Unlocking Communication with Brady Day & Darcy Day
Episode Show Notes:
This episode is a compelling call to listen, learn, and challenge our assumptions about intelligence and communication. Brady’s story demonstrates that with the right tools and persistence, barriers can be dismantled, revealing the profound potential within us all. Brady and his mom, Darcy, talk with us about how Brady began expressing himself at 18 and hasn’t slowed down since!
Thank you again Brady and Darcy!
I hope you enjoy this episode!
Resources:
SpellerZona - Brady's spelling journey and advocacy platform
Episode show notes & transcripts can be found here: www.digitalactivismpod.com/
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Episode Transcript (Approx.):
Caden Nelms
Hello, beautiful people. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of Digital Activism.
If there was any episode that you need to watch video version of, it is this one. Today we talked with Brady and his mom. Brady has Down syndrome and communicates by spelling with a letterboard. Before he began using the letterboard, they believed that his silence meant limitation. But when Brady began spelling out his thoughts, they quickly realized that he had more to say than anyone ever imagined.
Now, together, Brady and his mom, Darcy, share their journey to bring hope to families and to challenge the assumption that silence means lack of understanding. When sometimes it simply means that we haven't found the way to listen yet. Thank you so much, Brady and Darcy, for being on this episode. Please stay in touch and I hope everyone goes and follows their journey and looks at spellerzona.com.
Very interesting stuff and I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Caden Nelms
Hello, beautiful people. Welcome back to another episode of Digital Activism. I have two very special guests here with me today, and I'm actually going to let them introduce themselves. So if y'all wanna go ahead and talk and who are y'all and what are y'all up to?
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah, well my name's Darcy Day and this is my son Brady. And ⁓ I'm gonna actually have him start the conversation so we use a letterboard so he can communicate and we'll see what he has to say to all of you guys. So here's the letterboard, twenty six letters, infinite possibilities, by the way. Okay.
Mm.
Hi and and
Hi, my name. Hmm. You got it.
Get it, get it, get it. Look, look, look, look, look. After the I. I and is and B and
My name is Brady. Keep going. And
Caden Nelms
Hi Bertie.
Darcy Day And Brady
You got it.
Keep going.
Mm-hmm. Keep going.
Get it. And look, look, look, look.
Keep going.
Mm-hmm. I have Down syndrome.
Keep going.
And look look look look look I have I have keep going and look look look and
Doing good. Keep going. And
Keep going. Look look.
Going.
I have full intelligence.
Keep going.
Keep going, honey.
I have full intelligence like all my homies. So his homies are the ones with Down syndrome. And so a little background on me is that, you know, we found this method when Brady was 18. He's 23 now. And ⁓ it's completely flipped our world, right? You can imagine. So we thought what the world thinks of Down syndrome, that they're intellectually delayed, and because
Caden Nelms
Love it.
Darcy Day And Brady
Brady did not have the motor output to show that he was understanding. And so, like with anybody, understanding doesn't have a look. However, we make lots of assumptions by what we see. And if somebody can't speak intelligibly, right, or reliably, or point to the A or show that they can read, then we assume one thing. ⁓ they can't. They don't understand.
And I did that. I fell into that trap, right? I homeschooled him and I questioned if he knew his letters. It's terrible. Or that he could read. And ⁓ so this was kind of a shock when he started spelling out very complex thoughts and words. And it's always been in there, always. We just didn't know how to get it out.
Caden Nelms
to go back, how did you first discover that? Like was there a specific moment you remember when he spelt something or noticed something? And Brady, if you wanna talk about this as well, whoever, like what what was that moment where it was like, Whoa, let's let's dive into this a bit more?
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah. Well, I saw a video of a guy with autism. So this the method, there's many different kinds of spelling methods. There's about four or five types. And so I saw a video of a guy with autism typing to his dad saying, Dad, thanks for getting me out of my prison of silence. And that struck me. I'm like, how can he do that? And you know, he had all the autistic kind of traits. And ⁓
One on the interview, I looked at and I'm like, I don't care where she is, we're gonna go. We're flying there and I'm just gonna go see her. And I quizzed Brady on all his letters. He's 18. Quizzed him on his letters for two weeks. And you he got most of them wrong, by the way, because he can't intentionally motor out what he wants to. His body defies him every single day. Okay. You can probably relate somewhat, right? So he knows what his hand should do, but it doesn't do it.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
And so it's a brain-body disconnect, basically. And so, so we got there the first session and she was reading him like this age appropriate material about Benjamin Franklin. And that first session, well, when she asked him, Who are we talking about? And he goes, B, E, N, and spells out Benjamin Franklin, I'm like, What? And then I think what really got me was she asked you, Brady, what
Caden Nelms
wow.
