S1 Episode 16- Yahya Lutfi

Yahya is the ultimate The Wiggles superfan and has met them several times which inspired him to write his book “Diaries of an Autistic Superfan” Yahya has written several other books  

His passion doesn’t stop there—he’s actively involved in theater and has a love for traveling that continues to inspire those around him.

 Tune in as we dive into Yahya’s journey, his creative work, and the joy he brings to everything he does. You won’t want to miss this uplifting and inspiring conversation!

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:09

Welcome back to another episode of Moms Raising the Spectrum. We're so glad to have you here today along with another special guest that I will give Amy do the honors of introducing. Yaya! We're so excited to have you here with us today. We met a couple of years ago through uh a love of the wiggles, and uh we met at the Zoom walk. Another wiggle lover. Well, go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

I'm Yaya Luthy and I'm 32 and I'm I'm the biggest fan of the wiggles and I have autism and yeah. Yeah, he is uh a huge, huge fan.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

And we're gonna dive right in to talk about the wiggles.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Yeah, to celebrate the wiggles 35th birthday.

SPEAKER_04 1:01

35th birthday? When was that?

SPEAKER_03 1:04

It was 1991.

SPEAKER_04 1:05

Wow. Wow. A long time, yeah. And so when did you discover the wiggles?

SPEAKER_03 1:12

I discovered the wiggles where I first saw Mr. Moose's fun time on Fox Family, you know, and now before. Yeah. And right before the Wiggles, I got into interested. There were some fantastic dancers I knew, like Dwayne Hendrick and Fernando McGall Jr., those are two dancers that I recognized them from Barney. Oh they were didn't the Widows like tour with Barney or something? Yeah, Barney's musical council when Fernando played Andy. Oh, how fun. And so you just followed them from there, huh?

SPEAKER_04 1:51

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what are some of your favorite songs?

SPEAKER_03 1:55

My favorite songs are fruit salad, yummy, yummy. That I that I make every that I make every day. You make a fruit salad every day. Yeah, my own, yeah. What all do you put in it? Like apples, bananas, and grapes and melons, and I could put everything in it. So good. Oh yum. Okay, what are some other ones? Like give it eight a week old, we established from 1991. And they still sing that to this day with the new group, huh? Yeah. Rock a bar of ear is when Jeff falls asleep and Lockie falls asleep as well.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

I love you know Jackson loves that one. Yeah. He sings that all the time now. He goes, Hands in the air, rock goodbye, you bear. Yeah. Because it bears man asleep. Yeah, the cutest thing. Yes. It's a song that when did that one start? Did that one start with Jeff?

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

And the other one, since then Lockie fell asleep. Now Lockie falls asleep and Jackson goes, Wake up, Lockie!

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Or wake up, Teddy!

SPEAKER_03 3:01

What are some other ones you like? Dorothy the Dinosaur was adopted to the cockroaches Another Saturday night.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Yeah, oh that's a good one. Who was the first person to play Dorothy the Dinosaur?

SPEAKER_03 3:13

It was Murray. Murray. The voiceover. And now voiceover, Carolyn and something like that. Yeah. He knows all the facts. All of them. Like starting at the 2002, I became first friends with first men with the Ligels at the celebrity theater where I met Greg Murray and Jeff. And I first I even met the first Field brother, Anthony's brother, which is Paul Field.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

He's the one that's like the director or creator, right? Yeah. Yeah. Pretty cool. We're we're gonna dive in more about his him meeting them and the how many times you've seen him and all that. We'll get to that.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

But you gotta get Kai into the wiggles.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

He likes music and everything. Yeah. Just show him the video and just see what happens. That's how it starts. Do you have a favorite wiggle?

SPEAKER_03 4:05

My favorite Greg wiggle gre favorite wiggle is Greg because he's the best singer and lead singer. He has a great voice and personality and Yeah, he's the original yellow wiggle.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

Oh yeah. Yeah. He's is he doing anything now or is he just kind of helping out once in a while with joining in on certain videos?

