Posts Tagged ‘Developmental dyspraxia’
Sawyer Dunlap Is Groot And That Is Awesome
This story comes via James Gunn‘s Facebook page. It’s about a little boy named Sawyer Dunlap who suffers from dyspraxia, a condition that manifests in many different ways. In Sawyer’s case, he has trouble speaking. According to NBC’s Today Show, he used to be able to say only three words. Then a certain movie called ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘ came out.
Until a year ago, Sawyer could only say three words, but then he watched “Guardians of the Galaxy” and his vocabulary increased by one word — Groot.
So we are Groot. Sawyer Dunlap is Groot. OK, not exactly. But the story is still cool.
Gunn posted the following on Facebook:
A lot of stuff I post on this page gets picked up by the mainstream press. Usually it’s something like, “No, Captain Marvel won’t be in Guardians Vol. 2” or “No hair for Nebula in future Guardians films.” So I’m happy that THIS is the story that’s been making the rounds for the past couple of days – one that started here with a kind and thankful post from the child’s father. Touching people’s hearts and emotions is the very greatest gift a filmmaker can receive.
I like Mr. Gunn more every time I find out more about him or read something he writes (usually via Facebook). His DVD commentary track on ‘Guardians’ is also particularly good.
For example, this little anecdote from The TODAY Show:
Her husband, Josh, felt so grateful for Groot and “Guardians of the Galaxy” that about a month ago he sent a private message on Facebook to director James Gunn. Josh thought he’d never hear anything back from Gunn. On Wednesday, Gunn did more than just send a message; he posted the family’s story for the world to see with a simple message. “I love making movies because of stories like this. Thank you.”
“It was amazing,” said Dunlap. “When we woke up, it was at 5,000 likes and all these comments … people really related [to it] and that was really cool to see.”
More importantly, a superhero movie helped a little kid in a very real way. That’s cool. Geek Gold Cards all around.
Source: Dad says ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ character helped son overcome speech problem – TODAY.com
