"How a young lady with high functioning Autism made me into an Author."
As part of Autism Awareness Month, Rob Cowley speaks about his experiences working with Karmen who illustrated his children's books in order to raise awareness about Autism.
When I retired from teaching after nearly 40 years it never crossed my mind to write a book, especially as I’m dyslexic and taught Maths! What I was looking forward to having more time to be Grandad, play golf and travelling with my lovely wife Mercy. And that’s just what happened for the first few years.
However in 2019 I started to write a story with my grandson Ryan as he was getting bored with the reading books at school. We would just talk and write a page or two each week. It was a fun activity and the story was about Ryan and his brother Nathan getting sucked into their favourite computer game. They of course fought off the baddy, Christopher Chaos, saved the Lord and helped the little people restore the game before getting home in time for tea! Called “NO ENTRY” it was never written for public consumption, especially as a children’s book it would have needed illustrations.
Then Mercy passed the story over to her friend at work Wendy, with a daughter called Karmen who has high functioning Autism. She was a very quiet 13 year old but she loved to read and she loved to draw, and her pictures for NO ENTRY were very special. It is commonly assumed that autistic people cannot empathise or understand the emotions of others simply because they find social interaction difficult themselves. However Karmen’s art actually shows that she can and her pictures portray an outpouring of different emotional situations on various levels.
The expression in her characters are completely relatable and her pictures are full of detail which helps us to understand that Karmen sees the world in a very highly sensed way. So we agreed to work together and to try and make it all into a book for charity.
Wendy said, “As her mother it is incredibly important to me that Karmen is encouraged to achieve her full potential and therefore I’ve studied her interests and have made sure that she has what she needs to fulfil these needs. It certainly has helped me understand a lot more about people that have sensory issues and the positive ways that these can be manifested rather than assuming it is always a disability.”
The Isle of Man Arts Council generously supported the project with a grant and between November 2019 and January 2020 we sold 200 copies and raised £1000 for Autism in Mann. It became nicknamed ‘Mr. Cowley’s Accidental Book’ and if you google that you can see more about the backstory in a Manx Radio interview podcast.
The project was very rewarding and that should have been the end of my writing adventure. However, then Covid and lockdown arrived. With the borders closed Mercy and 4 year old granddaughter Anais, who lives in the UK, couldn’t see each other.
As it is with many grandparents they have a very special relationship and when their regular contact was stopped it became increasingly difficult, and video calls were just not the same. Anais missed visiting ‘Gaga’s house’ and particularly the fairy tree in the garden. One day, when they were talking online, I found them both in tears because they couldn’t be together … and so I thought a story might cheer them up. Enter Fairy Jasmine. Although a family story about Mercy taking a Manx Fairy over to cheer up Anais it was written with a much wider audience in mind.
Called “PINK : The Adventures of a Manx Fairy” it is full of sparkle, Fairy’s, and a Unicorn. Beautifully illustrated by Karmen again it showcases her ever increasing talent. From there it has been developed by Phoebe, at Bunch Creative publishing house Bunch Books, into a lovely fantasy bedtime story book designed to promote happy dreams.
The Arts Council have again supported the project as have James & Norman at Hartford Homes and Patricia Wild Opticians. “PINK : The Adventures of a Manx Fairy” will be ready for sale in May and available from local bookshops and online at Bunch Collective Publications. I’m also hoping that this will be the first in a series of Manx story books. “RED : A Dragon called Rufus” is already written and with Karmen for her to illustrate. That story is about those children who struggle to fit in, lack confidence or go unnoticed but who’s talents and voices need to be heard. And “GREEN : An Ambitious Pixie” has begun it’s journey although I’m not quite sure where that tale is going yet!
When asked how art helped her Karmen said, “It is like a way of escaping from worries and stuff. When I was little I used to have a wipeable sketch screen to draw on and I used it when I felt like going away from stress and pressure and sometimes other people. I have been through around 4 of them and still use one occasionally to relax with. It’s just sort of my thing yeah, makes me feel happy and calm.”
So thanks to Karmen’s talent my stories have come to life and I’m no longer a retired Deputy Head from SNHS but a published author! I’ve discovered a writing passion that I didn’t know I had and would recommend to all those who are retired, or not, to try something new and creative.
If you would like to know more, pre-order ‘PINK’ or help sponsor one of the future charity books ‘RED or GREEN’ in this series then please feel free to contact me at … manxman57@live.com
Written by Rob Cowley, April 2021