SPEAKER_03 4:27

I watched him on Butterscotch's Playground and Oh, is that another little kid's show? Yeah. Oh how cool. Nowadays I get to watch Emma Mema on YouTube. I know.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

So Emma was the girl yellow bickle. And she was there from 2012. Yeah, 2013 through 2021. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. So that's when I really got into it. Jackson got into it. And uh she's got her own little uh separate show now where she does a lot of sign language. Yeah. She went she got her PhD in in sign language and stuff. So video editing like I do. Yeah. She's a wonderful woman. I've actually I talked to her online one time and thanked her for uh encouraging me to Irish dance. She was when I encouraged me to Irish dance. We'll have to have an ultimate wiggles episode. Yes. Yes, I know big collaboration. Maybe one day they can come on virtually, right? Yeah. That would be really cool. Yeah. Hey. Lockie, Simon, Anthony. I could go on. We want you, right? We want you on sometime. Come on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

Why does the wiggle so special to you? It really means a lot to me, like the singing and dancing, and I get to be involved in the different four areas. Like we can remember, like the OG Wiggles and Sam Wiggles when Greg left 20 oh 20 years ago in 2006. Sam was there for a little bit, huh? Yeah, when he became a part-time Wickle and full-time Wiggle for the next five years. And now Emma Wiggle son replaced Murray and Lucky replaced Jeff and Greg. Emma replaced Greg up until 2021. And now the current Wiggles, the first on TV. There's eight total now, right? Two of these guys make it eight wiggles.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

And I we got to meet all of them. Yeah, call the cane. Yeah. Tell us who all the uh all eight of them are now. Anthony is the OG one.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

And his daughter Ochia and Brother Boo Wiggle. Yeah, Simon and Katarina is the red wiggle. Lockie is the purple, and John is the other one. Evie and Sahai. Oh the yellow wiggles.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

Or the yellow wiggles. Yeah. And then um Katerina, the Red Wiggles, she's been with them for a while as a backup dancer, right? Yeah, for the past 23 years ago to be exact. Oh wow. And then her and Lockie both had twins. Yeah. Isn't that pretty cool?

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Glesby and Dahlia GT.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

He knows everything. You could ask any little questions.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

Also, Simon and John have subs like Asher and Henry, which was named after the cop coaches.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

I was gonna say Henry the octopus. And um so we met them back in June with last year? Yeah. Yeah. So uh we'll talk a little bit about that and then we'll go back um in time, but it was so special. He told me that they were coming in uh concert in Tucson, and he was like, You've gotta go, you've gotta go, you gotta take Jackson, and I was like, you know what, we sure do. And then I remember um reaching out to your mom like and you and asking, okay, you've met them many times before, yeah, let's see if we can do it together. And uh we both reached out to the Wiggles, um, their PR team and all that, and because they have like a certain meet and greet that you can buy, but with uh Jackson being on the spectrum and Yaya being on the spectrum, it's a lot harder to wait in line and you know to do all that. So they set up a little private meet and greet, huh? Yeah. It was I tried so hard not to cry. Um, but it was on stage, right? Yeah. And it was like before the show started, the curtains were up and they had their whole setup behind us. And we're just sitting in there, it was Jackson, Yaya, me and his mom, and there was another two other families. And as soon as the wiggles came out um of the little entrance thing for their stage, it was just pure joy, huh? Yeah. That was the first time you got to meet the new Wiggles.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

Yeah, I yeah, I yeah, I made friends with five new Wiggles and they fit in really well.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Yes, they're a great, great group. Um, I'll never forget Jackson just like pointing at them and just so excited, and they came over and he's a popular thing. Also, I showcased the old photos. Yes. He brought his book to show phone as well. Yeah, oh yeah. Because he's met Simon and Walkie before. And so as soon as they haul saw him, they're like, yeah. I'm like, they know him.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

I showed Rakia that I saw the old photo of 2002 with me and the wiggles and Paul Field.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

Aww. So she got to see a photo of you and her dad when uh from years ago. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

And also I showed case of the photo of me and Brooke, which is the highest friend. Oh. We went on my dream vacation to Greece.

