A while back Luke wrote a presentation for our GSA about representation in media, and he included not only LGBT+ representation, but also disabled, mental illness, and POC representation. Literally you could see the shock on the faces of the people in the club.
They weren’t expecting him to come in and talk about how ATLA was progressive because it featured disabled characters outside of the inspiration porn and pity party stereotypes that were WAY more rampant at the time of its release. They weren’t expecting him to talk about how She-Ra was amazing for not ONLY including queer and non-binary people, but also for including so many POC as just normal members of the cast and not making a big deal out of it- something that should be done in children’s media. They weren’t expecting him to talk about DID, substance abuse, Cerebral Palsy, anxiety disorders, OCD, Autism, ADHD, depression, any other mental or physical disorder, or POC and the lack of good representation in media.
We could tell, because as soon as it was over, barely any of them said a word. You could tell this was something they hadn’t had to discuss before, and it made them uncomfortable. They were uncomfortable because Luke had done what he had signed up to do and given a presentation on representation in media, and they were ill-informed on what “representation” actually meant.
People are uncomfortable talking about anything other than what they’re used to, but discomfort is the first step to making progress.
Edit: also I love Percy Jackson for this, not only are there multiple POC throughout the series, but literally almost every main character is neurodivergent- and yet all everyone seems to talk about is “ooOooOoOh Nico and Will gay”
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