“His Name is Nicholas”

Hi everyone,

Today, I wanted to advertise an inclusive  children's book about a boy named Nicholas. When Nicholas was eight years old,  he had a scary accident at school, causing him to be in a wheelchair full time and unable to talk because of damage to his brain. 

After the accident, the lives of Nicholas and his family were forever changed, as they had to adapt to new challenges; one of them being that some people who had known Nicholas before his accident  sometimes didn’t know how to react to his new living situation. Veronika began to notice this, and it felt strange to her , and she wanted to do something that made people realize that her brother was still the same Nicholas everybody had always known and loved; he just had some new challenges. 

Veronika had been volunteering with Special Olympics BC when she heard about the opportunity to participate in a youth engagement  project.  Veronika and her mom were both very excited about the opportunity and they decided to create a children's book that taught about people who have diverse abilities and inclusion.   Veronika’s  mom wrote the story, while Veronika used her artistic talent to draw very life-like illustrations of the things Nicholas still loves to do and that have been adapted to meet his physical needs. Eventually, Veronika and her mom dreamed that this book would be distributed to as many people as possible, especially to schools, so more children could learn about people who have diverse abilities.

Well, of course when I saw an article in Invermere’s local Pioneer paper, back in January,  about what Veronika was doing, I got very excited! I emailed Veronika  and told her a bit about my story, how impressed I was with what she was doing, and that I would love to meet her and learn more about her brother. I knew I would like her as soon as she emailed me back. She sounded so sweet and enthusiastic! We met at Invermere’s Stolen Church, my favorite coffee shop. 

My friend, Romy came with me, and we were both very impressed with what Veronika was doing, and what kind of people, her and her brother, Nicholas were. Whenever I meet someone who either has a diverse ability, or who has a family member with a diverse ability, I get very excited to learn their story. 

Veronika and I both agreed that people with diverse abilities need to be talked about more, and advocated for, like people of other minority groups are these days. That’s a big reason why Veronika and her mom created  “His Name is Nicholas.” She was honest with me by saying that before her brother's accident, she didn’t know much about people who had diverse abilities. I appreciated that. We both wanted to help make things different for children in future, her through getting her book out in school libraries and me through doing educational workshops in schools. 

I had heard once that diverse ability is the minority group that’s least talked about, but also the one that everyone eventually will be a part of one day; if not them, someone they know. That is why the world needs to be educated about us!  I am so grateful to Veronika and her mom for telling Nicholas’ story! Inspirational stories about what we, as people with diverse abilities CAN do, are what the world needs to be more inclusive; because when people know better, they do better!  Thankyou for your  what you are doing, Veronika! Keep helping make our world a more inclusive one!

Veronika would love it if as many people could learn about her brother as possible! There are no more hard copies left of “His Name is Nicholas”, but Veronika told me  that the PDF version is still available for people to download and print if they like. To get one, you can either email her at veronikakitzul@gmail.com or download off the Special Olympics website:  https://www.specialolympics.ca/sites/default/files/SOBC_YEP2021-22_VeronikaKitzul_ChildrensBook.pdf

Or

https://www.specialolympics.ca/british-columbia/youth-engagement-project-2021-22

Be sure to add “His Name is Nicholas”  to  your book shelf, and learn about someone who has a diverse ability, because when people know better, they do better!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another Job: Disability Without Poverty

Image
Hello everyone, and Happy Mothers day to all the incredible moms, out there; especially mine!   My mom, sister, aunt, cousin and her little baby boy spent the weekend at what British Columbians  and Albertians  call the “Castle in the Rockies- Banff Springs Hotel!” I know! We are very lucky! For the past couple years before COVID, it had become a tradition for us to stay there for Mother’s Day, and we were so excited to continue it! It is such a special time for all of us to get together, and in such a spectacularly beautiful, historic castle! Always lots of laughs and lots of special memories made together!   I hope your Mothers Day was just as wonderful! Moms are the best! Anyway, I actually wanted to share another new adventure I’ve started recently. I have gotten myself another job!  Yep! Another one! The opportunities just keep coming! When I was younger I used to worry so much about getting a job, and what I would do after highschool. I don’t know w...
Read more

Inclusion in the Workplace

Hello everyone,  This past Thursday, I was honored to have been invited to present at the annual  Columbia Valley Job Fair and Career Expo.  Theresa Wood, an advisor at The Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce had invited Tanelle Bolt (the founder of Recreational Adaptive Society) and myself, Inclusion Educator and co-founder of Count Me In, to be speakers on accessibility and inclusion in the workplace. I was excited; not only to be asked to speak, but also that a light was being shed on this important  topic.  Society has started to include and promote a lot of different minority groups in the workforce, which is wonderful, but one of the minority groups that is not thought about is people who have diverse abilities. Employers, like many other people, do not often know what people who have diverse abilities can do in the workplace, or what adaptations can be made to allow them to work.. I was very grateful that people who have diverse abilities   were...
Read more