SPEAKER_04 10:13

Oh did you go to Greece to meet the Whiggles? No, or just went there for fun. I went there for fun and I even met Brooke. How did you meet Brooke there?

SPEAKER_03 10:24

She's one of the dancers and she she's one of Ben Murray's friend.

SPEAKER_04 10:29

Oh, gotcha. Okay. And then um I remember they were Anthony didn't didn't come out at the beginning. Then we were all talking, and then all of a sudden Anthony walks out and he knows Yaya from years ago since he's the original uh Blue Wiggle. What was that like to see Anthony again?

SPEAKER_03 10:51

It was I told him that it's been a long time since COVID and Emma's departure. Yeah. He's you've seen him since you were little. Yeah. Uh huh. Um I met them in Minnesota as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

So uh let you ask the next question and then I have a follow-up question. Well, can you tell us about the first time you met the Ligos?

SPEAKER_03 11:16

I met them on June 2nd, 2002, which is the celebrity theater downtown Phoenix. Downtown Phoenix, yeah. How did you uh did you just uh have like a special meet and greet? During the show, Murray came up to me and Mom asked him if she could do if they could do a meet and greet after the show and and Murray was the original Red Wiggle. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

And then it just from there you went backstage after the show and Yeah, I f when I first met them I felt a little shy at first, but Jeff asked me how old am I and and I was like, I was eight.

SPEAKER_04 11:58

Eight eight. That's how long he's been uh seeing them over the years. That's amazing. They really got to watch you grow up, huh? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

Especially Anthony. Yeah. Now you're uh I met them in Minnesota and Madison and Madison, Wisconsin?

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Yeah. Oh wow. Where else have you gone to go see them?

SPEAKER_03 12:21

I've gone to London 21 years ago, which was 2005. Wow. And we were walking around the venue, and Anthony called out to me and like, hey, uh You knew who you were, huh?

SPEAKER_04 12:36

And that leads me to um well before I go into that, did you meet did you go to Australia? Yeah, yeah. To go meet them. That's so cool. When um we were thinking of Jackson's uh wish for make a wish, that was one of my first things I thought of was to go to Australia to meet the Wiggles. But it was during the pandemic and they weren't allowing anybody to come, and they're like, we can do virtual, and he wouldn't understand. That's not the same. But that leads us into um your book, Diaries of an Autistic Super Fan, where you talk about, and I've read it probably three times by now, um, during Jackson's hospital stays, I would read that in the hospital. Um, you have pictures and you talk about all the times that you've met them and where you've gone. Tell us a little bit about um your book.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Well Diaries of Autistic Superfan was one of my best first books that I ever written. And mom set me up for the story writing class back five years ago during the pandemic, and and on October 18th, Emma has announced her retire her retirement and it gave me an idea how I became how I wanted how I wanted to write a book and how to keep my how to keep my memories and to remember them and Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

Yeah, so that's what came about with the the diary book. Yeah. Yeah. Um asking about the other book. Yeah, can you tell us more about the other books that you have over here?

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Yeah, and three years ago, and things keep struggling and how I wanted to go places that I missed Milwaukee back then. But it turns out Dad was was when was in Milwaukee and and sh he gave me the sugars and the cookies and gave me the beets that sh my cousin Shyma, which was Mars cousin wife, gave me and gave me and and I thanked him for doing that for me. And and my friend Omar and his family came to Arizona, which made baby made me very happy by not getting me homesick. Yeah. And two years ago I had my book tour. Oh we were gone back then, and on August 7th through September 4th. Where'd you go for your book tour? Went to Minnesota and Milwaukee and all across the state.

