I, as a disabled teenager, am constantly looking for ways to explain my condition to others, especially younger children, through ways that people normally connect ideas, like movies and television shows. However, there is a severe lack in both the diversity that is used to represent the disabled, as well as any real representation at all. In the past, the disabled, mostly the mentally but also the physical, were used as comic relief, such as the hyena Ed from Disney's "The Lion King," who is representing the "slow" and inept, but is simply used as a, frankly hurtful, joke! In more recent times, the disabled have been less and less treated like this, but that simply leads to a feeling of rejection towards the actual existence of the disabled in the first place. Many times most if not all people will not try to acknowledge my disability whatsoever,  turning a blind eye to what is obviously missing. I do not want to be turned into a joke, but I also do not want to have to deny a part of my identity because it makes others uncomfortable. To reconcile this issue, I ask the same as all the minorities previously have asked. I ask for strong, truthful representation in our media, not simply a joke, nor just a character in the background, but a leader, albeit a fictional one.