Why Me, Mama?
A children's book about the disability experience
We created a book about differences, how disabilities are a normal part of life, and how everyone has something, sometimes you see it and sometimes you don't! My little one Rose was born in July of 2020 and after a heart wrenching three weeks not knowing what was wrong, Rose was diagnosed with Moebius Syndrome.
I looked for children's books to help her and her community understand - and didn't find ANY! So I created one. In the story, each character has a difference that is briefly discussed, helping the baby owl to understand the different disabilities represented by the other animals, normalizing disability as a part of everyday life, and provides a foundation for acceptance and empathy for others and within themselves. Various disabilities are individually highlighted in this book including facial paralysis/weakness, inability to abduct the eyes (Duane syndrome), club feet, cleft palate, mild, moderate & severe hypotonia, limb differences, strabismus, autism, Pierre Robin sequence, Poland syndrome, developmental delay, congenital heart defect, speech, hearing, vision, feeding and respiratory difficulty. These individual differences can all be found in Moebius syndrome. |