SPEAKER_04 15:26

Nice. And so tell us a little bit about which one's this one?

SPEAKER_03 15:30

The homesick poetry.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Yeah. So tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

This is how I became very lonely and sad and remember my um. But it turns out mom after mom get that. Yeah, after that, mom after mom had a conversation with Dietra, she came into my room and told me about how about my dream vacation.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Yeah. And that was Greece. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

And a new one's coming out from my happy to happiness song cake. Poetry coming out soon and like that. But nowadays I could but now for my homesake poetry prize, I even wrote that for the new travel book. It's on it. You're just so write new memories for it.

SPEAKER_04 16:25

Oh good. I gotta keep it. You're constantly are you constantly journaling? Yeah. With your ideas. Yeah. I love it. That's what you got. What do you pops in your head? You gotta get it down, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Yeah, for my new travels and then Wiggles concerts back for my new ones. I gotta love. I and also I wrote the Australia Zoo book. Ooh! Yeah, hold on to that one because we're gonna talk about that one too. This one, how I how I bec how I went to Australia Zoo. Steve Berlin! Awww. You like Steve Berlin. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

I even watched him on Wiggly Safari and Duets. Yes, the duets one. I like that one. That's what that's when he was passed, and it was uh his son and his wife, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah, and so I had his daughter and his daughter Bindy. Yes. Yeah. Eleven years ago, Bindy was BD won on Dancing with the Stars. That's right. And not only that, Robert won last year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

That's about ten years later. Ten years on the nose. How special is that? I even made a collage and a video that I made. Awwww, honoring that. Yeah. Yeah. So you went to the Australia Zoo when you went there? Yeah. Yeah. What was your favorite animal to see when you were there? The koala. I love coala. Yes. Was that just uh did that fill your heart with joy seeing one for the first time? Was it enclosed or did you get to like encounter with it? Oh I bet they're so adorable. Oh. And then tell us about the next book. It's a new book that I wrote down under. Oh, so it's another a separate part of your Australia trip? Yeah. Uh huh. What kind of things are in there? Like the Ooh, look at that. Look at you.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

The show was sold out all with of Greg's friends from the Regals who were there supporting him, him and also Eagles' friends. I saw Anthony Emma Rocky sitting towards the back. Aww. They just love how they support each other. Yeah. This is Greg's show, Butterscotchers Playground. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_04 18:48

Do you um the person that does your art, is it someone that you know? Or what if uh one of our friends named Tom who lives in LA? Yeah. Oh they do such a good job. I love it. Um do you uh jot down your notes and then you have someone that kind of uh helps you put it all together? Or yeah, that's so helpful. Yeah. They're great. I'm so proud of you. And don't you have a coloring book too? Yeah, mom's having it. Yay, I think I did I buy that one off of you just recently. I I can't remember. I have a stack of your books. It's like which one don't I have? I know. I'm just gonna keep giving him the Jackson. He'll look at 'em. He sees the wiggles in the books, and he likes that. Alrighty. Uh, what was the experience um like writing your books?

SPEAKER_03 19:50

Writing helps me give me some time to give you thoughts and what I do. Then I start journaling them, how I bec journal them to my new memories, and like I'm writing with like now I'm doing on my phone called Diaries of Autistic Super Fan, Let the Wiggles Legacy Continue. And the other one is Diaries of Autistic World Traveler.

SPEAKER_04 20:23

Look at you. I cannot wait to see all those come to life and come into a book.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

Two years Wisconsin and last year Portland. No, Portland was that a new place for you. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:36

What did you think? Was it Oregon? Yeah. What did you think of Oregon? It was like Was it too gloomy? No. No, it was fun. Yeah. Good. We also had a family reunion there. Oh, do you so you have family in Oregon? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, but that was nice to see everybody. All right. Well, we're gonna um go on further with some other questions. Uh growing up, were there any challenges that you remember facing like at school or math?

