Well, here’s a story that makes my heart grow three sizes. For those of you unfamiliar with Guardians Of The Galaxy, if features WWE superstar Dave Batista’s character Drax The Destroyer who is incapable of understanding sarcasm and metaphors. He doesn’t get jokes and reacts to everything literally. This characterization led one kid to identify with Batista as someone with autism.
From the Tumblr Merryweather Blue:
I took my little brother (who falls on the autism spectrum) to see Guardians of the Galaxy and after this scene he lit up like a Christmas tree and screamed “He’s like me! He can’t do metaphors!” And for the rest of the film my brother stared at Drax in a state of rapture.
So for the last 6 days I have heard my brother repeatedly quote all of the Drax lines from the movie verbatim (one of his talents), begin studying vocabulary test words, and tell everyone he knows that people with autism can also be superheroes.
Jesus. I can’t.
The author goes on to say he’s not sure if Drax is actually supposed to be portrayed as a character in the autism spectrum, but the unintended consequence is as heart-warming as it gets. Nobody at Marvel, Disney or with any affiliation with the movie has responded yet, so we don’t know if they did this on purpose, but I say they go with it. If one kid is inspired by it, just imagine the possibilities. I swear if there’s a video of Batista dressed as Drax going to visit this kid I’m gonna lose it.
