Last week, I accidentally helped break a website for a small nonprofit. I neither meant nor foresaw the outcome. But it felt awfully good.
The NVLD Project is dedicated to helping people with non-verbal learning disabilities. Founded a little over a decade ago by the mother of a daughter with an NVLD, it provides education, resources and advocacy for children and adults facing difficulties due to their NVLD conditions.
Longterm, they hope to have NVLD included as a valid disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) so that people can get the help they deserve.
NVLDs made an appearance at the forefront of American psyche when cameras at the Democratic National Convention caught vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz’s 17-year-old son, Gus, applauding wildly while crying and telling the people around him, “That’s my dad!”
For the vast majority of America, it was a heartfelt moment of authenticity. To see that much love between a father and son tugged at our heartstrings. My wife texted me a sobbing emoji when she saw it.
Of course, America is also home to plenty of vile trolls. Within minutes, Republican partisans began mocking Gus Walz’s reaction. Most infamously, Ann Coulter framed it as “weird” — obviously trying to turn the tables on Democratic mockery of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Coulter was joined by such luminaries as disgraced filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza and now suspended right-wing radio host Jay Weber.
The backlash came fast and fierce, especially once it became common public knowledge that Gus has an NVLD, ADHD and an anxiety disorder. Like a wave of enraged older siblings, people came to his defense. Others shared stories about themselves or family with NVLDs; most notably, actor Jeremy London posted a powerful video where he was clearly distraught because he saw the attacks on Gus Walz as attacks on his own grandson.
Seeing London’s video served as a catalyst for me.
Earlier, I saw former First Lady Michelle Obama challenge the audience to “do something” — a line Vice President Kamala Harris has emphasized on the campaign trail. I have always been inspired by Obama, and this was no different. It just took a moment to figure out what to do.
Then I ran across posts from two of my favorite Twitter (never calling it X) follows, 9News anchor Kyle Clark and writer/podcaster Shea Serrano. Both go out of their way to promote contributions to good, worthy causes. They frequently use their platforms to raise money for good causes. People helping people.
I quickly looked into non-profits that helped people with NVLDs and educated others. The NVLD Project immediately popped to the forefront. Noting that it works with partners like Columbia University Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, I knew it was a serious group.
I navigated to the donate page, took out my wallet, punched in my credit card, contributed, and took a screenshot. I also took a screenshot of the triple impact campaign running through Aug. 31.
A couple minutes and a hashtag later, I posted it all to Twitter.
After that, I messaged a few friends with large follower counts to help boost the message. Suddenly, tens of thousands of people were seeing my challenge to contribute. Many did. Within an hour, reports were coming back that people contributing had slowed the website to a crawl. But people kept trying.
At one point The NVLD Project posted about the influx and subsequent traffic issues and directed more people to educate themselves via their Facebook page. Apparently we momentarily broke their website in the best way possible.
The donor scroll feed is now filled with messages like “#loveguswalz,” “In Gus, we trust” and “#TeamGus” alongside donations of $5 to $100. For hours people kept pouring money into the organizations.
Late that night, I saw a response to my post that sent me into sobs that might have put Gus Walz to shame. Ariel Elizabeth, the original inspiration for The NVLD Project wrote:
“Thank you for defending Gus and people in my community. My mom created @theNVLDProject bc of my journey with NVLD. Thank you for bringing visibility to an overlooked and invisible disability. To say I’m overwhelmed by the love we have received is an understatement.”
The thanks really goes out to Gus Walz for sharing his father with us and his exuberance. The thanks goes to the people who rallied together to shower him with love. The thanks goes to the folks who took out their pocketbooks and contributed.
The thanks goes to the people doing the hard work to cope with NVLDs, educate others about them and thrive together.
Gus Walz not only gave us a moment of joy, but he helped bring much-needed attention to challenges few people knew about before he captured our hearts. If we had to momentarily break a nonprofit website with that attention, it will have been worth the cost.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on BlueSky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
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