SPEAKER_03 21:12

Math? Maths have not having problems with me.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

I don't like math. I'd I kill you on that one. I have trouble. Well I'm good with years and money and mem yeah. Those kind but like the division and all that kind of factions and all, I can care less about that.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Yeah, I'm good with chores, money, and uh bills and the mentals of life, huh? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:38

Yeah. Um did you have a favorite thing that uh favorite subject? Did you like writing in school? Yeah. Yeah. Like reading and you like reading and writing in school? Yeah. I could see that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

And what was school like for you? Like big challenge for me and Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:58

Did you go to school here in Arizona?

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Uh I used to, but no. I first when I was about that little up until seven years I left during the after before the pandemic came in.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

Yeah. Um did you go to like an elementary school or I went to hiring. Hiring school?

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Yeah. Yeah. Well where I went to kindergarten in fifth grade and middle school and date. The uh Mark the I went to Mark Costa D's high school and went to nine, ten, eleven, twelve. The mom asked me to stay there for super senior year.

SPEAKER_04 22:43

Did you um enjoy like uh music, dance, anything like that at school?

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Yeah, I like dancing and I even did choir there as well. I could feel that. Like 13 years ago I joined label connection. What's that? It's like an autistic choir. Oh I don't know that.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

Not only for five years, they discontinued. Aww. But I bet that was a lot of fun though, huh? Yeah. Yeah. Good for you. Did you go to any like the school dances or anything like that, or was that?

SPEAKER_03 23:24

I went in RT Paragon. It's like a social dance.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

You like dancing, or you just like dancing? I can see that. You should see Bobby dance to the wiggles. He's got some good moves.

SPEAKER_03 23:43

I get to go to seeds. Oh, you go to seeds. Oh, what do you do at seeds? Like so many things I can do, like the jewelry and the something like that.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

Do you know what do they have a um it's like an app coming up? I think so. They have it's like arts and crafts, right? Yeah, yeah. So for listeners, it's for autism. So we can do have a stomach. Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool when we make some stuff that the individuals make. What's the bone?

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Bone pillow I gave to Rags.

SPEAKER_04 24:18

Oh yes! Yes, tell us a little bit more about that. I forgot about it.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

We have this bone pillow at each and we put a special note on it, and I gave it up to Rags as well.

SPEAKER_04 24:32

You gave it to Rags the dog, we have to come back. Yeah. Oh chess that's bad. And then as an adult now, what are some things that still feel challenging?

SPEAKER_03 24:52

Uh I get to do chore. I get to do chores, I can check out the money I make, and then I can do empowered theater art, like singing at dancing, which is a new program for artistic artist, something like that.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

Yeah, it's uh like uh an artist uh group for like writing, painting, like theater. Oh, theater!

SPEAKER_03 25:26

How fun! And I also get to do detour theater like tech pro tech work like that, and of which I'm doing the special tech work. The D core concrete. You're gonna be on the tech work at the tech work. Yay!

SPEAKER_04 25:48

So you and Sam are gonna be doing the tech work behind the scenes. Diamond and Andrea are doing it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

I get to help them out with the something like that.

SPEAKER_04 25:59

Um I told Sam I want to try and get uh I want to get them on the podcast to talk more about the theater. It's so cool. Hopefully you get to come watch Greece. I have a friend Emma who's um in Greece this year. Yeah. She's playing uh Marty, I think it is. Yeah. Uh what a great organization detour is, huh?

SPEAKER_03 26:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:22

Well you you were in a play. You told me you were in a play with Sam. Yeah, which was girls.

SPEAKER_03 26:28

Mean girls. Who did you play? I played Mr. the Ball and my friend Sam played Miss Marty.

SPEAKER_04 26:37

How was that?

SPEAKER_03 26:38

Was that uh Tim Meadows and Tina Fay were left-handed, and Sam and I are right-handed.

SPEAKER_04 26:46

Oh, did you have to pretend to be left-handed?

