistics are so set on Laios, the problematic (but incredible and kind) king TM, being the most autistic that has ever autisticed? Why do we cheer on autistic people wanting to be monsters?? Isn’t that weird?
Well, of course it depends on the way it’s done, it can be done quite offensively, but long story short Kui blew it out of the park. The thing is, autistic people really do like monsters and animals and robots. Nonhuman does not mean subhuman, it just means Other. Feeling a connection with them has been shown to be an extremely common autistic experience for that very reason.
Because some people don’t understand why we autistic Tumblr Laios stans cheer “autism! Autism!” whenever he talks about monsters and feeling alienated to humans so! Here’s a post about how yes even research papers are analyzing the special connection we form with animals. I’m not even joking but Laios Touden & the mass cries of relatability with autistic people he gets and all the love for him could be used as study material and evidence for future papers because the link is that strong. Oh also I think it’s notable that being autistic and undiagnosed vs diagnosed makes a huge difference. In my experience as someone who was undiagnosed up until 18, it’s even more alienating to not know that there’s a reason why you’re different, being gaslit that you’re ‘normal’ and you just need to try harder and get with the program, etc. Personally when getting diagnosed I went through the 5 stages of grief because the thought of having been fundamentally different all your life (a difference which you will never be able to change) and mistreated for it when you weren’t “wrong” all along makes you unload all the anger and sadness and loneliness and sheer trauma you’ve built up over time. Like it’s world shattering.
So! Back to seeing dogs as family. Also I implore you to value experiential evidence when it comes to autism and other neurodivergences because brains are complicated and neurotypicals not being able to understand us well even with scientific research is like, a whole thing even though we’re right there speaking about how we feel and being right every time because the topic is literally us and how we experience the world. 
Disclaimer for this whole post that, of course, no group is a monolith and everyone has different experiences or can diverge from the norm of the group, and that doesn’t diminish the validity of either side! Like, I know autistic people who have trauma with dogs and hate them. But, trends do happen, and in this case... Autism is very “My experiences with humans make me feel dehumanized in a bad and lonely way so instead I’ll dehumanize myself in a good and inspiring way”.
“I was treated like a failed human my entire life and you’re surprised that my response was to become a dog.” -Patricia Taxxon
It’s literally well recorded that autistic people relate to animals more than humans globally. With this post, besides spreading autistic Laios truthism and explaining why the portrayal hits so deep for so many,  I want to show in what way this is a very specific experience and not looking at his character through an autistic lense really misses a lot of why he’s everything that he is. (Tacking allegedly onto here for legal reasons, different interpretations are valid etc etc /gen). This honestly isn’t super long though.
To define an important term, anthropomorphism in the studies and in this post means to attribute human traits to the nonhuman, which not only includes anthro furry designs but also animals irl, inanimate objects, and animated media as opposed to live action, to humanize them and empathize with them.
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Paper: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2019.0027 
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“Dogs taught me how to hunt and socialize and work in groups”, Laios having internalized body language... So real so real. I, too, make a great dog impression. And I want to emphase the part that it helps greatly develop a sense of emotions and relationships! For Laios, he didn’t get along with kids his age, it was him, Falin and the dogs against the world. Since it’s a group of dogs too, it taught him group dynamics and social hierarchies (like with Falin being considered as being below the dogs in authority according to the dogs rip), and the importance of group coordination when hunting.
For me, I cannot like, concisely explain just how much animals were important to me developmentally. I also grew up with dogs, but like I vividly remember encounters with like hamsters as well just radically shaping my understanding of boundaries, the importance of giving something space and the way you interact with them and respect their side of it. Unlike humans they don’t really mask how they feel, it’s direct cause-effect reaction and data gathering. There are no words involved, so the focus on having a perfect phrasing and tone is gone, leaving just pure interactions. 
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There’s also no reason to mask how you feel either, and you don’t have to feel silly over wanting to form a connection and it showing, what, is the dog gonna laugh at you because you obviously want to make friends with it? Toshiro or Kabru might, but dogs and cats will just tell you to fuck off and leave it there worst case scenario. I often say that I think one reason Marcille is special to Laios and he feels comfortable around her is because she emotes INTENSELY, she gestures, she puts her whole body into it, her facial expressions are pretty exaggerated and her ears even emote too- like with a dog’s ears!
