Parents recreate Blockbuster for son with autism after local store closes

[AGXStarseed]

While Blockbusters are now pretty much extinct across the world, there are still a few scattered around.

(Picture: Twitter)

Though we don’t know his location, Twitter user Javi still had a local Blockbuster – up until 23 April, that is.

Javi’s local Blockbuster finally shut down two days ago, and while he was okay with it, what with the likes of Netflix safely in our hands, his brother, who has autism, was not.

(Picture: Twitter)

People with autism tend to have daily routines so that they know what is going to happen each day, as the world may seem a very unpredictable and confusing place for them.

This may have been the case for Javi’s brother when it comes to visiting Blockbuster.

But it seems that Javi’s brother need not be upset, as their parents have ensured that though the store may have closed down, Blockbuster will be closer to home than ever – by making a mini-Blockbuster at home for him.

Javi tweeted several photos of his very excited brother, standing with his own Blockbuster-themed DVD shelves.

The photos were captioned: ‘My autistic brother was sad that Blockbuster was closing down so my parents made a mini one at home for him!’

The tweet has quickly gone viral, receiving more than 15,000 retweets and 54,000 shares so far. Many credited his parents on being such wonderful people. Others were reduced to tears by the loving gesture.

Javi’s parents are truly wonderful people – and we’re just so glad that his brother can continue enjoying the familiarity of his favourite store, all from the comfort of his own house.


Source: Parents recreate Blockbuster for son with autism after local store closes

 

[Mia]

Nice that they did that.

 

[toothless]

i do agree its a good thing theyve done,but if the lad has enough mental capacity he needs to learn things do close down,as he will come across it a lot in his life and his family wont always be there to help.

if he is profoundly autistic,its different,unfortunately for this subset of autism they usually struggle to understand the concept of going from open to closed,and dont generally learn new things very well so its good to recreate the shop that closes otherwise you will have an upset and challenging autist 24/7.

 

[Judge]

I must admit, it has always been particularly painful to see much of any cherished institution suddenly close up shop in the most literal terms. Though in my own case I suppose I became ambivalent about video rentals many years ago, when in 1999 I bought my first DVD.

I still grieve for the one remaining "traditional" hobby shop to have closed in 2011. Not likely to ever return as a "brick and mortar" store, given how keen competition has become with online sales. Oh, we have the typical corporate arts and crafts franchises, but they aren't what scale model or train enthusiasts would truly call a "hobby shop".

But still...I hate to lose much of anything that is part of my "retail routine". Though with this audience I suppose I really don't have to explain it. So that said, yes it's a very kind gesture for parents to do so for their kids.

Intellectually it's simple for me to explain the loss of such things. However it will not likely circumvent my emotional disappointment and sorrow either.

 

[Diagnosed2015]

That's the type of thing parents should do for any child with 'learning' differences. My child was never "officially" diagnosed (but should have been, by more up-to-date professionals) on the spectrum, but had 17 specific and dozens of "unspecific" learning/processing disabilities.

He couldn't tie his shoes, so we used Velcro. He couldn't read a clock, so everything in the house was digital. He couldn't have "red dye" exposure to anything, so we changed what we ate, etc.

We didn't treat him differently, we just adjusted to him. I'm cutting this off here, because I started to ramble and ended up on another subject.

 

[abby normal]

god bless them all.

 

[Questella]

I miss Blockbuster so much! And Media Play! When Media Play was closing I was there 2-3x a week until the last day. Then I got really sad whenever I saw the empty store, it's a Target now... =/

 

[abby normal]

I think there is a Japanese expression, [in Romaji] "sakura no ame" which refers to this feeling of impermanence, to cherish the now because it will pass.

 

[Keigan]

Go mom and dad!