We’ve always had nicknames in our family — Peanut, Pumpkin, you name it — but somehow Eenie and Oodie just stuck.

We do a lot of things a little differently than most.
We type to talk — not just when we text, but all the time. We have food allergies to practically everything (seriously, it’s wild), and we can hear like Superman. A gentle breeze? To us, it can sound like a full-on tornado.

We love basketball, rock music, and meeting new people — but making friends hasn’t always been easy. Sometimes we need a way to calm our brains when life gets noisy, stressful, or just plain overwhelming.

That’s where Fidgetpockets comes in.
We designed them for ourselves first — something quiet, non-distracting, and easy to keep in your pocket — and then realized… other kids might need them too. And not just kids who are nonverbal like us. Everyone gets anxious or restless sometimes. Why not give your hands something to do while your mind chills out?

Here’s the bigger thing, though — we wanted to show that communication comes in many forms. People call AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) a disability, but to us, it’s just another language. Who decided what’s “normal” anyway? Geography? Majority rules?

When kids who speak typically learn to communicate, they have the whole world modeling it for them. For us, we mostly only have each other to model from. That’s not ideal — but it makes us determined to prove that using AAC is just as real, valid, and normal as speaking English, Spanish, or French.

That’s why we created Beyond the Label — to tell our story, and the stories of others, in a way that shows difference is not something to fix, but something to celebrate.

So, try a Fidgetpocket. Pass it along. And remember — live life and support others Beyond the Label.