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Joy

Mom shares her autistic son's 'sensory friendly' movie experience and how to find them

"Nobody is looking at you weird because all the families are there for the same reason."

Camille Joy shared her excitement at getting to take her son to a movie showing that worked for him.

Going out to see a movie is a classic fun family activity, but for some families, it's an outing that causes far more stress than it's worth. When you have a child who needs to move or make sounds in order to function, sitting quietly through a two-hour movie simply isn't going to happen.

That's why major movie theater chains have started having dedicated "sensory showings" of feature films for families with autistic members or others who have sound and movement needs that don't mesh well with traditional moviegoing etiquette.

Camille Joy of the Moments of Joy Podcast shared a video her son, Maison, enjoying a sensory showing of Disney's "The Little Mermaid." Maison can be seen walking up and down the aisle stairs during the film in the post, with Joy sharing how the experience went.

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Disney's 'Encanto' is a landmark in film representation.

As the old saying goes, “If you can see it, you can be it,” but unfortunately, many children don’t see themselves adequately represented in the media. This subconsciously limits their perceptions of who they can be and what they can achieve in the world.

A mother, Kaheisha Brand, uploaded a photo of her 2-year-old son Kenzo to Instagram last month and it was the perfect example of the joy a child experiences when being able to see themselves as part of the story.

Kenzo was watching Disney’s new animated film, “Encanto,” and seemed to notice that he looked a lot like Antonio, one of the characters in the film. “Encanto” is a musical adventure that tells the story of a family that lives in the mountains of Colombia.

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via @centrayray

When a video caption reads, “blows my mind how people can be,” you tend to expect the worst. And though it’s practically common knowledge that misogyny is still a very real thing, watching this woman outright refuse to let another woman work on her car is still shocking. Not to mention troubling.

Nearly 2 million people on TikTok have now seen this video, which was uploaded by a woman named Rachel (@25centrayray), who works at a car dealership in the service department.

On the screen we see: “When a Karen calls and we are all female service writers…”



Rachel’s coworker, Autumn, simply answers the phone with a warm, professional greeting, and the woman on the other line is already displeased.

“Autumn, I didn't ask for a female, I would like to talk to a male.”

Yeah, she said that. And more.

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@stronglikestella on Instagram

Stella was born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), causing her to need a wheelchair.

When she received her first Barbie, also in a wheelchair, her mother Samantha Lackey saw a spark in her self-esteem, according to Good Morning America.

So as Christmas time rolled in this year, Lackey decided to take a classic holiday tradition and give it a creative, more inclusive spin.

And thus, Bean, Stella’s Elf on the Shelf, became a wheelchair user as well.

With his purple chair and bright pink foot holders, Bean is practically Stella's twin. And having the best time.

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