Noreen Donovan didn’t expect to be brought to tears while watching the Democratic National Convention this week. But that’s what happened as she and her husband watched on their couch at home in Melrose as Governor Tim Walz gave his speech accepting the nomination to be vice president.
“Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world,” Walz said to his family.
TV cameras captured Gus Walz, his neurodivergent 17-year-old son, cheering enthusiastically, standing up with tears on his face, yelling “that’s my dad!” next to his mom and sister.
The clips quickly went viral on social media, as parents of kids with disabilities and neurodivergent people celebrated the moment of representation on a national stage.
Donovan’s son James has autism. In that viral moment, she saw a family like hers, that embraced and “treasured” their neurodivergent son and valued what made him unique.
“For us to see … Gus being able to really share his authentic self without worrying. There’s no worrying about what’s going on behind him, who’s maybe judging him … there isn’t any of that. It’s really refreshing,” said Donovan, a clinical psychologist who works with neurodivergent people.
The Walz family told People magazine earlier this summer that Gus has nonverbal learning disorder, which means he processes visual and spatial information differently, as well as ADHD and an anxiety disorder.
“Like so many American families, it took us time to figure out how to make sure we did everything we could to make sure Gus would be set up for success as he was growing up,” they told People.
“What became so immediately clear to us was that Gus’ condition is not a setback — it’s his secret power,” they said.
Some parents noted how on that stage, Gus’ family didn’t try to tamp down his display of emotions. He was able to be himself without holding back, something Donovan strives for with James and the neurodivergent people she works with.
“I often have clients who say they can’t be their authentic self in different environments,” she said. “They have to pick and choose, so to speak, which environments are safe to be their authentic selves and in which environments they have to ‘mask.’”
Emily Maloney, an Evanston, Illinois-based author, has nonverbal learning disorder and said that she doesn’t always feel comfortable letting her guard down because she’s not sure how people will perceive her.
“I think that my emotional response has often been misinterpreted,” she said. “I have faced struggles with … sort of regulating my outward emotional response to a situation.”
As she watched Gus’ viral moment, she was excited for the potential of raising awareness about the disorder, yet also hesitant about how people may react to a condition they don’t understand.
According to a JAMA study, 3% to 4% of American children have nonverbal learning disorder, meaning it could affect more than 2 million kids nationwide.
Maloney said she hopes that Gus Walz’s moment can lead to more awareness of people who move through the world differently.
“Seeing someone on national television, you know, have a reaction that could be considered outsized, maybe there’s more hope for that kind of acceptance, more radical acceptance,” she said.
That’s also the hope of Julie Nolan, another mom from Melrose who has two autistic sons, 24 and 22. When they were young, she had very few public examples of families like hers to learn from. She said seeing the Walz family on the national stage gives her family “a sense of belonging” that has been hard to find.
“It’s just brought a lot of hope and a lot of ‘it’s OK.’ Like, it’s OK that my kids are the way they are and we’re not shying away from it,” she said.
She hopes that increased awareness about kids and adults who are neurodivergent or have autism can lead to greater acceptance of their behaviors that seem different or unusual.
“I think that’s going to make it a little easier for families when their kids do something like — maybe a kid starts to cry in Target, or something happens and you go, ‘Oh, OK. That person’s having some strong emotions. OK, not a problem.’”