SPEAKER_03 26:49

I I put my glove glove on on my left hand to make it look like right-handed.

SPEAKER_04 26:56

Ah, gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 26:57

Pretend cast.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

Was that your first time on stage? Yeah. Yeah. Did you do another one after that or was that?

SPEAKER_03 27:05

I even did bye-bye birdie right after before I left D core.

SPEAKER_04 27:10

Wow. Bye-bye birdie.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

I heard that's a pretty tough through it. Yeah. And I'm always in cover like the all you need is love and uh Smith Johnson. Amazing. And the movie I did call the others.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

What?

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Yeah. You did that? Yeah. What did you do? I was the reporter. Oh, oh fine! Good for you.

SPEAKER_04 27:38

You did just see it on Empowered YouTube channel. Okay, can you send it to me if you remember? Alright. Okay, I will forget. But I know you'll remember to send it to me. Um do you uh do you feel like there's um anything that uh as an adult being on the spectrum uh that you wish for, you know, not as hard?

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Just to warn everyone that don't judge themselves. And never give up. That's right. Always reach for the start. Yes. That's true. Live your dreams as well. That's so true.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

Alrighty.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

I I work at Friendship George.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Oh, you do?

SPEAKER_03 28:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

That's so cool. That's a retirement community, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:42

I used to work as a buster, but no, it wasn't but it wasn't ripe for me.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

Yeah, but as a janitor, I get to wipe the railings and uh wipe the dust, the frames and fans, and I get to wipe the garbage rooms and the trash rooms like the one to fourth floors as well.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

So you make everything look nice and clean.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

Yeah, I even get to count my steps as well at the end.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Oh, yeah, yeah. Do you receive any um type of services for like four like therapies?

SPEAKER_06 29:18

What do you receive? I receive my therapy with Angela and I do every Monday on June and in person. Yeah. What do you do with her? What does she help you with?

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Yeah. Oh my gosh. The wiggle? You love the wiggle? Yeah, but we get the kind of they hide him all the time. You just never know who you're gonna meet at those events.

SPEAKER_06 32:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

Um so what others what other events have you uh sold your books at or places that you've gone to sell your books?

SPEAKER_05 33:09

Sold my books at Barnes and Oval. We do like we do a book signing event. Oh, like per year at Barnes and Oval.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

Do you have one coming up or we have one? You have a book signing coming up? Yeah. When is that? Do you know?

SPEAKER_05 33:25

Maybe.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

Okay, well let us know when you do have one next, and we'll yeah, bring it, we'll try to recruit and bring people. And then at those events, what is that experience like meeting all these different people and talking to them about your books? You get to you get to meet and talk to you. I get to meet and talk.

SPEAKER_05 33:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Is it a lot of little kids? Is it grown-ups?

SPEAKER_05 33:58

Yeah, like teens and adults.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Yeah, I bet the parents of the kids like me are like, oh my gosh, the wiggles, I remember them when I was little.

unknown 34:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

You hear that a lot.

SPEAKER_05 34:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

Yeah. And then every book that everyone that buys a book, what do you do when they buy a book from you?

SPEAKER_05 34:17

They turn a great review.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Yeah, but what do you do when they buy a book?

SPEAKER_05 34:22

I sign them.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Yeah, and he personalizes it and puts their name and signs it. Makes it extra special. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You do such a good job. Do you ever get nervous talking to people? No. I do. I was like, you can tell he does it. He's a very people person, right? Yeah. Yeah. You love all kinds of people. All right. Well, we're gonna move on to the next topic. Uh you uh well, you've already involved in so many different activities like detour theater, your band. Is there anything else that you are involved with?

SPEAKER_05 35:05

I'm uh I'm involved with empower theater and arts.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Where is that?

SPEAKER_05 35:09

It's a new theater with autistic Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Just for autistic individuals or all disabilities. All disabilities. Nice. So it's like detour. Is it uh they do theater productions or is that the new feature?

