Over the weekend I went with my family to see Finding Dory. It was a very cute movie with many meanings behind it. I laughed, smiled, and even teared up while watching it. I truly believe everyone should go see it -whatever your age. However, there was one red flag this movie portrayed and it needs to be addressed.

One character that really stood out to me was Gerald. It wasn't until the movie ended that my sister told me he was supposed to represent what someone with autism would be like. I am not an expert on everything autism related; however, I have been working with that population since high school so I do know some things, and one thing I happen to know very well is that every individual is different, whether they have autism or not, so making one character the face of autism is not okay. Especially when it is done negatively.

With that being said, I was appalled that Pixar chose to portray such a huge topic in a way that represents how someone with Autism gets left behind and gets made fun of.

All Gerald wanted was to sit on the rock with other sea lions but every time he would try they would yell at him and push him off. They also would bribe him and say he could have time to sit on the rock if he did certain things. This is saying that if you have Autism, you will not be able to do things that others are doing just because of your diagnosis. To add on to that just in case that wasn't enough for you, they made Gerald look different from the other sea lions.

Sesame Street welcomed a new character, Julia. She is diagnosed with Autism as well but she is portrayed in positive ways. Unlike Gerald, she is respected by Elmo and friends. They involve her in everything and even though she sometimes might need a minute or two to truly understand certain things, they all help her and never stop believing in her.

Even though Sesame Street portrays Autism as something that is positive and okay to have, I believe that it is very hard to really portray what Autism looks like because of how no one's the same. However, Sesame Street definitely wins when it comes down to Sesame Street and Finding Dory.

So, Pixar, next time you want to portray something that can be very different, I highly suggest not doing it at all or make it represent something positive.