Hi, I’m Ashley and I have a disability called Cerebral Palsy. I use multiple mobility aids and medical devices to help me live life. I created this blog in 2020 to help others navigate the disability world by sharing my experiences with disability lifestyle and accessible travel (but mostly travel!)
Life has gotten in the way multiple times of me keeping this blog up to date but I’m writing this to share an exciting announcement!
When I was 8 years old, I created my first book using construction paper, shoe laces or ribbon and markers. Once I drew the pictures, which weren’t the best due to my hands, I would bound the pages together to make it an official book! After that, I knew I wanted to be an author.
It wasn’t until a few months after I started Ashley’s Vantage that I decided to write my first book. I wrote it in 3 days and it was officially named ‘What Is That?’
‘What Is That?’ is based on my own experiences with children being curious about my mobility aids / medical devices they see out in public and asking the adult they’re with the ‘what is that?’ question in regard to my wheelchair, feeding tube, etc.
With these experiences, adults usually do one of two things:
1 — Pull their children away from me and don’t answer their question
2 — Tell their children not to stare
I don’t believe they do this with malicious intent. I just think they don’t know what to say.
In my book, children see all of the mobility aids / medical device I do or that I have used to help me live and thrive in the world around me. These include my wheelchair, feeding tube, arm crutches and my walker. On each page, a child asks the adult they’re with ‘what is that?’ when they see one of my aids or devices and instead of shying away from their child’s curiosity, adults encourage their child to ask Ashley, the main character, about what they see, themselves!
While it encourages adults to have open conversations about disabilities while also showing them what happens when differences are embraced vs. ignored.
Education. Awareness. Inclusion. Friendship.
My hope is that this book helps parents, caregivers, educators and those who are unsure of what to say when faced with the ‘what is that?’ understand, as well as help teach children, that kids and adults with disabilities aren’t all that different from their able-bodied peers.
Now available on Amazon in paperback, hardback as well as an e-book version, which is FREE for all who have Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJG246NP/ref=tsm_1_tp_tc.
Thank you for supporting me throughout this whole blogging journey as well as through this newest venture in my life. It means the world to me.
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