Kev Harrison smiles for the camera with his 15-year-old son Daniel, who has Asperger’s syndrome.
After Daniel’s father asked for birthday wishes on Twitter for his son, he got hundreds of them. There were a lot of well-known people among the thousands of people who responded quickly.
The boy wants to do two things: get better at driving and meet more people. The kid is still too young to get a driver’s license, but it looks like his second wish has come true.
Daniel got even when he found out his father had written a popular tweet on Daniel’s 15th birthday.
“Daniel is my son,” the father wrote.
Kev Harrison took the pictures.
“Daniel is my son,” the father wrote. The guy has a severe form of autism. He has absolutely no friends. Today is his birthday, and he is spending it with his family.
Kev Harrison, who lives in Nottingham, England, said in a tweet on September 28 that his ECHP goals were to learn to drive and meet new people. “Thank you for wishing him a happy birthday. Please give him a hug to show how much you care. I’m glad you told me what you think.
What happened next completely shocked Harrison, who was 52 at the time. A few famous people were among the thousands who wrote Daniel birthday cards and promised to be friends. More than a million people have seen his tweet. Thousands of more people have agreed with the first message.
Harrison said that the crowd’s enthusiasm “blew him away.”
Daniel’s my son. Profoundly Autistic. Hasn’t one friend. It’s his birthday today. In his ECHP he wrote that his two wishes were to learn to drive and make friends 😣 Please wish him a happy birthday. Please show him you care. Please share. ##happybirthday #autism #rt pic.twitter.com/Psu97TSj6g
— Kev & Daniel’s #autism journey (& Bruce 😉) (@kevharrison_) September 29, 2021
After looking at Daniel’s education, health, and care (EHC) plan, which is part of a government program that helps figure out how much help children and young people with disabilities need, the man was inspired to post the tweet. Daniel’s EHC plan was put together by him and his wife, Catherine.
Daniel’s answer to a question on the questionnaire was “things that are important to me or things I want to do.” Putting together “drive a car” and “make friends.”
“It broke our hearts,” Harisson said. The parent said that even though his child goes to a school for kids with special needs, he hasn’t made any new friends yet. In his world, he goes around the playground by himself.
When Daniel was a child, his father says, he was told he had severe autism. Because of this, he didn’t eat for a few years. He can talk, but it’s hard for him to join in a conversation. He only answers in “typical ways.”
Harrison says, “He has been through a lot in his 15 years.” He’s a handsome, nice, and pleasant young man, so only the best will do. This person doesn’t have a single bad bone in his body.
Harrison wrote a tweet to raise awareness about autism spectrum disorder and to send a special birthday message to his child. He didn’t know that his tweet would quickly become one of the most talked-about things in the whole country. Only a few people, at most, were expected to hear back from the person.
Harrison said, “It was unbelievable.
The author says that the answer was “quite unexpected.” “I wasn’t sure what to think.”
Kev Harrison took the pictures.
The author says that the answer was “quite unexpected.” “I wasn’t sure what to think.”
After Harrison’s tweet went viral, well-known people with lots of followers started retweeting it. Soon, Daniel’s father’s Twitter account was full of hundreds of birthday wishes for his son.
Olly, an 11-year-old, surprised Lennie, a 9-year-old, with a poem, so Lennie played a happy birthday song for Daniel on the piano.
Daniel’s classmates in Indiana made a birthday banner for him that was put up in his classroom. People with autism also try to help others by encouraging them and telling them that things will get better.
Many people congratulated Daniel on becoming a friend, but Harrison was especially moved by what one Twitter user said: “Your lovely father is a great friend of yours.”
Harrison do
Happy birthday Daniel! – From my students in Indiana 🥳 🎂 🎈 https://t.co/y9DpjVBOKF pic.twitter.com/DLtky5sXvY
— Dustin Harrison (@DstnHrrsn) September 29, 2021
es his best to read Daniel’s sweet messages and reply to each one personally, but he is still sorting through them all.
He tweeted that he hoped the huge amount of support would make people kinder to people with special needs in their communities.
Harrison said, “I’ve done my job if I’ve convinced even one person to look at another young kid differently.