Darcy Day And Brady
Here, you mind telling what you said? Here. She asked him, What's the synonym of anger? Do you remember your answer? Yeah. Okay. This is what he spelled. ⁓ get it, dude.
Wrath.
Caden Nelms
R wow. That is not where I would go immediately.
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah. So I
when he and with the W, you know, here I thought he didn't know his letters and he spelled wrath with that W. I was like, I was very confused after that first session. And I like to talk, but I don't think I really said anything on that break with him. I just kind of stared at him. I think I apologized to you because it hit like, my gosh, like we're wrong. And then we went back for a second session and that was like confirmation I was not dreaming. Like literally.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
She did a lesson on it wasn't a fluke. And so he answered all these questions about Alcatraz and and crazy stuff that I had no idea why how he knew. But the thing is, like all these people with Down syndrome, all these people who can't speak like you and I, you know they're absorbing a ton. It's like their senses, right, are heightened, auditory.
Caden Nelms
It's on a fluke it happened. Yeah.
Absolutely.
Mm.
Darcy Day And Brady
And all the things they're comprehending and listening to. And and so, yeah, they're they're always absorbing, that's for sure. So that's what I've learned. And it's a process to get to where Brady is now, like where he's just saying whatever he wants to say. Because it's like a sport, right? We're coaching the motor. And so it wasn't until he became really communicative when I completely got it. Like, you know, your first thing I remember the first thing he spelled that was like
openly communicating was ⁓ the practitioner asked him do you ever make new year's resolutions and i'm like what was he gonna say and he said yes every year i know you remember this every year i resolve not to let the little things blow up into chaos
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm.
Ooh, that's a good one though. It's a that's a hard one, but it's a good one. And it's a good one to stick by. I need to remember that for next year. Yeah, I think that's something everybody should do, yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah.
Shouldn't we all? Yeah, yeah.
So that's when it so it was a very it was a long process for me to absorb it because I'm we all are so conditioned by the Down syndrome world and this world because even when we were little kids we thought one thing about Down syndrome. It's always been thought to be an intellectual disability. Hands down it's not. It is not, they're wrong, and it is a motor dysfunction.
And the more severe somebody is, the more sensory challenged they are. So see they're my kids so severe. I'm like, Well, they probably just have more sensory challenges. And that's typically what it is.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Well, I ima and I imagine that we talked about, you know, ⁓ we all absorb things, individuals with Down syndrome, you know, they they absorb everything. And I imagine it's heightened because they can't express it back outward to everyone else and so they're keeping it in. And so the the letterboard I imagine just whether it's anger or happiness or whatever, you just express it back out. ⁓
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah.
Caden Nelms
I can't imagine, you know, I of course I can't run around and walk around, but I'm able to express myself, you know, through through talking. So d to find a way is amazing. So did you now the for the letter board, when did is that something that the person that y'all flew out and talked to had? Or is this something that y'all adapted to?
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah.
Yeah, there's we did go out, but there there's many different modalities. Like one is called rapid prompting method, and I think that was created maybe early two thousands. And then there's a spelling to communicate kind of community that uses the same type of boards. And then there's spellers, there's supportive typing. So there's all different ones. They've been around quite a while. So I've been trained in several modalities. and
But the gal that we went out to in California was the one in the interview and that's why I picked her. I'm like, I just she resonated with me, right? So I went to her. But but right before I signed up to be a practitioner, I'm not really sure why. I think it was a God thing because it's like I really didn't want at that time a a career. I was pretty happy, but I mean now I'm working with I have to. I have to work with these people because it's like I can't keep it to myself, right? And yeah, so ⁓ so there there are
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Darcy Day And Brady
many people doing it but ⁓ and it is gaining traction ⁓ but it's slow especially in the Down syndrome community it's it's difficult for people to start or try or have hope because we just all the experts have told us our kids are intellectually delayed and they're at about a whatever five grade level you know five year old level, their IQ's this or that because
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm.
