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Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Mark Wood Show

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio. My guest today is Leland bittert. Leland is

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Speaker 1: News Nation Chief Washington anchor and the author of the

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Speaker 1: excellent new book Born Lucky. So nice to have you on.

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Speaker 2: Oh what a pleasure. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: So your book comes out at a really interesting time

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Speaker 1: in American history. It's called Born Lucky, and it's your story.

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Speaker 1: Do you want to tell us a little bit about

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Speaker 1: it before I get into.

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Speaker 3: That, My story about growing up with autism and my

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Speaker 3: father's quest, journey, fifteen year epic fight, whatever you want

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Speaker 3: to call it, to adapt me to the world, not

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Speaker 3: the world to me. So when I was five years

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Speaker 3: old and my parents were told that I needed to

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Speaker 3: be evaluated, they took me to one of those little

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Speaker 3: medical testing centers and waited in the room with stale

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Speaker 3: coffee and old magazines. And two hours later the person

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Speaker 3: brought their son back and said, it is very difficult

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Speaker 3: to know what is going on inside his head.

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Speaker 2: And I had real behavioral issues.

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Speaker 3: I would you turn around and hit anybody who touched

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Speaker 3: me in the lunch line because touch was so difficult.

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Speaker 3: I couldn't understand how to interact with kids in any way.

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Speaker 3: I had real sensory issues, which is pretty typical of

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Speaker 3: kids with autism. I had speech issues, I didn't talk

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Speaker 3: until I was three, and I had this huge learning disability.

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Speaker 3: So the way they do learning disabilities is they do

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Speaker 3: two halves of your IQ. Your score is the average

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Speaker 3: of the two halves. A twenty point spread is a

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Speaker 3: learning disability. I had a seventy point spread. So this

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Speaker 3: woman was very direct with my parents, and my dad said,

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Speaker 3: as any parents would, what can we do? And she

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Speaker 3: said not much? And he followed it up, is there

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Speaker 3: anything we can do? And she said generally not and basically,

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Speaker 3: you know, just meet him where he is, adapt the

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Speaker 3: world to him, get him extra time on tests, on

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Speaker 3: and on and on. And my dad said, that's not

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Speaker 3: what we're going to do. So the book is hope

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Speaker 3: and proof of what parental love can do for every

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Speaker 3: parent who has a kid who's having a hard time,

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Speaker 3: doesn't matter if it's autism or ADHD or anxiety or

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Speaker 3: the difficulties of growing up right now socially and bullying

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Speaker 3: in school, just because they're getting bullied. And I had

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Speaker 3: a parent come up to me who read the book

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Speaker 3: just a couple of days ago and say, you know,

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Speaker 3: your book really spoke to me.

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Speaker 2: And I knew this woman's kids who are both sort.

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Speaker 3: Of complete rock stars, and I said, okay, and normally

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Speaker 3: it is for kids who had a hard time. She said, well,

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Speaker 3: my son had a nut allergy and I was told

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Speaker 3: over and over just take all the peanuts out of

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Speaker 3: his classroom, right, make everybody adapt him. And she decided

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Speaker 3: to desensitize him to nuts, which every doctor said you

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Speaker 3: can't do and it is so dangerous, and on and

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Speaker 3: on and now he's in ROTCD wow, which he never

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Speaker 3: would have been able to do if he still had

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Speaker 3: a night allergy.

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Speaker 2: So it's just it's a story of the power of

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Speaker 2: parental love.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's funny that you say that, because

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Speaker 1: when I read the excerpt that you had on the

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Speaker 1: Free Press, and it was the story of your dad

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Speaker 1: kind of teaching you how to socialize, and he would

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Speaker 1: tap his watch when he wanted you to stop talking.