SPEAKER_05 35:28

Yeah. Like I do with watch you with Love Camera and the other song and the movie Aladdin and the Holiday.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Aladdin?

SPEAKER_05 35:39

Yeah, with the way Robbie Woolley with movie.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Oh, who did you play?

SPEAKER_05 35:44

I played just I played your bad whatever.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

Is that Japar's uh uh friend, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Aladdin's friend. Aladdin's friend? Oh, how fun. I love Aladdin. It's like a classic huh.

unknown 36:00

Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:00

This year I'm doing this Wonderland, Alice Walk and Roll Adventures.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

So it's like Alice in Wonderland? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

Oh, that's gonna be seven. Oh my gosh, you'll have to. The deck of cards. The deck of cards, you're playing the number seven?

SPEAKER_06 36:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Oh, what are you going to do? Yeah. Huh? And warline. Nice. Okay, don't tell us what they are because I want to be surprised. Right. All right. You you or your mom give us some information so we can come see you. Yeah. Go ahead. We can come cheer you on.

SPEAKER_05 36:32

Yeah, and later I'm doing detour tech.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Oh, yes. Yeah, how did you get involved with the whole detour theater? How did you hear about detour?

SPEAKER_05 36:44

Well, I remember seeing them. It's like the I get to be involved 12 years ago until 10 years I left because of my school work through life of COVID. And I took a man, I took a five-year hiatus and until four years ago, I came back.

SPEAKER_02 37:02

Oh, good for you. Well, you've been involved with them a long time. That's amazing. All right. And then um let's go on to family. Your mom, who's here behind the scenes, uh, she's a big supporter of yours.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

What does that mean to you to have her encouraging you and um supporting you through your adventures?

SPEAKER_05 37:27

Like she can help me with stuff that I can help with the billing and stuff like that. And well also we also get to go to movies, and we also get to go out to eat something like restaurants and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

You bet you've created some wonderful memories with her along these journeys that you've been.

SPEAKER_05 37:50

And we also go on trips as well.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Yeah, yeah. She's uh uh very important, huh? Yeah, yeah. She's a great mom. Very much. Can you tell us about like your daughter? Yeah, my dad and please.

SPEAKER_05 38:05

My dad is also a great supporter of me as well. But he's so proud of you. Yeah. My sister, I used to have I have one, and she's living on her own, and I have four cousins in Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Oh wow. So your sister is she here in Arizona, or is she?

SPEAKER_05 38:26

Yeah, here in Arizona.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Oh good. And then Wisconsin, uh, what part of Wisconsin? You said Milwaukee area?

SPEAKER_05 38:32

I wasn't. I mean my cousins were f are in Eaure.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

Oh, Eau Claire. I know where that's at. Did you know I live? Did I tell you I lived in Wisconsin for a little bit? No. I lived in West Allis, Wisconsin, for a year and a half. Do you know where that is? It's right outside of Milwaukee. Um, close to uh Wawatosa. Um on the way from Milwaukee to Madison. Yeah. Yeah. I loved it. It's a it was a beautiful little interesting means in Wisconsin. There are some industries.

SPEAKER_05 39:05

Yeah, and I also have cousins from Jordan and Norway.

SPEAKER_02 39:09

What? Well no, all over the world?

SPEAKER_05 39:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

Have you my dad's cousins? Have you got to go see them? Yeah. Wow. Lots of traveling problems. Maybe we could take a trip sometime soon. Yes. Yes, right. What's it like traveling? Um, do you have any struggles when you're on the plane, or do you are you pretty used to it?

SPEAKER_05 39:36

I'm pretty used to it.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

Yeah. The long fights, do you get um agitated?

SPEAKER_05 39:42

Do you get a little bit, but nowadays I get to use the restroom on a plane and watch movies and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

Did you did you receive any like uh support through the airlines or the security for you uh well, you know, being on the spectrum, did they help you battle through any of that?

