so today i found out that the Care Bears are holding a contest through september 1 to december 31 to design your own Care Bear - winner’s Care Bear will be made into a plush (plus money but its the plush i want). the only problem is that the contest is only for people 12 and under. 14 (15 when the contest is over) isn’t that much older than 12, but i’m still too old for the contest.
but i have an idea to get past this -- i’m autistic!! for once, the ableist stereotypes and stigma around autism that says autistic people are eternal children may help me. i can send my submission in with “i’m 14 but i wanted to send it in anyway. i’m autistic and the care bears is one of my special interests!!!” i may get chosen so that the staff feels good about themselves (inspiration p--n, but whatever).
also, i want to make an autistic care bear!! not only will autism help me have a chance at being chosen despite being above the age limit, i can make the bear’s theme around autism acceptance, and give them a personality too -- i can teach them about stimming and how special interests work, the importance of autism acceptance over autism awareness, and i might even be able to teach them why a$ is bad. not only do i have a greater chance of being chosen because i’m autistic, but the bear also serves a good purpose of smashing stigma and creating diversity in the care bear family.
so... i haven’t actually drawn the bear yet, but they’re most likely going to be a girl (to combat the stereotype that only boys are autistic) with red fur and a neurodiversity symbol as her belly badge. i’m trying to think of names, but right now the only thing I can think of is AutistiBear - kinda like AutistiCat - but that doesn’t have a nice ring to it.
any thoughts on this?