Darcy Day And Brady
Right, all these tests of IQs. I don't know if you've ever had an IQ test. They're I think they're a bit of rubbish. But anyway
Caden Nelms
⁓ somehow
they made me do it, I believe, in elementary school with with like I guess if you're disabled you have to do it regardless of what your disability is, I feel like. I think they had me doing tests over a few years. And they knew my thing is I don't know, it's very interesting.
Darcy Day And Brady
Probably. But
yeah, but every single test, a person with Down syndrome or autism or any disability to measure their quote intelligences, it takes pointing. It takes writing, matching, stacking, speaking. Every single one of those is a motor task. No one's coach no one's coaching the motor. So guess what?
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm.
You don't want to
see my handwriting.
Darcy Day And Brady
They all fail.
They all fail these tests. And so what it says that they're at this level because they can't demonstrate that they understand. It's pretty simple if you really think about it.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Yeah, do you and this goes,
you know, when using an assisted device, I was always told and I I believe that, you know, the younger you start using it or get used to it, you know, practice, the easier it is. ⁓ for me, I was started very young with a wheelchair and they were mind blown. They're like, How how are you so good at this? And my dad, of course, told them it was because of video games. ⁓ but if and I maybe it's true the joysticks on it, maybe.
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah.
Caden Nelms
But then I wonder, you know, ⁓ if someone becomes blind later on in life, they have to learn to use the cane. Do you think if ⁓ kids with Down syndrome were able to use these letterboards and started that ⁓ you know, coaching younger, it would be not only would they be able to express themselves, but it would also be easier for them to keep that motor function or to build that b mu motor function back up faster?
Darcy Day And Brady
You have an opinion on the younger ones? Yeah. Mm-hmm.
You got it pretty. Y-O-U-N.
We make them.
Mm-hmm.
Mm. The younger the better.
You got it.
Yeah.
Look, look, look, look, look.
With the yeah.
It's like any sport.
And that put your neck up.
You got it, dude.
Mm. The more you practice.
becomes. So what was it? So he said, ⁓ the younger the better, it's like any sport. The more you practice, the easier it becomes.
Caden Nelms
So it's like that constant, you know what what's the terminology for it? The the more often you do it, the more second nature it becomes essentially. Kinda like anything else.
Darcy Day And Brady
Just just like with
with any task, right? Like you think about brushing your teeth or ri like some people learning to ride a bicycle. Some people Michael Jordan playing basketball. At first he couldn't make those three pointers. But what did he do? He practiced and he practiced and he practiced and then it's automatic. So that's what happens with spelling, you call it spelling, is the more you practice, the more automated it becomes. But at the beginning, you gotta like over, you gotta direct ⁓ and
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Yeah. Practice.
Darcy Day And Brady
major influence because they've never coordinated their eyes intentionally with their arm poking through a letter. Like it's totally new. Who whoever does this? You just don't, right? And so at the beginning it's different. And sometimes you hear me going, and then so that's for his motor. Look, look. And so it just helps his motor. It's like my voice is the gas to his motor, right? And so sometimes you'll hear me go, and or look or something like that.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
at this point, but many times he doesn't need any voice. ⁓ but ⁓ yeah, he wants me to go for the young ones. Do you wanna tell him why? Yeah. He's always saying, get the young ones and there's a big reason that well, there's a lot of reasons, but you can tell why. Mm
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
Keep going.
Mm-hmm. And you gotta do.
Yeah.
Mm.
My life was played.
I'll just play it right down to
Right down to every
Down to every failure.
Okay, so I get the first letter and
You're doing good.
So I gave up.
Every
You got it.
Every single day.
Yeah.
It's easier.
Two.
And it's easier to fail and
Easier to feel that you have fun.
Okay. Last trauma. See my life was plagued right down to every failure. So I gave up every single day. It's easier to fail than to have hope.
Yeah.
Caden Nelms
Yeah, that one that one hits it deep. That's when I was silent there. Yeah. Well, I I'm glad that that like we can use and you can use Brady's story to to tell these ⁓ younger people, you know, like or and their parents or whoever, like, hey, here's personal experience and you know, here's Brady's story and he's able to tell you now, like, I'm able to he's able to tell everybody now, you know, using using this device.
that hey it is working and it does work. ⁓ so Brady, I want to say one thank you for using your story to to tell other ⁓ kids and everyone ⁓ the the purpose and the good things that come out of technology, even if it's just, you know, just a letterboard. That's very, it's very cool. So thank you for that. And I wanted to ask
What is the your favorite thing you've been able to express with this? Like what is something that you felt so good just to tell everybody?
