Bradley Fremmerlid is a remarkable young man with autism who is taking the world of social media, (and Ikea products) by Storm. Senior Reporter for Autism Daily Newscast, Shan Ellis talks to Debbie, his mother about how his business became such a hit.
Part one of this interview can be found here.
Like any other parents, Bradley’s parents always want him to be the best that he can be, so when he started attending a day centre at the age of 21, they thought how best to put Brad’s skills into action, with the help of one to one and support workers.
Debbie told us:
“At first we focused on Brad and his support worker putting furniture together in a store. After checking with a few stores the idea didn’t seem to be a good fit for Brad. In the fall of 2013 building furniture for people was listed as a formal goal at his day program. For the past couple of years Mark has been meeting monthly with Ben Weinlick ( Think Jar collective) a consultant who has helped us and the day program to introduce and develop an i pad program for Brad . At one of these meetings the idea of hiring Mike Hamm to make a video to get clients for Brad was discussed. The video was launched on Dec 21,2013. We were completely surprised by the response.
“Brad has completed 12 jobs as of Jan 21. Brad is booking about 1 or 2 weeks ahead depending on the size of the project and its proximity to the day program. Brad is so busy now that we are working on balance so that he has time for other activities that he enjoys like swimming, skating, snowshoeing and bowling. Three to four jobs a week would be ideal. So far both Brad and his clients have enjoyed the experience.”
We would like to thank Debbie for her time in giving us this insight into the inspirational life of Brad, the very special young man who likes to build.
You can find Brad’s website here, he also has a Facebook page, where you can catch up with his up to date achievements.