It doesn’t matter who we are, we all have a talent that we can share with others. Sure, some of us show that talent in ways that others can’t, such as getting up on stage and performing in front of a large audience. You don’t need to be a superstar in order to have a lot of talent and even if you only sing in the shower, you can share your voice with others in a smaller area. The same goes for any other talent, and you might be surprised by what is out there.
A young man by the name of Kerry Magro had a talent and wanted to share it with others as well. He also had a problem, and that kept him from branching out for many years. When Kerry was only 2 years old, he was diagnosed with autism and it kept him isolated from other children when he was younger. At that time, there was very little that was known about the autism spectrum so Kerry found his way through life in the best way he could. He was over 3 years old by the time he spoke and doctors were afraid he would never live a normal life.
Kerry is now 31 and he has overcome many problems in life. Regardless of what the experts were saying, he graduated high school and went on to get his doctorate. He also had a passion for helping children who had the same problems as he had. There was and still is a real need for role models for those who are autistic, to show them they can do anything they want to do.
“Seeing someone in the media like myself growing up would have made a tremendous difference,” Kerry explained. “It would have given me more self-motivation seeing that I wasn’t alone.”
Kerry speaks about how far we have come as a society. Even Sesame Street came up with an autistic character, Julia. Kerry is stepping things up by writing his first book, “I Will Light It Up Blue’.
Doug and Emma are twins from the book who are on the autism spectrum. Emma is non-verbal and communicates through the iPad and her brother, Doug is high-functioning. Kerry feels that it was important to choose two genders and personalities when he wrote the book.
“I wanted to focus on a boy character and a girl character — even though boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism,” said Kerry. “I wanted to share the characteristics of a girl with autism in the hopes that people can recognize a girl who show signs of autism and make sure she doesn’t fall through the cracks.”
I Will Light It Up Blue is an interesting title, because it refers to April 2, which is World Autism Awareness Day. Doug and Emma help to educate people about autism as well as helping other children who are on the spectrum. Kerry hopes that many schools and homes around the world will have the book.
“The biggest motivator was to show how to be accepting of someone who is a little bit different,” Kerry stated. “If we are truly trying to be a society that focuses on inclusion, we have to make sure we are representing the community as it truly is.”
It’s nice to see how Kerry uses his own experiences as a child to turn it into a tool that will help children with autism. It is more than an entertaining read, it teaches us to empathize with other children who have autism.
Source: Inspire More