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Speaker 1: I have a son, you know, my middle son loves

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Speaker 1: talking to people, doesn't have autism. But I was like, wow,

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Speaker 1: I should have some sort of like you know, a

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Speaker 1: thing with him where I would I tap something to like,

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Speaker 1: all right, that's enough of that, thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 1: But it's interesting how we don't expect kids to adapt.

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Speaker 1: And I think that a lot of people would just

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Speaker 1: be like, oh, let your son just continue to talk.

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Speaker 1: But you know that's not really how socializing works. You

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Speaker 1: have to learn how to adapt to other people. So

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Speaker 1: your story is very I think, applicable to all kinds

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Speaker 1: of situations with kids. So it's called born Lucky. Why

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Speaker 1: do you feel like you were born lucky?

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Speaker 3: Well, because had I been born naturally, I would be dead.

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Speaker 3: So Lucky was my nickname up until I went to college.

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Speaker 3: I introduced myself to people as Lucky.

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Speaker 2: Vidtert Wow.

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Speaker 3: And we tell this story in Born Lucky that it

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Speaker 3: was nineteen eighty two. My mother was thirty five. It

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Speaker 3: was a high risk pregnancy, just she was older, and

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Speaker 3: the doctor saw on an ultrasound that I was upside down.

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Speaker 3: I was breech, and so she said he said to

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Speaker 3: my mother, I have a bad feeling about this. I

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Speaker 3: think you should have a sea section. So my mom's

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Speaker 3: sort of really conflicted. And there's a lot of literature

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Speaker 3: at the time about doctors ordering sea sections just because

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Speaker 3: it was more convenient. So my mom says, you know,

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Speaker 3: if I'm not going to trust my doctor's advice, I

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Speaker 3: should get a new doctor, not not trust his advice.

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Speaker 3: So she decides to have a sea section and inborn lucky.

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Speaker 3: We take you inside the delivery room where I'm there,

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Speaker 3: and I'm there and my mom's tummy, I guess, but

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Speaker 3: my mom is holding onto my dad's hand, and there's

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Speaker 3: like the blue shield, you know, and all of a

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Speaker 3: sudden you hear from the other side of the of

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Speaker 3: the blue curtain, Oh my god, this is a lucky baby.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, Oh my god. And like the doctor

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Speaker 3: and the nurse and you know, my mom's hand just

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Speaker 3: like grabs my dad's and clenches down, and my dad's

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Speaker 3: for peeks his head around. He goes, hey, doc, uh,

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Speaker 3: everything okay, And the guy's like, yeah, everything's fine. Give

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Speaker 3: us a second, and then another, Oh my god, this

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Speaker 3: is the luckiest baby we've ever seen. The umbilical cord

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Speaker 3: was tied into knots and around my neck. I'd have

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Speaker 3: been more naturally, I would have been dead. And you know,

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Speaker 3: outside a hospital room where you have like, you know,

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Speaker 3: the mother and the kid, it said, you know, Carol

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Speaker 3: Vinter Leland viitter last time I pooped, how much I

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Speaker 3: weighed whatever? Right, And the doctor came up with a

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Speaker 3: sharpie and crossed out Leland and said, call this kid lucky.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that's really cool.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So your book, and that was saying in the beginning,

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Speaker 1: is coming out at a time where the conversation around

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Speaker 1: autism is kind of it feels like it's everywhere. We're

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Speaker 1: recording this just a few weeks after the tailand All

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Speaker 1: conference from the Trump administration. I generally don't get into

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Speaker 1: news on this show, but has that like affected you

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Speaker 1: in some way or what do you think about the

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Speaker 1: national conversation on this?

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Speaker 3: You know, it's a great question. I've thought about it

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Speaker 3: a lot. We didn't plan this right around all this

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Speaker 3: news about autism, so there's obviously been a lot more

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Speaker 3: interest in it. I am not a scientist. I'm not

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Speaker 3: a doctor. I have the chemistry grades to prove it.

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Speaker 3: I think I'm not gonna.

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Speaker 2: You know, I don't want to.

