Ready or not, Daijah is showing her talents
Daijah Massie, 19, is passionate about art, music, her family and many other things. But the Baldwin Borough teen had trouble explaining to me how to play bocce. You don’t need words to see what an incredible young woman she is. But I’ll try anyway.
Everyone thought Daijah was deaf until the day she saw her mother playing the piano.
“She sat down next to me and played exactly what I had played. She was 3 years old,” Heather Kichta- Massie said.
Daijah, whose name is a take on the French word “deja,” meaning “already,” was tested and diagnosed with moderate autism.
Her father, Chad Massie, said they had to learn quickly how to help the older of their two children. Daijah, who has perfect pitch and is a beautiful singer, sometimes walked around the house with her hands over her ears.
“The hiss of a car’s brakes would bother her — things that we wouldn’t even notice. She learned to block it out,” he said.
These days, Daijah is being noticed. She is one of seven Special Olympics athletes who appear in Aerie’s online catalog modeling pieces from American Eagle’s fall collection as part of the # Aerie REAL campaign. Her sport is bocce.
The Baldwin High School student is joined by Emily Mazur, of North Versailles; Kaitlyn Anderson, of Whitehall; Danielle “Dee” List, of McKeesport; Hannah Petrucelli, of Fox Chapel; Jessica Clayton, of Bethel Park; and Chelsea Werner, of Danville, Calif.
The seven athletes spent a day posing for photos and talking to # AerieREAL role models Aly Raisman, an Olympic gymnast, and Iskra Lawrence, a British model. In an Aerie
video, Daijah says: “You just gotta treat others the way you want to be treated.”
Daijah got to keep the offtheshoulder gray sweatshirt and black leggings she wore for the shoot and the outfit she modeled in July at an American Eagle store in South Hills Village mall. It’s an exciting time for a shy young woman who is stepping out of her comfort zone.
“She lost 30 pounds,” her mother said. “She’s more laid- back, more confident. She doesn’t get so worked up about the little things.”
Yet the little things, the details, are her greatest strength. It’s what she’s known for at Union Project — located at the intersection of East Liberty and Highland Park — where she is a member of the Citizen Clay Collective.
“Daijah loves creating her own patterns,” said teacher Miriam Hudson, of Millvale.
When the artists sold their work recently in the Strip District, Daijah scanned items and ran the cash register. She used to avoid contact with strangers, her father said. This time, she chose it over her favorite weekend activity, online “Just Dance” tournaments with the Wii game system.
“She loves to dance,” her mother said. “She gives it all she’s got.”
Rhythmic movement is one of the behaviors I remember growing up. My sister babysat two boys with autism.
Ray was outgoing, combining words in wonderfully unexpected ways: “There is a washing machine in the basement of the United States!”
Kenneth didn’t say much, but he treated me with respect because my summer job was drying cars at a car wash. He was terrified. “Should NOT go see Kevin at the car wash!” he said.
I was fascinated by Ray and Kenneth, though I couldn’t see their special gifts. Daijah has so many talents that I’m jealous. ( Yes, she beat me at bocce.) When she was 15, she won first place in a statewide art contest for people with disabilities for a portrait of local artist Tom Sarver with his puppets.
Daijah’s artwork will be exhibited along with others’ Sept. 4- 11 as part of the ReelAbilities Pittsburgh film festival at SouthSide Works Cinema. Her artistic talent shone in elementary and middle school, said longtime classmate Carly Santillo, of Baldwin Township.
“She could do spot- on drawings of Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob. I was so impressed and amazed that I had to show it to our classmates,” she said.
As they admired her artwork, her classmates almost forgot Daijah’s quirks or clipped monotone answers. Most of them, anyway.
“I recall the stares,” Carly said.
In high school, she and Daijah were together again in Partners music and physical education classes and playing on the same bocce team. Carly is now a sophomore at University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, where she majors in special education.
“Daijah is one of the reasons I chose it, to become an advocate for people like her,” she said. “They are extraordinary, but some people can’t see it.”
Seeing Daijah’s blank expression, some people think she’s aloof. Her family and friends know better.
“She absolutely loves her brother,” Carly said. “She called him ‘ my Chad.’”
Her parents, Chad Sr. and Heather, dream of Daijah someday working in graphic design or a bakery — she’s an instinctual yet careful baker.
“She has always wanted to give, but she didn’t know how to communicate,” her father said.
Daijah is all ready. Are you?