Dear Friends,

I am in Portland! It is a special place to me, as it is where I first spelled with Elizabeth Vosseller and showed my family that I am in here. I am so proud to return now as a panelist for an event on spelling. What a full circle moment!

It is amazing to think of how far I have come. I am so overcome just thinking about it. It is hard to process it.

This event is hosted by the Autism Mustang Alliance run by Searmi. She has kindly supported my travel and my mom and younger sister’s travel, making it possible to afford a family vacation this year. Tara was already in Oregon teaching a course on conservation, so it was meant to be! I am so proud that my career sponsored our family trip. This is huge for me!

If you are near Portland area, consider joining us on Saturday. It should be a great event with fantastic speller advocates. Registration is free – email heyhay@autismmustangalliance.org to register and for more details about the event.

I am honored to be part of this!

Your Friend,

Danny

p.s. This is us in our Portland AirBnb, cleaning the chanterelle and lobster mushrooms that Tara foraged over the weekend!

Hi Friends of Danny! Tara here, with the latest All Our Brave Hearts podcast episode.

Danny’s doing well, having a nice time with our mom and sister. We recorded this a few weeks ago, before I left for this trip, and we were both pretty exhausted and stressed, but he really wanted to get this episode out. So he decided on a “short and sweet” one, focusing on things that bring us joy and hope.

Please let us know something that brings YOU joy and hope!

You can read/listen at https://allourbravehearts.substack.com/p/ep15-some-light and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Hope you’re all doing well!

Tara

Hi there, Friends of Danny! We’re once again apart, just for a few weeks this time, but he’s asked me (Tara) to post our pre-recorded All Our Brave Hearts podcast episodes during this time.

We discuss the art of apologizing, and how we approach apologies as the giver and receiver. Check out the audio and transcript on Substack, or just listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Let us know what you think!

Dear Friends,

I am having a tough day. My spelling has been so sloppy. This has been happening for a few weeks, though some days are fine. It is so scary to lose proficiency in my lifeline. My work takes longer and I get frustrated and worried. It is so stressful.

Tara has noticed since it started. She has been working hard to clean up my technique. But I get irritated with her being strict, even though it is needed.

I am not sure why this is happening. My typing has been more erratic for a few months, but I only type when transcribing my spelled words. Tara noticed that, too.

Don’t worry, I don’t think it is a neurological disease or anything like that. It might be a lot of things. But I have had a CRP who was not being careful, and I think that allowed me to develop bad habits. I should have told Tara sooner. But I was not wanting to lose a CRP, even if they weren’t supporting my communication well.

It is so important for all CRPs to be mindful and follow best practices. It can disrupt my communication even with an excellent CRP like Tara. To all CRPs, please take this seriously. It is about my access to reliable communication, which is so vital to my well-being.  Sloppy CRPs endanger that.

I will try to rest more and hope that it lets me be more resilient to this stress. Tara is leaving soon for a work trip of one month, but our sister is an excellent CRP, too, so she can help me unlearn these bad habits. We are going to work on basics again, and my mom also will help.

That is all for now. Hope you are all doing well!

Your Friend,

Danny

Dear Friends,

Whew, I am tired! I have been enjoying my birthday week, but now I need some down time. Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes! They made me smile.

I am happy to share that Episode 13 of All Our Brave Hearts podcast is up. The topic is “Dignity of Risk.” It’s an important one! I am curious what you think of it and how this idea plays a role in your lives.

Thank you so much to those of you who have shared how much you love the podcast! Wow! Some of you listened to us during the long drive to Motormorphosis. That was so cool to hear! We put a lot of work into this podcast and it is my passion project. So I am thrilled that you are appreciating it!

Now I am going to rest. I have two lazy days planned! I hope you are enjoying your week!

Your Friend,

Danny

Dear Friends,

 I had the best time on Saturday! My friend James hosted a pool party for my birthday. It was a total spellers’ party. There were ten of us spellers, including several in our thirties. Many of us were already friends with each other, but several also made new friends. It was perfect to hang out in the cool water surrounded by friends on a hot summer day.

Our families enjoyed it, too. The pizza was delicious, and my mom baked a fantastic cake that met the dietary restrictions of everyone. James and his parents were great hosts. And James was so proud to throw an awesome party!