I think there’s def also things to be said about how he gravitated towards Izutsumi at first, all excited, was eager to sleep in the same bed as her, but in the Izutsumi sleep rating chart we see they really just casual and chill so it’s not a Laios talking to Shuro deep into the night situation just a “I like sleeping besides animals” situation and that is enough to hype him up. I love how he pet her in the extra about why Chil let her sleep with him too. He’s just so transparently eager to befriend her, even if in the end they weren’t all that compatible and he accepted that.
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There are honestly so many examples I could give for this. Like Grandin the famous cow lady.
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More about autism & empathy:
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https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/double-empathy-explained/ (Also mentions a study in which groups of autistic, allistic then a mixed group played a game of telephone and both singular groups had similar levels of information retention, but the mixed group was significantly worse. As an autistic person yeah duh, obviously autistic people are different from one another and can have plenty of interpersonal issues, but communicating with other neurodivergent people feels pretty intuitive and straightforward and comfortable. One of the reasons why neurodivergent people tend to naturally gravitate towards each other I suppose.) 
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^ Paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5932358/  For good, extensive summary of why we relate to animals so much you can go to the “anthromorphizing and asd” section of the paper. This paper extends to our widespread liking of cartoons and robots as well. Ok so this is a whole thing I won’t get into here but this is a big reason why a lot of autistic people are agender leaning as well. Genders and queerness in general is a lot about social constructs, and being queer is being marginal to these, not fitting into boxes or challenging those social norms and conventions. Queerplatonic relationships are a great example of this, where the framework of the relationship is platonic but the intangible nature of what it is exactly is the point, not familial not anything but everything at once too, just adoration, I like to say having pets is a bit like it as well, bc obvi it’s not romantic and often not fully familial, very platonic but also sooo much cuddling and adoration and kissing and whatnot that you wouldn’t typically do with a friend or family member. I’ll talk about qpr and labels another day though.
I got carried away but queerness in Dunmeshi is something I 100% want to make a big post on one day. Experiencing the world with different guidelines and not registering things to have the same boxes, sigh. Personally I also relate to Laios on a gender level, “cis by default because I don’t care all that much but if I were to dig deeper I’m probably otherkin and I want to be socially associated with traits of monsters and animalistic rather than man/woman” sighh hard to be a cryptid in this day and age. I wish we had a term like furry but for monsters, I want to be in the fantasy or folk tale genre ty, like changelings. Goshh changelings... You know, the irl myth where people said their neurodivergent kids were fairies’ children instead of human. Diminished physical sense of self means I see myself as some unknowable black  void aesthetic wise, but like in a way that simultaneously makes me feel seen. Like becoming a monster, losing your sense of self but also somehow just being simplified and seen for what you are, it’s weird to try and explain. This post is more about relating to the nonhuman than about seeing yourself as such, but like connect the dots right, that IS an important point of Laios’ character. It’s because our brains literally work different than allistics which makes us feel as other, but also because of social ostracization and functioning in a different way than society at large, living in the margin of society, being weird and non-conforming.
Meanwhile, animals and social norms... Like ok, showing your neck and rolling on the ground to show that you’re friendly and harmless and play biting might not be proper. But have you considered that it’s also fun and feels very intuitive. Play with a dog in the dog’s way I promise it is so nice and freeing. Play tug of war and growl back when they growl. Hiss at your cat to tell them they do something wrong, engage with them on their level.
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Autism made social life hard, but it made animals easy. Do you have anyyy idea how good it feels to mask all day every day and feel constantly misunderstood or like you’re doing a performance but then you can just, drop all of that in the company of animals and they understand you. They understand you. You form an understanding and rapport so easily.
And this whole thing with Laios is so explicit too, with the Winged Lion saying “You’re sick and tired of the human world”. Notice the choice of words. Sick and tired of the human world. Exhausted from the constraints, sick of the mind games. It really isn’t as much about loving monsters as it is about loving the nonhuman. Relating to them because you feel that you can actually understand how they work and think, and feeling like they could understand you back as well. Animals are safe.
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Like I could go on about how Laios admiring even just demi-humans like orcs is because they’re socially seen as non-humans more than any true physical thing, that they’re not bound by human society and its rules and live with their own lifestyle. But it would deal myself 1000 points of psychic damage and I am not ready to cry today. It’s idealization 100%, and like, Laios DOES want to be treated as human, to be valued, but it feels like an unreachable thing meanwhile becoming a monster is instant gratification and freedom and a sense that now no one will be able to hurt you in a way that reaches you, never again shall you be defenseless, and then if people dehumanize you then that only strengthens your sense of identity as a monster and UGHH ugh ugh.