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Speaker 3: I can't talk I shouldn't talk about Thailand, audosin or

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Speaker 3: whatever else.

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Speaker 2: Oh No, Yeah, what I can.

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Speaker 3: Say is is thank god this is now part of

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Speaker 3: the national conversation, right, because when I was diagnosed, it

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Speaker 3: was about one in fifteen hundred kids. Now it's one

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Speaker 3: in thirty one, more than triple that for boys higher

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Speaker 3: and poorer minority communities. This should be the scientific question

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Speaker 3: of our time, right And if if this is what

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Speaker 3: it takes great to have this really honest conversation. I think,

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Speaker 3: you know, there's this debate in the autism community, and

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Speaker 3: I think everybody is entitled to their own opinion and

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Speaker 3: on and on, but that that you know, well, if

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Speaker 3: you want to find the cause of something, that means

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Speaker 3: that you know, somehow my child is less or solved it. Well,

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Speaker 3: no kidding, we should want to solve it, Okay. I

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Speaker 3: mean if I if if I right now was the

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Speaker 3: father of assumed to be born baby, if my wife

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Speaker 3: was pregnant and I got married three months ago or four.

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Speaker 1: Months ago, congratulations, thank you.

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Speaker 3: But if she was pregnant and you gave me a

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Speaker 3: box to check, you know, uh, your child will be

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Speaker 3: autistic or not, of course I would check no, what

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Speaker 3: parent would, right, So with that in mind, I just

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Speaker 3: am really so happy that there's a chance that perhaps

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Speaker 3: more kids won't have to go through what I did.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking when I when

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Speaker 1: I saw your book, and kind of in this moment,

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Speaker 1: is is feeling from people that you're not allowed to

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Speaker 1: say that there's pluses and minuses to different conditions, or

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Speaker 1: that you know there might be undesirable effects of different

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Speaker 1: things that you can have that you would want to

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Speaker 1: solve for. Do you have hope that I don't know?

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Speaker 1: Do you do you see a future where autism is

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Speaker 1: treated differently and do you want it to be?

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: And remember, you know I didn't really get treated quote

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Speaker 3: unquote in the in the way that most people.

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Speaker 1: Are that should take that show the road, you know.

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Speaker 2: Well, look that show on the road is Born Lucky, right.

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Speaker 3: That is the story of how my dad adapted me

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Speaker 3: to the world and how he put me back together

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Speaker 3: again every night after the bullying and the isolation in

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Speaker 3: the torture that was middle school in high school. So

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Speaker 3: those are all really important points. All I can say is,

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Speaker 3: you know, when I've talked to what I think are

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Speaker 3: the smartest people in the world on this Jay Bodicharia,

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Speaker 3: head of ni H, Martin McCarey, head of FDA, they

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Speaker 3: tell me they don't know what his cause this extraordinary

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Speaker 3: explosion in autism cases. So thank god we're now having

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Speaker 3: that conversation. And I think also thank god we're now

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Speaker 3: having the conversation that's broader than just autism, of what

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Speaker 3: agency parents really have. And you know, you pointed out

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Speaker 3: sort of this, you know, we'll meet every kid where

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Speaker 3: they're at and celebrate every difference, right that that's not

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Speaker 3: how I grew up, and that's not the real world.

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Speaker 3: And I think the pendulum swing back of the past

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Speaker 3: five years has taught us that that that's not the

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Speaker 3: real world. You know that you can't you can't just

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Speaker 3: you say everybody's great the way they are. And my

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Speaker 3: dad was always very clear with me that you know

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Speaker 3: I love you and that you are wonderful, and that

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Speaker 3: the characteristics in qualities and your your character are gonna

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Speaker 3: make you bullied and isolated and demonized in middle school

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Speaker 3: and high school. Those are the same qualities that are

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Speaker 3: going to make you liked and successful later in life.

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Speaker 2: At the same time, if you want to interact.