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah.
What's something really great that you've been able to express? What's just allowed you to be able to express that you're ecstatic about?
It did it? Did it?
My life for Christ Jesus My love for Christ Jesus, sorry.
Caden Nelms
Love it
Darcy Day And Brady
And
And keep going.
Yeah.
My love for Christ Jesus and the ability to tell my family my everythings.
Caden Nelms
Love it. Yeah, I mean again, it goes back to we we are so accustomed to, you know
being open to everyone, you know. Some people are more open than others, but at least we had the opportunity to be. And so this giving, you know, so many more people in the in the disability community and ⁓ people with Down syndrome the chance to feel the same way as, you know, we all do. It's amazing. I wanted we talked about this briefly.
People who don't understand or are skeptical about this, why do you think that is and what what do you say to them?
Darcy Day And Brady
We've we've talked a lot about this, right? Because you would think people would be flooding the streets wanting to learn this. And that's not the case, especially in the Down syndrome community. I think some of it is fear, a lot of it, right? So to think you've been wrong and doing so many different therapies and fighting for your kid all the time and advocating and then to know like, wait, maybe
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
Maybe all maybe I've been wrong all these years. What's that mean? And so people are afraid to ⁓ I think shift their mindset. You know, it's going against the grain, really. ⁓ and some people just don't have that in them to try to be open and just try. I mean, there's no side effects. What's the worst thing that can happen? I can't get through a letter. I mean, there's not really anything bad that can happen, right? ⁓ but ⁓
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
It's pe pride, I think pride, right? Because if I'm wrong, then that means I'm wrong and some people have a hard time admitting that. And you know, I'm not gonna lie, man, that it it's been a journey for me emotionally. I'm still processing it to you know, for eighteen years I did not treat him like a typically developing child. You know? I didn't talk to him like my girls. I have two girls that are twenty twenty one right now. Twenty one.
Caden Nelms
Mm.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
And Brady's twenty-three. So and I mean I didn't talk to Brady the way I talked to my girls. ⁓ I took all my girls to co-ops, no, not Brady, you know, so he got gypped a lot of his childhood because he could never demonstrate that he understood. And so then you you treat somebody a certain way, not like I baby talked to him or anything, but I certainly lowered everything down for him when he never really needed it.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
So ⁓ I I just think I think it's gotta be fear and pride. We've d ⁓ I'm trying to figure that out because they're they're very opposed to it. And ⁓ and and and then there's these huge billion dollar industries that are saying it's all fake. ⁓ okay, so am I telling him what he said? Like, come on guy. Like I'm not
Caden Nelms
Yeah. There
there's proof, you know.
Darcy Day And Brady
Telling him to go to the
F and the A and I mean there's just no way, you know, and I don't have that much energy to fake all this. I mean, I don't have the time. So that's people's go-to is that it's fake. And it's like, but when you see it, that's why I wanted him to spell for you. Like, there's just no way. That's just ridiculous. But that's a cop out. That's an easy cop out to just say, I'm not gonna try. So anyway, I think for us, we just will plant the seeds for the people who wanna hear. Some people will never get there.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
They'll never lower down and just try to open their mind. But then there are more and more people inquiring 'cause I'm the only practitioner that's specializing in the it there's no other ones that are specializing in the Down syndrome. I it's tragic. I mean some, maybe have one or two, but that's my focus is the Down syndrome population. And so, ⁓ we just need more people getting on board and and spreading the truth, right? About these people and that this is a very ⁓
Caden Nelms
wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
non-technical technology. By the way, AAC devices, he has his own opinion, and so do lots of spellers. They it's all fine motor and they can't point reliably consistently. And that's why they don't work. They're not a robust, they're not a robust me. I don't know anybody, anybody using an AAC device that's robustly communicating and started on that.
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm.
⁓ yeah, I hadn't thought about that.
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah, I mean maybe I want juice, but then they they stem on it and they play the same button over and over and over. And it's not a robust, you know, communication tool where they're saying what Brady's saying on the letterboard. Now he we are tr transitioning to the keyboard. Okay. So the goal is autonomy, right? So instead of me having to hold the board, ⁓ but the keyboard's a whole other beast. That is gonna be going into fine motor.