And like. This post is a mess at this point but if you want to kinda delve into the more “why” then I recommend this Patricia Taxxon video essay. It starts out on a very different topic, but it’s all about autism and finding comfort in the inhuman. Long story short is othering made us like this also animals are just simpler to intuitively get along with.
So when I post this
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I mean it. I really mean it when I say he’s me. I have never felt so seen. So many conflicting emotions all wrapped so concisely yet so intangibly woven into the whole storyline so subtly. 
Not being depicted as a monster of an human being for feeling/having felt that way?? The manga understands you. The world can understand you. Other humans can understand you. You can bond with them. You can. And I think that’s a big part of Dungeon Meshi too- Laios opening up to others about how he really is and his interests, and all the bumps on the way but how it was the only way to truly get to know each other and bond. With the climax being Laios confronting head on his complex with monsters and humans, and his monster-loving side and animalistic side being exactly what saves the whole world, what saves humanity. Because Laios does value his friends, does think humanity has beautiful sides to it, he wants to help it thrive and eat and become more accepting, carving out a kingdom for misfits and demi-humans. At the end of it, transforming into a monster and being free is a daydream fantasy, and the reality of it is that Laios does belong in the world as he is, and does receive and give out love.
If you enjoyed this you’ll probably like some of my other Laios analysis!  Here’s an analysis of his succubus and what it says about his relationships with other humans. And here’s an analysis about his relationship with Shuro from his perspective.
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dragonpyre · 27 days ago
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lol I had the opposite autism where I would cry thinking I was stupid because I could not make myself color inside the lines but a few years later I could do long division in my head.
Well you know the saying; if you meet one person with autism, you've met one person with autism
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thornsinpudding · 19 days ago
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This is kind of silly, but with how repetitive autism representation can seem in media, this is what I desperately want to see:
An autistic person genuinely struggling to make friends... in media, I feel like autistic people, despite their struggles, can still make friend groups, and not that it's inaccurate, but I just desperately want to see media where someone who's autistic really really wants to meet people and make friends yet for some reason it feels impossible for them to, and it isn't solved with them finding a big ass friend group
Autistic people whose special interests aren't just information about them and actually impact their ability to have good conversation and make friends and impact how they see the world
Autistic people who are loud, odd, and off-putting - like essentially not being able to mask your autism and having it manifest as the character making odd sounds, facial expressions, gestures, etc and being very off-putting yet silly yet the silliness / oddity makes people feel uncomfortable or weirded out
Level 2/3 autistic people, in general, being represented as actual people with thoughts and feelings.. self expanatory
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lilqu33rboi · 9 days ago
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Ableism PSA cuz some ppl at my school are pissing me off
Ableism is everywhere, and it's way more common than you'd think. It's not just about wheelchair users and blind people (although disability justice is also equally important for these groups!!! they're just the most common disabilities people think of). Ableism is that "funny" nickname you gave to an autistic kid that has a stereotypical presentation of traits. It's that joke you made about a disabled guy that struggles with hygiene. It's avoiding and ignoring an intellectually disabled kid that wants to be friends with you instead of just telling him you're not interested. Disability justice is justice for ALL disabilities, not just the ones you understand. And no one is immune from this way of thinking- not even disabled people. I've said and done ableist things in the past, too, but i unlearn the shitty things i do as i notice how they affect people. some of the people that i used to disregard and misunderstand the most are now really great friends of mine, and i can't imagine what i would've been missing out on if i hadn't given them a chance. this isn't to say that you have to like every disabled person you encounter; some people's personalities just don't mesh with yours, just as it is with anyone else. i just wanted to say that it pays off to open your mind to more inclusive ideas and unlearn hurtful ways of thinking. here ends the psa, thanks for reading :))
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noodle-shenaniganery · 1 year ago
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I think one of the big issues with autism representation is largely that we don’t get that many autistic characters in media. It’s impossible to represent the entire spectrum in one character. And oftentimes, even when we do get representation, it’s the same types of characters over and over again. The spectrum is broad! It’s chaotic! Almost any representation could hypothetically reflect someone’s experiences, so why keep using the same few archetypes repeatedly? There are so many ways an autistic character could be written. Look, here’s some:
- A nonverbal autistic character with the power to manipulate plants who often uses plants to communicate (e.g. grows cacti when upset, dandelions when happy, roses when they like someone/something, orchids when confused, etc.). They also use plants to move around, grab things, point, etc. due to significantly impaired motor control.
- A nonspeaking, physically disabled autistic character with strabismus who is the ‘tech genius’ of the group. They often can’t go on missions themself because of their disability, but are completely fine with providing the rest with the gadgets, advice, and the occasional Dad Joke™️.