SPEAKER_05 40:01

Um before we went to the terminal, we went through security.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

Yeah. Do they uh like did uh the staff at the airports, were they helpful um while you were traveling and understanding of of any special needs you may need from them? Yeah, yeah, that's good. They're doing a better job, I feel like, in being more understanding and uh trying to help out with anyone that's on the spectrum or any disability. All right, what are some other things that you and your family like to do together?

SPEAKER_05 40:36

Like going to movies and restaurants, go out to eat and do you have a favorite restaurant you like to eat at? Like brotillos.

SPEAKER_02 40:45

Oh, brotillos, the hot dog place, right? Yeah, do you have a favorite hot dog you like to get from there?

SPEAKER_05 40:52

Like the beef hot dogs that I like.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Can't go wrong with a good beef hot dog, huh? It's true. All right. Well, we're about to wrap it up. We just have a few more questions for you, okay? Right. All right. What are some changes you would like to see happen in the autism community?

SPEAKER_05 41:11

Just to want everybody to judge, don't want anybody to judge themselves and don't give up and just keep going. Follow your dreams and always reach for the stars. So true. That's right. Because look at you, you've reached for the stars. I also want to continue writing stories, writing new memories and keep on singing and dancing.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

Yeah. So those are some of the dreams you have for your future. Yeah. Keep writing some more.

SPEAKER_05 41:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

I like that. Anything else that you um would love to do that you haven't done yet? Any places that you haven't been to yet that you would really like to go? I've never been to New Zealand. That would be a fun place to go, huh?

SPEAKER_04 41:57

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

All right. Was there um anything that uh for like individuals that are on the spectrum? Um do you have you met anyone else that you guys share the same uh like struggles? Like have you met anyone else that you're like, oh yeah, I struggle with that too. Everyone has their own little challenges, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

Yeah. All right, how about you? Oh, kind of already answered that one. Yeah. I mean you're in the boat. You're at you're here with answering questions we already have listed. We were gonna ask you uh if you could encourage other adults on the spectrum, but you already did. Nailed that you talked about schools, the streams, New Zealand's on the lists. I know, and we're gonna hit your ride with you if you go. Is there anything else that you want to share with the audience, with others?

SPEAKER_05 43:04

Always keep, always wish for the stars. Is there a wiggle? Live your dreams and or also keep on wiggling. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Is there a wiggle song you want to sing before we close? Want to sing one together? I feel like we've got to. We dance a little bit with Cyrus, we gotta do a little bit with Yaya over here.

SPEAKER_05 43:30

So everyone, this is amazing from the Wiggles. To celebrate the Wiggles 35th birthday, want everybody to sing along to get ready to wiggle.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

I'll oh that's a good one. And we'll I'll tag all the wiggles in this and so they can see see you. Yes, we have big finger on Let's get ready to wiggle.

unknown 44:00

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

SPEAKER_04 44:02

Get ready to biggle.

SPEAKER_02 44:07

Get ready to wiggle. Oh, this is the great version. And it's strong. Get ready. What did they do? Often too. Good job.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

That's got to be a good one.

SPEAKER_05 45:27

We go.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:49

Happy 35th birthday, Wiggles. Keep growing.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

Alright. Great job, Brian. Yeah. Alright. Thank you everyone for uh joining along with us. And Yaya, thank you so much for coming on our podcast. We appreciate it. Yes, your story. Amazing. Yeah. Everything you do, amazing. Yeah. You continue to bulk us away. And mom, thank you for bringing him over. We appreciate it. And can't wait to do so many more fun things with you.

SPEAKER_05 46:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Alright, let's say bye to our audience.

SPEAKER_05 46:24

Bye.

SPEAKER_02 46:25

Bye, Wiggle.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

We want to take a moment to thank Ideal for sponsoring today's episode of Mom's Raising the Spectrum. Ideal is a creative education and community space that brings together learning, innovation, and collaboration.