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
And the eyes. The Downstone population has significant challenges with their eyes. And so it's a harder it's not impossible. This is gonna take a lot of practice for him to get independent on the keyboard, but I know he will.
Caden Nelms
Okay.
I was gonna ask, I was gonna say on the on the letterboard, I saw you know it's A through Z. Do they have options or have you looked at options with like numbers on it? Things like that.
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah, we have a number board. He knows he knows math like no one's business. Like like it's all mental.
Caden Nelms
Okay.
Better than me, I'm
I'm doing my real estate classes right now. ⁓ 'cause I work part time in a real estate office and they wanted me to get my license to be able to help out more. ⁓ I do their social media and I got towards the end of the classes and there is math and I said, ⁓ no. And I've been having to ask some of the agents for help. I'm like, Hey, yeah, I can do math, but I'm not good at it. And remembering these things are not like
I don't need to know ha the interest rate and stuff like that. Like you lose me. Like ⁓ no. Yeah. That is not my thing.
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah. Yeah, well he he learns
math on a on a whole other level. So they they all do I'm gonna generalize, but they all do mental math in their head. Very complex problems, not a problem for these people. Yeah, their brains are you know so little about the brains, right? And so ⁓ it it's it's all in there, you know, and I never taught him math by the way, but the kind of problems he can do is quite miraculous.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know.
It's
Yeah. I ⁓ it's you you mentioned that ⁓ we only know so little we know so little about our our brains and that's it kinda goes back to people who don't you know don't believe this, thinks it's you know, whatever, fake, whatever they may say. That doesn't make sense to me because just with my disability, I'm twenty four. Just with my disability, when I was born and diagnosed, there was no cure, no treatment, anything.
Darcy Day And Brady
He could be your tutor.
Caden Nelms
the first treatment twenty seventeen. And there were some skeptical people, but most people were jumping onto it. And then now there's three or two or three or maybe even four, you know. And like technology ideas, people in the you know, disability community and the scientists, whoever, maybe are always learning and changing their mind. And so you can't be so closed minded in my opinion.
Darcy Day And Brady
Yes.
Caden Nelms
when it comes to disabilities or anything in life, because there's always room for change and new discoveries, you know.
Darcy Day And Brady
And we we should be doing that, right? And these so called experts, I would say most are well intentioned, but they're completely missing the boat. They're asking for motor output to show intelligence, period. Hey, folks, all these people that can't speak like you and I, they have a motor ⁓ dysfunction.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
It's just very simple, right? So let's start coaching the motor. And so that's what we do, right? And so and even with tasks, daily tasks for Brady, he knows how to make his own breakfast, but and he knows all the steps, but we have to motor coach him and we actually do that. He's making his own steak and mushrooms and onion he likes steak for breakfast. So he he makes that in the morning, but that took a lot of coaching and at first it was Michael Jordan at the three shot.
Caden Nelms
Mm.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
You know, not making any baskets, but now it's much easier because guess what? He's been doing it over and over and over. It's the same with communication. So if we teach the motor that's what they're missing, then their lives can be ⁓ my God, it it's gonna flip upside down in a wonderful way.
Caden Nelms
I well one I'm excited to see keep up to date and see Brady all the more stuff that you, you know, help educate people on and coach the motors in yourself to do. ⁓ I'm jealous of the, you know, that steak mushroom mushroom mill, cause I don't get that for breakfast or anything. I need to learn how to do that. ⁓
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah.
He says steak
is his brain food. It helps his brain.
Caden Nelms
Hey, I agree. I need to I need to tell my parents that so maybe I get it some more. but ⁓ Darcy, I wanted to ask you, and I know I've kept y'all for a while, so I'm gonna let y'all go soon. what I I was looking at the questions that you offer on the thing just to look at. ⁓ and you ask you have a question that says, ⁓ how did your relationship with your son change once he had a way to fully express himself?
Darcy Day And Brady
Yeah.
Caden Nelms
I wanna ask that and what is something that cause you you you talked about this like whenever ⁓ Brady first started using the board you you just stared and kind of apologized. ⁓ and I know that that would be very incredibly difficult and like this whole other world opening up is incredibly difficult. On top of how did your relationship change, is there anything that you like look back on you're like, like I'm so sorry that this
You know, I did this 'cause I didn't know, you know, 'cause I think we're always learning and growing. You say what?