- The ghost of an autistic person who keeps trying to make friends with the new residents of their home, but doesn’t understand social rules at all and keeps accidentally scaring people by appearing/saying things without notice. They also stim by yelling, singing, and moving (things) around, which understandably freaks people out.
- A blind, semispeaking autistic teenager whose special interest is music, and their life mostly revolves around music. They mostly speak in song quotes, and are trying to learn how to play as many instruments as possible. They switch between different mobility aids that help them get around (they are dynamically disabled from their Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), from crutches to wheechairs. They could also try to be in their school’s music club and/or orchestra, while also dealing with high school shenanigans.
- An autistic adult who, after decades of going undiagnosed, is now adjusting to life knowing that they’re not broken, just different. They also have comorbid mental illnesses, partially as a result of their late diagnosis.
There you go. There’s some ideas.
(If anyone uses these, please tag me or let me know, I’d love to read some stories with these.)
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bonnibellexox · 4 months ago
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Delusional Self Publishing
I’m writing a book in less than a year, making all the art myself, paying for all the editing out of pocket, using dozens of beta and alpha readers, promoting to all the autistic, queer nerds I can get my hands on and using my endless charisma to beg local book shops to humor me.
Also life hack: instead of birthday presents, I’m getting everyone to buy my book to boost its ratings.
I am very out of my depth, likely going to fail and most definitely will end up regretting this.
But delusion is better than a 9-5 so I’ll take it
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somenerdfromwhatever · 5 months ago
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I posted this on Instagram days ago as Netflix is now pushing out content for Wednesday Season 2 to get the hype train going, but I noticed I have a lot of new fans! So if you're curious as to why you are saw a video or post about me wishing to work on Wednesday (not to mention the 90 minute long video about the subject), here is more context! Basically, I want the industry to have more of our stories out there to the world for us neurodivergents to express ourselves, and I want to be a part of the show that resonates so I can learn from the best!
This was posted to Instagram first so what you will see is slides I made with text on them! Read everything!
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A little post script too: I've seen a lot of people online recently saying that fans shouldn't work on their favorite piece of media because of how a fandom acts and they always point to Star Wars. I've been working on this goal of becoming involved in the Wednesday project for two years out of love for the series. Passionate fans can be just as professional, and we want to give back to the shows that inspired us. My goal is not to take over, as a bunch of people in the industry are saying that stigma is what drives us fans out, but to elevate what the creators have envisioned. With their cooperation, I want to help make it happen.
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alixx-black · 4 days ago
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As an autistic person, I would like to loudly remind everyone that Elon Musk and Kanye West are not representative of the Autism Spectrum Disorder population.
They have unchecked power that allowed them to live without consequence. In reality, 99% of Autistic individuals have to mask to live in society. For us, the rules are different, resulting in constant consequences for even the slightest movement out of line.
As headlines try to convince you that Kanye and Elon’s support of Nazi beliefs and Communist ideals is just their “autistic awkwardness,” I can assure you that it is not. They are reflections of the way they were raised and the company they keep. Their sense of righteousness and justice are aligned to the way they live.
They are showing us who they are, and it isn’t the Autism that made them that way. Believe them and hold them accountable.
They’re #NotLikeUs - I fucking promise.
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chronicsymptomsyndrome · 1 year ago
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You don’t have meltdowns you can’t be autistic
*has a meltdown*
You’re grown ew stop throwing a tantrum like a baby
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Do You Know This (non-canon) Autistic Character?
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Propaganda:
This post.
Hiccup is a prime example of that specific type of autism where you were ostracized for being different as a kid then later in life struggle to empathize with other people and are better at relating to and connecting with animals.
Like that scene when they were on the ship they found the dragon eye in??? They see the bones of dragons and Hiccup is visibly disturbed and upset that Toothless has to be seeing this, then like less than a minute later he pries something out of the hand of a human skeleton and has little to no reaction to seeing it other than 'ew'
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sad-wet-cat-hannibal · 2 months ago
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Somebody talk to me about why Adam (2009) is a bad move for autistic representation on screen please.
Give me your essays, your rants, your piping hot pressure cooker contents that are pounding in both your skull and dental cavities and causing a whistling sound to come out of your ears.
No annoyance too small, no frustration too old.
