SPELLERS Gives a Voice to Some of Our Most Underestimated Children

Back in 2021, I read a book that had me weeping tears of joy on beach in Costa Rica.

Underestimated: An Autism Miracle is a testament to the love and dedication of parents and the incredible resilience of the human spirit.

In Underestimated: An Autism Miracle, Generation Rescue’s cofounder J.B. Handley and his teenage son Jamison tell the remarkable story of Jamison’s journey to find a method of communication that allowed him to show the world that he was a brilliant, wise, generous, and complex individual who had been misunderstood and underestimated by everyone in his life.

We now know that there is an untapped wealth of wisdom and grit waiting to be freed and a powerful new tool for accessing this potential.

In other words, a mountain of miracles await!

SPELLERS is the documentary inspired by this story:

Inspired by the book Underestimated, the new full-length documentary SPELLERS challenges conventional wisdom regarding a group relegated to society’s margins: nonspeakers with autism, who most “experts” believe are cognitively disabled.

As the film opening asks, “What if we’ve been wrong…about every single one of them?” SPELLERS answers that question, in convincing fashion, through the stories of eight nonspeakers—Aydan, Evan, Sid, Maddie, Jamie, Vince, Cade, and Elizabeth—who all found their voice through the miraculous process of using a letterboard to communicate their thoughts and feelings. As Jamie explains, “we think, feel, and learn just like everyone else.”

The film blends beautiful cinematography with heart-wrenching stories of these eight spellers and a strong message for every parent of a nonspeaker: your child can do this, too. SPELLERS also demands that teachers, schools, and therapists wake up to the reality that we may have underestimated the abilities of more than 50 million people worldwide.

I can’t wait to see this film!

Private screenings of this inspiring film are being hosted in three locations throughout New Jersey on April 29 & 30. You can reserve your spot now by following the links below:

SCREENINGS:

Rockaway: Sunday, April 30th 2-4pm
AMC Rockaway 16, Auditorium 2
363 Mount Hope Avenue Rockaway, NJ 07866
Hosted by Alexandra Ponsica & Natalie Vitone
from See Me Speak
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spellers-movie-private-screening-event-tickets-575204350697

Paramus: Sunday, April 30th 3-5pm
AMC Garden State Plaza 15, Auditorium #8
Garden State Plaza Boulevard Paramus, NJ 07652
Hosted by Olga Swiatkowska from Mindful Motor
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spellers-movie-private-screening-event-tickets-575146918917?aff=erellivmlt

Princeton: Saturday, April 29th 2-4pm
AMC MarketFair 10, Auditorium 7
3521 U.S. 1 Princeton, NJ 08540
Hosted by Megan O'Neil Fennelly
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spellers-movie-private-screening-event-tickets-575138212877?aff=erelpanelorg

Let’s do what we can to free all of our nonverbal loved ones from their “prison of silence.”