Darcy Day And Brady
I'm still apologizing.
Thank god I said I'm still apologizing. Things creep up. ⁓ I mean, I know Brady has given me tons of grace. I I believe he's forgiven me. You know, when we know better we do better, right? So I I try, I mean, there was a time where I mean serious trauma
Caden Nelms
Ha ha ha.
Exactly.
Darcy Day And Brady
in both of us, right? When we both realized, my gosh, what's this mean? And I mean it's been hard. It still is hard. We're still I mean, we're on a healing journey 'cause ⁓ you can imagine, like for Brady, it's it's not even like PTSD. It's like on steroids when you're trapped and the whole world, including your mom, thinks you're cognitively delayed and and you just go on the road of failure. I mean
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
you have no choice. You have to forget Forget it. Right. And so, ⁓ but I try not to stay I I don't feel guilty anymore, right? Because that's not gonna do any good. So I I just try to like when things start creeping up, I think, yeah, I remember that time. Yeah. I'm really sorry about that. And so but he doesn't quite he d he's not a type of person to throw you under the bus. He's
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
You are filled so much with grace, which is thank God. I think maybe that's some fear too. Like, what's my kid gonna say? So, right? Of parents, because they're gonna say it. And you gotta be prepared and you gotta be tough. You know, this is not for the ⁓ faint of heart, this journey. It's been very, very difficult emotionally. So our relationship, I mean, ⁓ my gosh, it's totally different. Completely.
Caden Nelms
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
completely everything, right? Like we read to him the first thing we did was we're not going to the picture books in the library. Yeah, for 18 years. Picture books for Brady. Sorry, honey. I've apologized for that. Now he reads all the classics. Shakespeare. yeah. And he's read all the Shakespeare plays. yes. ⁓ with my husband. He ⁓
Caden Nelms
Yeah, I imagine, yeah.
Yeah.
wow.
Darcy Day And Brady
Very high cognitive, all the classics. We're reading all he's grapes of wrath. I love that. So all the classic books. And ⁓ we do Bible studies together now. We I mean I talk to him a lot more, try to engage more. It it's a whole other it's it's like I'm getting to know my son for the first time.
Caden Nelms
Yeah. And you made me think you said that ⁓ you know, it's like this essentially PTSD on steroids, you know, once once you realize it made me think, you know, they they they say there's medical trauma, which is definitely a thing. You have bad experiences, medical trauma. I think there is such a thing as disability trauma, which I haven't thought about a whole lot, but like not only for the disabled person themselves, but the families and whether it be, you know
Darcy Day And Brady
Yes.
Caden Nelms
situation with y'all. It's me as I grow. I'm from a small town. As I grow, ⁓ we learn new things and we experience things differently than other disabled individuals in my situation, ⁓ or using a wheelchair or just how you were treated when you, you know, having a disability. So I think that ⁓ disability trauma is a real thing, which I hadn't super like thought a lot about, but now I'm very interested in figuring more about
where can they learn more about y'all's story, Brady's story, and more information about all of these things?
Darcy Day And Brady
Brady's story.
Yeah, that's quite a miracle. ⁓ okay, so I have a business and so we live in Phoenix, Arizona. Where are you where do you live?
Caden Nelms
Okay.
I live in North Georgia. Do you know cabbage patch babies?
Darcy Day And Brady
Yes.
Caden Nelms
That's what the home the birthplace of Cabbage Patch babies.
Darcy Day And Brady
There's a lot of spellers in Atlanta. But anyway, ⁓ so my business is called Speller Zona, right? So Speller Zona, like Arizona. And and Bray, the the my Facebook page is where the juice is. Like every day I post his words.
Every single day. And so that's been going on years now. So we've been spelling four and a half years. I didn't used to post every day, but the last year probably or a couple years, probably every day. And that's where you're gonna really unpack things because it's profound, all the things that you're talking about, Brady. ⁓ so that's another place and then I have a newsletter on Spellerzona that every month the newsletter comes out and you learn more about
Spelling and Brady's Journey, and you know, I've worked with other over ⁓ 80 people with Down syndrome. Guess what? They all can do it. Every single one. And guess what? None of them are cognitively delayed. Not one. Even the four-year-olds, even the 58-year-olds. I'm I'm not kidding. Yeah.
