News and Knowledge

One of the most classic animated film icons is the beloved Nemo from Pixar’s “Finding Nemo.” On his adventure to find his son, Marlin comes across many characters that guest author, Kerry Magro, believe kids with special needs can identify with. With “Finding Dory” coming out this week, this post will give you insight into why your child will fall more in love with these fish friends. This post originally appeared on Magro’s personal blog. 

I cannot tell you enough how much I love the film Finding Nemo! If you are like me you and your child can recite the film by heart and are patiently, but most likely impatiently, waiting for the new film ‘Finding Dory’ to hit theaters! What you may not know though is the impact Finding Nemo has been able to have to start honest conversations about disabilities in our community!

Just a little over a decade ago Finding Nemo hit theaters and much like most Disney Pixar films, became a box office smash and instant classic among our families! For those who haven’t seen the film, it looks at the life between two fish, a father and son who get in an argument and are later separated from each other.

The main character in Nemo, a fish that has a “lucky fin” that is smaller than his other fin, is the first disability that can be interpreted in the film for us. A visible impairment, this sometimes gives Nemo difficulty when trying to do things in the ocean. Several times during the movie people question why Nemo’s fin looks the way it does.

Another character in Dory suffers from short-term memory loss where in parts of the movie she has a difficulty remembering locations and names. Many people in our community can interpret this as some type of mental disorder while she also shows some characteristics of ADHD with her inability at times to focus and not being able to stay in one place.

Finally, Jacques, who we are introduced to later in the movie, always wants things clean. He lives in a fish tank and is constantly cleaning his surroundings to the point where he cannot feel comfortable unless things are that way. This is something that can be interpreted as OCD.

While the interpretation of these characters is important to discuss the main two messages that give this film a voice in my opinion are about never giving up and embracing who you are. Dory, regardless of how she may be interpreted by some characters is one of the happiest fish in the ocean. She doesn’t mind her memory loss and throughout the film is one of the most friendly and well-liked characters simply by being who she is.

This is a constant message I try to relay in my mentees on the autism spectrum. Temple Grandin said it best with “different and not less.” For so long I thought that because of my autism diagnosis that I was different than my peers. Seeing someone like Dory though, so confident in whom she is and just having fun, it’s very empowering.

The other message about never giving up also circles around Dory who reminds us all throughout the movie to “just keep swimming.” In our special needs community we are often going to have days where we will feel discouraged, whether it be a therapy appointment that didn’t go well, to having trouble in school. Whenever things go wrong though, we need to ‘just keep swimming’ because we can never give up on our goals. This isn’t only for those with special needs but our loved ones as well. We should never give up on what we want to do in our lives.

Finding Nemo for all the reasons above is so much more than just another Disney film. It’s a teaching moment for our kids while a way to introduce awareness to others about special needs.

I can only hope that Finding Dory will be able to further that conversation in our community!

About the Author

Kerry Magro, is an award-winning disability advocate, best-selling author of 2 books (Defining Autism From The Heart, Autism and Falling in Love), movie consultant of 2 autism films (Joyful Noise, Jane Wants A Boyfriend), non-profit founder that has given over 30 scholarships for students with autism to attend college and is a full-time employee at Autism Speaks. Magro was completely non-verbal until the age of two and a half and was diagnosed with autism at 4 years old. These days, Magro travels around the country as a motivational speaker and disability advocate. His speeches have included two TEDx Talks. In 2014, he received accreditation from the National Speakers Association as one of the only professionally certified speakers with autism in the country. In the past 6 years Magro has spoken at more than 600 events about his journey on the autism spectrum. Those speaking engagements led to a stint in TV hosting his own local cable show called the “Different is Beautiful Show,” which focuses on people who overcome adversity.