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Speaker 3: In the real world, you got to learn, for example,

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Speaker 3: as you just point out, how to stop talking, which

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Speaker 3: I'm thinking you're tapping your watch right now, so I.

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Speaker 1: Will no, not at all I'm completely fascinated by this.

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Speaker 1: You know, I see you as very much like a

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Speaker 1: straight news guy. Was it hard to open the door

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Speaker 1: and let people into your personal life? Like I talk

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Speaker 1: about my life on this show. I get into like

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Speaker 1: advice giving and all kinds of sort of social and

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Speaker 1: cultural topics. But I always saw you as very straight

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Speaker 1: news and now you're telling everybody your life story. Was

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Speaker 1: that difficult?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? It was awful.

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Speaker 3: You think about I never went to therapy as a kid.

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Speaker 3: That just was not part of how my parents looked

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Speaker 3: at the world. And now at forty three, I'm going

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Speaker 3: to therapy on national television daily or hourly.

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Speaker 2: And it's awful. I mean, you know, to.

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Speaker 3: Relive some of these memories, and to relive the teacher

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Speaker 3: in eighth grade, we write in Born Lucky teacher in

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Speaker 3: eighth grade looked at me in front of the entire

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Speaker 3: class and said, uh, you know what viitted. If my

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Speaker 3: dog was as ugly as you, I would shave its

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Speaker 3: ass and make it walk backwards.

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Speaker 1: What.

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Speaker 2: Well, Yeah, so as a mom, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 2: And that's just at one a.

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Speaker 3: Dozen stories, yeah, or dozens of stories in the book.

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Speaker 3: So we living it's been very hard, but again, if

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Speaker 3: it can help parents and also let parents know that

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Speaker 3: they're not alone. We're already in the third printing of

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Speaker 3: the book. It's only week one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you thank you.

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Speaker 3: But I you know, I'm not narcissistic enough to think

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Speaker 3: it's about me, right, It's not.

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Speaker 2: This isn't because the ended story is great. No, it's

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Speaker 2: my story.

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Speaker 3: But it's about giving parents all this hope and all

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Speaker 3: this understanding and all this proof of what they're able

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Speaker 3: to do. So No, the the opening up part has

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Speaker 3: not been fun, but I'm really so hopeful I can

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Speaker 3: help others and then it's worth it more.

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Speaker 4: Coming up with Leland Viddert. But first, history shows that

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Speaker 4: every market eventually falls, every currency collapses, and today the

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Speaker 4: US dollar is hanging by a thread, trillions in national debt,

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Speaker 4: record high markets defying gravity, but stocks can't go up forever. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 4: your groceries, housing, and transportation costs are all going up,

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Speaker 4: and your dollar is buying less every single day. If

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Speaker 4: the system breaks, your stocks and dollars won't save you,

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Speaker 4: but one thing will. Gold. Gold has always survived a collapse.

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Speaker 4: That's why banks and billionaires are stocking up, and Americans

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Speaker 4: are protecting their savings with physical gold before the next

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Speaker 4: shoe drops. Call le your Capital at eight hundred seven

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Speaker 4: eight six eight five zero zero for your free gold

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Speaker 4: investment kit and twenty thousand dollars in bonus gold with

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Speaker 4: a qualified purchase. Leir is your leading source over three

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Speaker 4: billion dollars in transactions, thousands of reviews. Call now eight

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Speaker 4: hundred seven eight six eighty five hundred eight hundred seven

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Speaker 4: eight six eighty five hundred. Keep in mind that any

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Speaker 4: investment has a certain amount of risk associated with it,

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Speaker 4: and you should only invest if you can afford to

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Speaker 4: bear the risk of loss. Before making investment decisions, you

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Speaker 4: should carefully consider and review all risks involved. More of

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Speaker 4: the Carol Markowitz Show continues.

