Apple tells us about Dillan in a new advertisement

Tim Sullivan
Apr 4, 2016
2 min read

On Friday April 2nd, 2016 Apple released two videos on their YouTube channel. These videos recognized Autism Awareness Month, and were about Dillan. Dillan was born in 1999 and was diagnosed with autism. Dillan has been described as ‘that kid', the one who struggles the most.

One of Dillan’s biggest struggles was that he had no way of communicating with anyone else, and because of this people saw him as not intelligent. Deborah Spenglar, Dillan’s Therapist really hits it on the head when she says “We just fall back on our preconceived notions that if you’re not making eye contact with me, you must not be listening to me, you must not understand me.” Just because of his appearance on the outside, people thought Dillan couldn’t understand a thing.

The truth was Dillan was trapped inside, he was ready to talk, ready to listen, but just couldn’t. To communicate Dillan types, he types out his thoughts word by word to form a conversation. When Dillan started typing he said it was like being freed. His mom said, “Not being able to speak isn’t the same as not having anything to say.” In the video created by Apple, Dillan types about how hard it is living with autism and that before he could type he was forced to create relationships with his toys. He also says, “without a voice people just see the autism and not the real me.” Once, when Dillan was having a hard day, Deborah took him outside and said “I don’t think I’m the right person to help you.” After, Dillan typed, “Appreciate all you do, always.” Technology gave Dillan a chance to share his voice, and his life is forever changed.

Dillan wants everyone to have a voice, natural, or with a little help from technology everyone deserves to be herd. Please take time during this month of Autism Awareness to check out more on Dillan’s story on YouTube or on Apple's website.

One of Apple's videos on the story is below.