Growing up disabled can be an isolating experience. As much as you might be surrounded by loving and well-meaning friends and family, chances are no one close to you is going through this alongside you . . . until now!
From navigating sports at school, to facing the confusion of getting given free stuff all the time, to juggling hospital trips alongside your social life, this anthology of firsthand experiences of childhood disability will be a welcome companion for disabled children. For non-disabled children it provides a welcome own-voice perspective and will help build empathy and understanding. A very powerful, much-needed book.
Edited by James Catchpole, Lucy Catchpole and Jen Campbell. With contributions from Ali Abbas, Polly Atkin, Imani Barbarin, Jen Campbell, James Catchpole, Christa Couture, Carly Findlay, M. Leona Godin, Eugene Grant, Jan Grue, Matilda Feyisayo Ibini, Ilya Kaminsky, Sora J. Kasuga, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, Elle McNicoll, Daniel Sluman, Nina Tame, Rebekah Taussig, Steven Verdile, Alex Wegman, Ashley Harris Whaley and Kendra Winchester. Illustrated by Sophie Kamlish.

Portrait

Sophie Kamlish is an illustrator, animator and 3-time Paralympic athlete based in Bath, England.
She graduated from Kingston University in 2019 with a degree in Illustration and Animation.
Sophie has been obsessed with drawing from the start. She always has a pen on her - no napkin is safe. And given she despised every subject at school except Art, it came as no surprise to anyone that this is where she ended up.
She's illustrated for the BBC, and animated for both Channel 4 and The Royal Opera House. And in 2019, her final year animation was nominated for the London International Animation Festival - in which she discusses the pros and cons of life as an amputee.
Becoming an elite athlete was perhaps a little less predictable.
Competing for Great Britain in the 100m aged just 16 was certainly a shock - even to Sophie herself, as she'd never considered herself particularly sporty. But it's been a huge part of her life for over a decade.
Life as an athlete has taken her all over the world - her pencil case firmly packed alongside her prosthetic running blade.