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Speaker 1: Next, you talk about parents, But I think that your

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Speaker 1: book is also going to be a huge help for

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Speaker 1: kids who have autism. I think that to see you,

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Speaker 1: you know, be super successful, I think you're just fantastic.

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Speaker 1: I've been following you on Twitter for a long time.

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Speaker 1: I think you're so smart and so interesting. I think

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Speaker 1: that you're just giving a lot of hope to those kids. Also,

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Speaker 1: it's not just the parents who I think will read

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Speaker 1: your book and see how lucky their kids are and

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Speaker 1: what they can be. You know, I think the kids

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Speaker 1: will also get something out of it, I.

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Speaker 3: Hope, so, you know, obviously, I think if I had

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Speaker 3: been given this book in middle school or high school,

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Speaker 3: that would have proven to me that having, you know,

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Speaker 3: having these difficulties, it does get better. You know. My

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Speaker 3: dad used to tell me every night, like the night

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Speaker 3: that I came home after that teacher told me that,

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Speaker 3: he said, you know, middle school is not real life.

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Speaker 3: You know, you have the right stuff for the rest

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Speaker 3: of life, and that's going to be what's important. I

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Speaker 3: didn't believe him, but I didn't have a choice. He

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Speaker 3: didn't add that middle school's great training for a Washington newsroom,

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Speaker 3: and I think I think it's I think it is

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Speaker 3: proof for any kid who's having a hard time, every

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Speaker 3: kid who's having a hard time, that that this does

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Speaker 3: get better and that you can really succeed. And the

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Speaker 3: character is destiny. And you know the things that my

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Speaker 3: dad taught me. You know, Number one, you have to

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Speaker 3: you know, you have to control what you can control.

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Speaker 3: You can control your attitude, you can your character and

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Speaker 3: your work ethic, and those three things you have one

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Speaker 3: hundred percent control over and you will, right. And he

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Speaker 3: had to find ways to help me gain confidence and

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Speaker 3: pride in myself that wasn't through school work or friends

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Speaker 3: or athletics and more. Lucky shows you how he did this.

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Speaker 3: I'll put a button on it by saying this. You

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Speaker 3: asked about what it's been like doing this, right, And

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Speaker 3: my dad didn't want to do this to write this book.

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Speaker 2: Reluctantly, he agreed because we thought it could help people.

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Speaker 3: But as we were writing it, I would interview him

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Speaker 3: and he would stop me at each time, right, and

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Speaker 3: he'd say, you know, oh my god.

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Speaker 2: Do we really want to say this?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 2: Do we really want to talk about this story? Do

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Speaker 2: we really?

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Speaker 3: Because he never told anyone, He never told his friends,

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Speaker 3: and you don't have told anybody that the hell we

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Speaker 3: were going through. And I said, Dad, look, I said,

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Speaker 3: we can't stop and adjudicate every story. But what we're

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Speaker 3: going to do is you're going to tell me everything,

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Speaker 3: and then I am going to write the manuscript with

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Speaker 3: Don And when I'm done, I'm going to give you

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Speaker 3: the manuscript. And if you don't want us to turn

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Speaker 3: it into HarperCollins, we won't. Now, to be fair, I

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Speaker 3: didn't have a plan right, because I had a book

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Speaker 3: contract I hadn't turned it in, but fine, so I

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Speaker 3: give it to him and he reason and he's like, boy,

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Speaker 3: I don't know if we want to talk about all

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Speaker 3: this stuff. And I said, let me try something different. Dad,

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Speaker 3: I said, if when I was diagnosed, rather than that

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Speaker 3: woman saying to you there's no hope, had handed you

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Speaker 3: this book, how would you have felt.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you said, I would have read it every week.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: And I said, well, I think that's your answer.

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Speaker 1: I love that so much. That is such a beautiful story.

