The “Autism Whisperer’s” Winding Path to Destiny

Candy Puterbaugh
50Plus Magazine

Growing up, DJ Mahler moved from city to city and school to school, not staying in one place for more than a year until high school. Change continued to shadow his life into adulthood, through coaching sports and working as an accountant, a transportation director and a disc jockey. (Yes, DJ was a DJ!)

“Eleven years ago, a friend who worked with autistic children thought I would be good at that, telling me it would change my life,” says DJ. “It did! I liked it from the start and found my destiny.”

In time, DJ would earn the moniker, “The Autism Whisperer.”

DJ began working as a “personal support worker” with three to seven autistic clients at a time between ages 13 and 16. He would meet them at their homes for a few hours several times a week. “For the first five years I saw rapid, multiple improvements.”

Now 53, DJ says, “Now that they’re in their twenties, it takes longer to set them up for success as adults. I’m trying to teach them life skills for independent living.”

DJ worked on in-house skills such as doing laundry, planning menus, making grocery lists and cleaning the kitchen. In the community, he taught his clients how to take a bus or MAX to work. Some have jobs or volunteer.

His first client, Jack, had frustration and anger issues.

“Kids have a relationship with mom when they’re little and are used to her fixing everything,” says DJ. “Later, parents can’t fix everything. I was with Jack eight hours a day. If he couldn’t have something he wanted, such as his I-phone, I learned to move onto something else, like going for a hike. The key is moving. Then the anger went away. I did the same with my son and daughter. Sometimes Jack is still frustrated at home, but he’s fine with me.”

Jack eventually became the team manager for two high school basketball teams that DJ coached and is now a videographer for DJ’s girls’ JV basketball team at Liberty High School.

“Jack is very social and funny,” says DJ. “He’d put his feet behind his head and walk like a crab at games, and the crowd applauded!”

Another 27-year-old client, Sam, had a traumatic birth and lives with intellectual disabilities.

“He doesn’t talk much and operates best with yes or no answers,” says DJ. “But he can play music! Because I work with autistic clients, the disability community likes to use me as a DJ. So, Sam helps me. I pick out the right songs and set up. He did a wedding for a high school friend of mine, a dance and talent show for the Downs Syndrome Network of Oregon, and played at a special needs prom. We’ve done DJ work together for about seven years.”

DJ has seen changes in his clients, and in himself.

“I’ve learned patience,” he says. “One client wouldn’t do dishes when I was about to go off duty. I told him I could be there all night, and so we stared at each other for two hours! Saying ‘I can wait’ works every time. And I’ve learned to get into their world. There’s no blueprint plan on how to traverse this life. We create it on a daily basis.”

DJ remembers his father coaching him in many sports and that, in hard times, it felt good to have someone helping him.

“I love seeing families finding relief, and seeing kids smile as they make progress.” he says. “Then they want to go to the next step. It’s great knowing I’m part of that. It’s the same for coaching basketball — helping players learn, develop and grow. If I’m an asset to someone else on this planet, it’s a great feeling.”

DJ started working with James Harris in 2013. As a child, James lived in his own small world and didn’t talk to many people. At age four, he was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism. He had loving parents but also needed a homeschooling tutor, an aide, and as it turned out, he needed DJ Mahler to stretch his world.

“James didn’t have behavioral issues,” DJ says. “But he didn’t have many friends and needed help with life skills. I spent three or four days a week with him. We went shopping to show him how to use a debit card. I taught him to ride a bike, and we got together with other clients to go bowling or to an amusement park.”

Two years into working with James, DJ had a stroke and had to take time off for recovery. When he reconnected, James, who had been fascinated by recycling and garbage since early childhood, was starting James Neighborhood Recycling Service with his mother Kathi Goldman.

Kathi says James liked seeing the recycling symbols on cans and that “the trash collector would let James get in his truck and pull the lever. And when the trash collector took a break in a nearby field, James would join him.”

James and Kathi hired DJ to help pick up and sort recyclables. Every other week the business picks up recyclables not accepted by regular curbside services.

The business began with 40 homes in James’ neighborhood and has expanded to 400 pick-ups in other parts of Portland.

“DJ has made it much easier for me,” says Kathi. “He’s one of the most positive people I’ve ever known. He and James laugh and joke in the van all day. DJ is a buddy — like James’ peer. Now James loves meeting people and going places. He used to run away from neighbors. Now he goes down the street to have steak with Walt!”