I felt so loved and appreciated by all my friends. This was the first speller celebration of my birthday, where it was a big gathering of my speller friends. I got more cards than I ever have! And I got some really thoughtful gifts. It was my best birthday celebration!

My real birthday is tomorrow. I will be 39 years old. Wow! I am so proud of what I have done in a little over four years of my new life. I am so excited about the coming years!

Thank you for being part of my new life!

Your Friend,

Danny

P.S. I am not posting all our photos because I want to respect people’s privacy. We have many more great photos, but you will need to imagine them!

Dear Friends,

I am so full of specific memories from Motormorphosis that I wish I could share, but that would fill a book! So I will just share more photos here. I am so happy I got to see some of my social media friends and to meet new friends who are also sharing great content online. Plus of course all those friends who are not on social media but who I know from online activities and groups. I am so appreciating how connected we can all be via the internet.

I wish Instagram allowed more than ten photos per post. It is hard to choose from so many snapshots of this fantastic event.

To be honest, I am struggling a bit with dysregulation today. I am not sure why, but fatigue and so many ideas and feelings to process is certainly part of it. So I will rest now. Hope you all are keeping well!

Your Friend,

Danny

Dear Friends,

Wow! I am just home from Motormorphosis, and I am swirling with feelings and ideas and new cherished memories. This was such a fantastic experience, even more than the previous years I have attended. I can’t do justice to it here.

I am so feeling like a real leader in this community. I am so moved by all of you who came up to say hi. It meant so much to hear that you appreciate my efforts. It was a bit strange to feel so famous in person; there were definitely more of you coming up to me than last year. But I love meeting you all and feeling a connection beyond the screen.

I also got to bond more with some practitioners who I have known in various capacities but had never really hung out with before. They are so good at treating me like an equal, and I loved feeling like I really belonged whenever we spent time together. I am closer to them in age than I am to most of the spellers present, and it was cool to hang out like an adult.

And of course, I am aglow from spending time with so many spellers! Wow! I am so proud and thrilled to be part of such a thriving and brilliant and warm community. From old friends to new faces, I was overjoyed to be among my peers. I am wishing I could have chatted with all of them!

I learned a lot from the conference presentations and panels, and was honored to be part of the panel on love and dating as well as the Nonspeaking Leadership Council’s presentation on gatekeeping. It was special to be mentioned in the keynote by Dr. Barry Prizant as he referenced his interview of me for his Uniquely Human podcast. I loved seeing my peers shine in their presentations, and the social events were so much fun. I even managed to do some workouts in the hotel gym!

Tara and I love this conference so much. I am so grateful I was able to attend. And I love traveling with her. We had such a good time!

Thank you I-ASC and thank you to all who said hi! I will share more ideas and impressions from Motormorphosis in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more photos tomorrow. I am still glowing from it all!

Your Friend,

Danny

Dear Friends,

So here is the next episode of All Our Brave Hearts! It is a week late but still great. We are changing to every other week because we are just too busy. This is a Question and Answer episode. Send us your questions for future episodes!

We go to Motormorphosis tomorrow. I am so excited! Are you going? Please say hi if you see me there! It is such a great time of connection.

I hope you all are having a good week! I am so struggling to spell today, so I will rest.

Your Friend,

Danny

Dear Friends,

I had the most relaxing few days! Tara was out of town, so it was a good opportunity to just rest. I was so rundown, so I really needed it. We have been so busy and I was feeling overwhelmed.

I only had one meeting and one appointment. My mom supported me in those, and helped me set up some interesting documentaries to watch. That was all I wanted to do. It was perfect!

My appointment was at my favorite barbershop. I wanted to look sharp for Motormorphosis next week. I am so excited for it! I have found a barber who is awesome and who respects my communication. He always makes me look so dapper. I enjoy feeling like one of the guys at the shop. It is so good for my self-esteem.

My mom took me and was able to be my CRP so I could tell my barber what I wanted. As always, I love how it turned out! Getting a stylish haircut is something still new to me. I am so grateful that I can communicate about “trivial” things like this now. It is not as important as communicating about my life goals or advocacy, but it is still important to be able to make my own decisions about my appearance.

So I am feeling relaxed and handsome. A great way to feel! What makes you feel good like this?

Your Friend,

Danny