Autistic Boy Was Depressed After Local Blockbuster Closed Down, So His Parents Recreated It At Home
When his autistic son’s favorite video store, Blockbuster, announced they were closing down, this South Texas dad came up with the perfect idea to recreate the shop at home. “My autistic brother was sad that Blockbuster was closing down,” Javier Zuniga, the autistic man’s sibling, wrote on Twitter. “So my parents made a mini one at home for him!”
The emotional moment was captured in pictures and the post went viral. It got more than 94,000 likes in less than two days with people commenting it was ‘parenting done right’.
Javier said that while his brother didn’t say anything, he was laughing with joy, smiling, and clapping hands. The parents made sure that their 20-year-old son’s favorite movies were there – including Veggie Tales, Rugrats, Barney and Elmo titles.
Blockbuster first opened back in 1985. By 1989, it had become so popular that a new store was opening every 17 hours, as recorded by the New York Post. According to the same source, due to the rise of services like Netflix, there are now only 12 Blockbuster Video shops left in America – nine in Alaska and three in Texas. And, of course, one personal ‘Blockbuster’ at Javier Zuniga’s brother’s home.
An autistic son’s favorite video store, Blockbuster, announced they were closing down…
So this South Texas dad came up with the perfect idea to recreate the shop at home
The emotional moment was captured in pictures, getting more than 94,000 likes in less than two days
The guy was left speechless, but he was laughing with joy, smiling, and clapping hands
The Internet reacted:
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Big respect towards the parents! I love it! However, I can also very much relate to the son. Renting a movie used to be a very special thing. So it's great to hear that the parents went out of their way to make this possible :)
I agree! Mom and Dad need their own *special selections, hahaha. Every healthy marriage can benefit from that!
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this goes well beyond good parenting skills! these folks have done something very profound for their child - they "cared," his feelings mattered.
watch "life animated" . one of the most amazing docs on autistic behaviour and how many things we the" normal" people take as granted.Also lot of crying!
I gunna cry like a 2 year old brat-only in joy at this.SO Beautiful. If they built something like a favorite RESTAURANT sim like this idea at home because of things, I would have flipped O.U.T.
Aww, how cool was that?! I see a lot of Elmo vids in there. I wonder / hope they add and rotate the selections. Very great parents. And what a good looking young man this guy is! Our Blockbuster closed in about 2003 or so. We don't miss it one bit. Thank you ROKU! And Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. But it's the ROKU that changed our lives and saved us thousands on a satelite tv bill. Roku is free and we literally get over 3,ooo channels now! Of course, we do pay for N, H, and A, but I'm grandfathered-in at their cheapest rate. We went from over $130 a month down to about $25! AND I share my accounts with my mom, (which they all allow), and so it costs her nothing and she loves her ROKU too!
Not sure if this is a honest comment... Or just a strange advertisement attempt...
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Shoo, internet bot! Bad bot! Scram! Shoo-5900a...22cd78.gif 
Big respect towards the parents! I love it! However, I can also very much relate to the son. Renting a movie used to be a very special thing. So it's great to hear that the parents went out of their way to make this possible :)
I agree! Mom and Dad need their own *special selections, hahaha. Every healthy marriage can benefit from that!
Load More Replies... this goes well beyond good parenting skills! these folks have done something very profound for their child - they "cared," his feelings mattered.
watch "life animated" . one of the most amazing docs on autistic behaviour and how many things we the" normal" people take as granted.Also lot of crying!
I gunna cry like a 2 year old brat-only in joy at this.SO Beautiful. If they built something like a favorite RESTAURANT sim like this idea at home because of things, I would have flipped O.U.T.
Aww, how cool was that?! I see a lot of Elmo vids in there. I wonder / hope they add and rotate the selections. Very great parents. And what a good looking young man this guy is! Our Blockbuster closed in about 2003 or so. We don't miss it one bit. Thank you ROKU! And Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. But it's the ROKU that changed our lives and saved us thousands on a satelite tv bill. Roku is free and we literally get over 3,ooo channels now! Of course, we do pay for N, H, and A, but I'm grandfathered-in at their cheapest rate. We went from over $130 a month down to about $25! AND I share my accounts with my mom, (which they all allow), and so it costs her nothing and she loves her ROKU too!
Not sure if this is a honest comment... Or just a strange advertisement attempt...
Load More Replies... Shoo, internet bot! Bad bot! Scram! Shoo-5900a...22cd78.gif
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