(pls I'm begging Adam fanfic is literally a key part of me learning abt autistic behaviours and now it turns out the real autism was inside me all along, I need my more educated brethren to share their hyperfixation-acquired educational material)
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air--so--sweet · 5 months ago
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I know Harlan in season 2 is a pretty clichéd example of autism - a white boy with high support needs who is non-verbal, but he's still quite good representation. Sissy's love and acceptance of her son in the '60s, and choosing to raise him instead of sending him away to some institution is radical and beautiful. Sissy and Viktor both accept Harlan as Harlan, Carl, the villain of the piece, is the one who has issues with Harlan's autism and him not being 'normal'.
Also, while yes we need more diverse examples of autism in film and TV, people like Harlan do exist, we also shouldn't erase them completely.
And then in season 3 we get adult Harlan who didn't even read as autistic coded to me, the briefcase of sandwiches, the listening to his own digestion or tapes of bees, they took traits of autism to such extremes they didn't even read as traits anymore. And I know for plot reasons it was easier for him to be verbal but there are so many other forms of communication other than verbal communication that can and are used and we need to stop valuing them as less than. I mean they could have at least shown that being non-verbal and verbal isn't black and white and that many autistic people go non-verbal at times of high stress or exhaustion (I am one of those people), but that would require actual knowledge of autism from the writers.
And then he gets murdered in cold blood. Cool cool cool...
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magpiemagica · 3 months ago
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COMMON PBS KIDS W!!
Carl the Collector, their new series about a raccoon boy who like to collect things, stars an autistic boy in the lead roll. Alongside that, he also has a fox friend on the spectrum.
Carl's voice actor is also autistic and there are autistic people present every step of the production process.
This is such a win for disability representation in children's programming. Honestly, I'm not surprised. PBS KIDS has always been a strong ally to our community and even the autism episodes from a while ago like in Arthur still hold up pretty well. Their commitment to kindness and respect does not go unnoticed!!
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(Long Side Note: This relates to my fear surrounding my fear of Project 2025, a multi year plan created by The Heritage Project of the American GOP/right wing party. This plan is facist in nature (I recommend doing your own research, I am not saying this lightly) and one of its plans would be the abolishment of The Department of Education (Section 3, Part 11, page 319) You know the ones that help fund PBS Kids? This is rationalized by fear of the "inappropriate political indoctrination of our children" with an emphasis on “traditional families” and “rejecting gender ideology and critical race theory”. Critical race theory is the societal discussion of race and ethnicity btw. Same with "gender ideology". I usually don’t get political on my blog because it is supposed to be my happy place. So much shit is happening internationally and nationally right now that I want a place where I can just rant about stuff that's less serious, you know? But I feel like I need to bring this up when talking about PBS.
The United States is a multicultural country. Seeing a diverse group of kids on TV isn't indoctrination and people existing in a way different from you isn't a personal attack. It's just how people exist. Families speak multiple languages. Kids can be raised by a single parent, a mom and dad, or two moms/dads. People are different from each other; they have different physical features, wear different clothes, have different voices, and navigate their lives in different ways. And that is what makes humanity so vast and special. Kids deserve to see people who look like them, act like them, and have backgrounds like them on screen. And people who don’t represent them as well. I don’t like to “stan” companies or organizations. However, PBS Kids is putting in the work to bring comfort and education to children all over the country and I think that's pretty awesome. You can tell by watching these shows the care that was put in and I really hope that PBS Kids is still around by the time I graduate college. I would love to work there. PBS Kids brought me so much joy as a kid, growing up with shows like Super Why, Sid the Science Kid, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Dinosaur Train, and of course, Sesame Street. I hope children today are having that same experience with these shows <3)
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triforce-of-birds · 3 months ago
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[Image ID: A drawing of four children stand in a line. They are all smiling. Far left is a boy with tan skin and vitiligo. He has short brown hair and wears headphones and chews a necklace. He wears a jacket and pants, and his shoes are untied. Next to him is a boy with dark skin and short black hair. He wears shorts and a shirt. He wears an AAC device around his neck and is waving his hands in the air. He has four fingers on one hand and is barefoot. Toward the center is a girl with dark skin and short black hair. She wears a shirt with buttons, a skirt, and a helmet. She also wears shoes and socks and holds a fidget in her hand. She is shaking her other hand in front of her face with her eyes closed. Far left is a girl with light skin and blond hair in two ponytails. She wears a compression vest, leggings, and socks. She also wears glasses and has a hearing aid in one ear and a cochlear implant on the other side of her head. In front of her are coloured blocks. Above the four children are large red letters reading “Autism Swag”. Underneath are smaller letters reading “Adapt, accommodation, accessibility, acceptance!” End ID.]
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