Dear Channing Tatum,
When I first learned that Carly Fleischmann, a 21-year-old nonverbal woman on the autism spectrum wanted to start a talk show host called “Speechless with Carly Fleischmann” I was SO excited for her. Later, when I heard you were going to be her first guest I was blown away by you supporting someone as incredible as Carly. Our community loves her and is grateful to you for what you’ve done to help her with pursuing her dream of being one of the first nonverbal and autistic talk show hosts.
You see Carly is proving to the world that even if you can’t speak, you can still have something to say. I shared with a website called The Mighty about how I first learned about Carly’s story. It was when her book “Carly’s Voice: Breaking Through Autism” came out in the fall of 2012. It left me in awe. Everything from the obstacles she overcame growing up, to reading how she learned to communicate via her computer blew me away. I would later find out about her amazing website called Carly’s Café and it left a permanent mark on me about how wide the spectrum actually is. I too was diagnosed with autism at an early age just like she was. I can relate to Carly’s story a lot to my own story of being able to overcome obstacles as an adult with autism today. Than, in 2015 I became one of the first talk show host with autism in the country when I signed on to join the Different is Beautiful Show to highlight people who have overcame adversity in our local communities.
As someone who has done interviews for almost a year now, I can tell you that your interview with Carly was one of the best I’ve seen. The exchange you two had was amazing. You were so authentic and even faced some of your fears during the interview. It made me learn more about your story but also showed me how bright a future Carly has as a talk show host.
I hope if you ever read this letter you know the impact you’ve made on Carly and on our community by being one of her first guests. We can only hope that Carly continues her path and following the amazing dreams she has set out for herself.
Your friend,
Kerry