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Speaker 1: And I love that you guys did it. I don't

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Speaker 1: think it was easy. It seems like it was a

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Speaker 1: real challenge for you your dad. The fact that this

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Speaker 1: book exists is just a fantastic tribute to you both.

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Speaker 2: Oh thank you.

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Speaker 1: What are you most proud of in your life?

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Speaker 2: I'm most proud of.

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Speaker 3: I think what my dad always told me was what

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Speaker 3: mattered the most, which is character. We haven't born lucky.

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Speaker 3: The letter that my dad got the night his dad died.

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Speaker 3: His dad died when he was sixteen, His brother came

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Speaker 3: and told him, and then they headed down to the

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Speaker 3: family office they had a construction company, and opened the

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Speaker 3: Faith in my grandfather's office and pulled out a letter,

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Speaker 3: and the letter talked about how character is destiny, that

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Speaker 3: a man is defined by his character, not his accolades,

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Speaker 3: and his business success, not his accomplishments. So that was

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Speaker 3: always the core thing that was important to my dad

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Speaker 3: and that he taught to me was the thing that

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Speaker 3: really matters more than anything in the world.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, character is everything. It's actually the only thing that

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Speaker 1: I want my kids to understand about the world, that

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Speaker 1: who you are actually matters the most, and what you

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Speaker 1: do with that is what counts. Give us a five

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Speaker 1: year out prediction. It could be about the country, the world,

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Speaker 1: whatever you want.

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Speaker 3: A boy, I don't know the news I was. I

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Speaker 3: was a Mid East correspondent for for a number of years.

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Speaker 3: So if you wanted to be made made a fool,

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Speaker 3: predict the future in the Middle East, or or politics

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Speaker 3: in America.

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Speaker 2: Dot dot dot.

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Speaker 3: The one thing I think is always really a safe

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Speaker 3: bet is betting on America. And I think there's a

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Speaker 3: lot of people who are sort of writing yourself on

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Speaker 3: both sides, and I think it's a terrible bet. I

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Speaker 3: think the best hope the world has is America, and

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Speaker 3: it still is. The greatest idea anybody ever came up with,

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Speaker 3: so I am still very bullish on it.

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Speaker 1: I feel lucky every day to be an American. Literally,

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Speaker 1: not one day goes by that I don't think about it,

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Speaker 1: at least briefly about how lucky we are to be

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Speaker 1: in this amazing experiment and how we just got chanced

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Speaker 1: into the greatest country in the history of the world.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, I've loved this conversation, Leland. I always think you're

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Speaker 1: just such a smart guy and love talking to you

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Speaker 1: about this. Getting to know you has been amazing. Get

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Speaker 1: his book Born Lucky anywhere you buy your books. Leave

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Speaker 1: us here with your best tip for my listeners on

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Speaker 1: how they can improve their lives.

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Speaker 3: Look, I'm not an advice guy, just ask my wife.

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Speaker 2: Probably not. You know, I am not a role model,

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Speaker 2: as Charles Barkley would say.

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Speaker 1: I think false, But okay, I.

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Speaker 3: Think the takeaway from Born Lucky for parents of your

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Speaker 3: not alone and how much you really can do. I

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Speaker 3: didn't understand the power of it. And you know we've

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Speaker 3: already sold out twice on Amazon. We're printing twenty thousand

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Speaker 3: books a.

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Speaker 2: Week or more. Amazing because parents.

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Speaker 3: Need to hear this message and they need to hear

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Speaker 3: they're not alone. And I think that would be for

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Speaker 3: every parent who has a kid who's having a hard time.

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Speaker 3: There is so much you can do because my dad

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Speaker 3: did it for me, and if that message can be spread,

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Speaker 3: then I think that I call it the Born Lucky Journey.

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Speaker 3: It I think can make a huge difference in a

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Speaker 3: lot of kids like me, lives who are really having

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Speaker 3: a hard time.

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Speaker 1: I love that he is Leland viitters By Born Lucky.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming on the show.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Carol,