Caden Nelms
They're spelling. Love it.
wow.
wow.
I need to sign up for that newsletter because I'm so interested when I was reading up on your y'all's information. I was like, what is this? And I looked at your website and I was like, first I need to get some merch. I need to go buy some t shirts. And I said, and also I need to get that newsletter. Yeah, I know. I like the look of it. I was my favorite my second favorite color is blue. It used to be my favorite color used to be blue and now it's purple. That's why my per hair is purple.
Darcy Day And Brady
Yes. Rethink here we go.
We can get you a purple one. We can send you one.
Caden Nelms
But I was like, that is ⁓ yeah, I was like, I'm gonna do a deep dive on this website now, so I'll do the newsletter now as well.
Darcy Day And Brady
It's it's it is like a I mean it feels like a miracle, but it isn't, right? Because like everybody can do it, but no one's talking about it. There's pushback in these billion dollar I mean, let's think about this here. Special ed. No, ⁓ that's not the answer. None of these kids need dumbed down. None. Right? So that disrupts the entire system. So you know what that means. So
Caden Nelms
Exactly.
Darcy Day And Brady
To admit that they've all been wrong, that's gonna be a hard, hard thing for anybody to admit when it's billions of dollars on the line. So we just plant seeds. Yeah. You know.
Caden Nelms
Yep, that's yeah.
That's why my
medicine that I used to be taking should not have costed a hundred thousand dollars per injection. But it that was the only one that was approved by FDA, so they had an excuse. Yep. I talk about that one a lot, because that is wild to me. But but yeah. So Brady, is there anything else you want to say before we before we go?
Darcy Day And Brady
So ridiculous.
Exactly. You know the drill.
Janetta.
And and
Mm-hmm.
your open mind and heart.
Mm, mm-hmm, mm.
Your God's gift to our broken world. What was the beginning? My husband's recording. Love your open mind and heart. Your God's gift to our broken world.
Caden Nelms
thank you, Brady. And the what you're doing as well. I I can't thank you enough. I think everybody, you know, ⁓ seeing seeing people with a disability being, you know, advocates to not only their own lives but to everyone else, I think it's such an important thing and it can be hard sometimes. So I think Brady, I think you've
Darcy Day And Brady
I
Mm-hmm.
I was gonna point something out.
So on he had about two typos. So he might have gone to the I to the E once and there was another letter he did one misspoke. And so people are like that wasn't the word. So when we type, how many times do we have to do a backspace? More than twice. Yeah. So he only had two mistypes, miss pokes on that whole thing. So I see those are the naysayers. See they well, no.
Caden Nelms
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, you don't wanna see my text messages. It's g like it's bad.
Okay.
Darcy Day And Brady
Go back and look at that footage. Pretty accurate there. Better than I could ever tell. Yeah, yeah.
Caden Nelms
Yeah. Yeah, no,
you you will not see my any of my messages correct the first way the first time through it without going back. And again, that's partially due to my disability. My arms get tired. I think same same situation, you know. Not only does it happen naturally, but sometimes yeah, I can you gotta go back and fix things. But that's just how that's how life is, that's how it is, you know, whether you have a disability or not, for sure.
Darcy Day And Brady
Exactly.
Yes
And you're right. It's very tiring for spellers. He always says how heavy his arm is. It's it is difficult, right? To keep powering through and thinking and what's next and what and and to put it into words. I don't I actually don't think he thinks like that. So to put everything into letter by letter, it's difficult, right? Into what you're thinking. And so and keeping it all together. I'm not sure how you even do that, Brady. But ⁓ so again, it's
Caden Nelms
Mm.
Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
It's a method that takes practice and coaching. You can't just get a letterboard and expect your kid to p voila. You know, there's a lot to it. Yeah, yeah. A lot of practice.
Caden Nelms
Yeah. A lot of practice for sure.
Well, I want to definitely stay in touch. I'm very interested in Brady, your story, but also the, you know, ⁓ Spellerzona and all of that. So I hope we get to stay in touch. how can they well the website is it speller spellerzona dot com? Dot com. Okay, I just want to make sure. Yeah.
Darcy Day And Brady
Mm.
.com. Yes. Yeah.
Caden Nelms
All right. Thank you all both for being here.
Darcy Day And Brady
Thank you so much for having us. We appreciate it.
Caden Nelms
Absolutely.
