Garza-Pena was passing through the boys' clothing when she realized Oliver had stopped behind her to look at something.
She turned around and saw him looking up at an advertisement of another little boy, not much older than him, also using a wheelchair. Oliver looked utterly awestruck and would not break his gaze from the advertisement.
Garza-Pena took a moment to take a picture while Oliver was still looking up at the advertisement. The moment was not staged or practiced; it was a natural and beautiful reaction to the power equal representation can have.
Garza-Pena reflected:
"I could see the look on his face, he knew that boy was like him."
After they had returned home, Garza-Pena shared the photograph, along with a special thank-you note to Target, to the Facebook page she runs for her son, called "Ollie's World."
The post quickly gained traction, many in love with Oliver's genuine expression, and others reacting to Garza-Pena's resounding hashtag choice, "Representation Matters."
Ollie's World / Facebook
Ollie's World / Facebook
Ollie's World / Facebook
Ollie's World / Facebook
Ollie's World / Facebook
The post was shared so far and wide, it actually reached the mother of the boy in the Target advertisement, Ashley Robinson. Her son in the ad is ten-year-old Colton Robinson in Massachusetts.
Ollie's World / Facebook
Robinson shared her reaction to seeing Oliver's photo for the first time:
"I was overcome by emotion and started crying. The expression on Oliver's face looking up to Colton was extremely touching."
The two moms have since connected on social media and have stayed in touch. Though their sons have different disabilities, Oliver with Caudal Regression Syndrome and Colton with Spina Bifida, the women have discovered their days look very similar, and they share many of the same challenges.
Both women agree equal representation needs to continue to be pursued across media advertisements, and that this moment between Oliver and Colton is the perfect example as to why.
Garza-Pena said:
"We want companies to jump on board for more inclusive advertising. These photos need to be everywhere all the time. People with disabilities need more representation in the community."
Robinson agreed, citing Oliver's reaction:
"Children of all abilities and sizes need to be represented. I mean, who doesn't want to look at an ad and see someone that you have something in common with? It's important for everyone to feel included. It's just a beautiful thing."
Though we're a long way away from seeing equal representation everywhere, in all media forms, it's important to see moments in the media like Colton's.
And perhaps it's even more important to see, for children like Oliver, how Colton's inclusion is really making a difference.
Reddit user pterv2112 asked:
"What looks easy peasy lemon squeezy but is actually difficult difficult lemon difficult?"
20.
Marriage. I think many people believe that they will be romantically in love with the person they are marrying. In many ways you do but most with long successful marriages will tell you it takes work to make a marriage last a lifetime. That level of commitment is hard to maintain.
The rewards are enormous and you'll never be closer to another human if you're doing it right My wife and I just celebrated our 40th and we've known each other for more than 45 years. Planning on being together till end.
19.
Beekeeping. You see videos of these old dudes in their veils and beekeeping suits and it makes it seem so relaxing and easy. Turns out that bees aren't so good at finding enough food on their own and they can get sick really easy and in the winter they can mold. Have you ever seen moldy bees? Sometimes they're not even dead...
It's still worth it though.
18.
Maintaining friendships from high school/college after you graduate. People get so busy with work and starting their own families that friendships get put on the back burner. You stop talking to someone for a few months, then it suddenly hits you that you're no longer friends with the person.
17.
Actually doing things. In theory it's simple. Just do the thing. In reality I procrastinate until I hate myself
16.
Work. I'm a lawyer and had a client call saying she needs a help with a merger, but "don't worry, it's super easy peasy lemon squeezy."
That project took 6 months and I almost had a breakdown. She didn't understand why the bill was so high since it wAs SO eAsY...
15.
Making lemonade. Sure squeezing one lemon is easy peasy, but do you know how much juice that makes? Not a lot.
14.
Easy as pie. Pie is the most difficult thing I've EVER done/made.
Hell yeah. Keeping the dough cold while avoiding overworking it, and somehow perfectly distributing the butter throughout the mixture so that there aren't massive butter chunks... ugh, it's difficult.
13.
Flying remote controlled helicopters. It looks so effortless when watching seasoned flyers but in reality it's like balancing a marble on an upturned bowl.
12.
Street names.
Everyone thinks it's great fun and likes to offer suggestions but every tree, lake, and other natural feature has at least a dozen variations which you can't repeat for emergency service reasons.
That and you get cities which want a street name change anytime the road changes direction regardless of a logical break point like an intersection.
11.
Those captcha things on google. I can honestly never read them and the website always thinks i'm a robot.
10.
Whistling with your fingers.
I did it once like 6 years ago and haven't been able to replicate it since.
Pisses. Me. Off.
9.
GiphyDancing. I wouldn't say it looks "easy", but when I see people do it, they're so good at it and it flows so well it looks easy. But damn, I just CANNOT get my body to do anything more than a bop and maybe some stupid arm moves.
I'm 25 and dance like a 50 year old at a reunion.
Dancers are so delicate and make it look so easy, it's honestly amazing. It's just hilarious when I try to do literally anything and fail horribly.
8.
Drawing something from memory. Like a bird or something.
In mind - yep that's a bird
On paper - that's... a bird?
7.
Digging. Anytime its shown in movies or TV it looks easy af but the second you have to grab a shovel and break dirt.... bleh.
"Here just let me dig up this 6-foot-deep grave with a shovel."
<20 minutes later>
"Welp, all done."
6.
A basic physical exam at the doctor.
Looks like a simple 'look at the throat' 'listen to the chest' 'yup they have a heart all right.' When in actuality Doctors spend thousands of hours practicing it so that when you come in with a murmur or 'Funny-looking-kid-syndrome' they can recognize it immediately.
And yes, there are entire class sections on how to respectfully ask your patient to turn their head and cough as you push on their balls (they're looking for hernias).
4.
playing the triangle. A lot of my non-musician friends joke about how easy it is to play it. Then they actually hold the damn thing and look stupid.
I can still remember my band director...
"You guys laugh about the triangle players, but you have no idea how hard it is to stay focused while counting 132 bars and not miss your cue."
3.
Writing a 250-word open-ended reflection where you're expected to be creative.
All I want as a grad student is some dang STRUCTURE and also a RUBRIC :(
2.
Folding fitted sheets.
I've watched instructional videos that make it look so easy but I always just end up with a crumpled up mess, and that's how it gets put away.
GiphyThe most common type of ghost is the one in a white sheet with waving arms. These are the spirits of people who died while trying to fold a fitted sheet.
1.
I use a wheelchair and people usually don't believe me when I say that getting around can be difficult, because many of them think that pushing a wheelchair is easy. (They literally tell me this.)
The thing is when you use a wheelchair all day and it is basically your only means of transportation, it looks more natural.
This becomes a problem when I point out accessibility problems. They often don't believe me because they see how I can navigate and assume that it's easy – just because *I* make it look easy.
Not everything is as easy as it seems -- or as easy we believe it to be.
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