Why I Chose To Be An Author

To be honest I can’t remember a specific point in my life that made it clear that I had to be an author. I knew that I wanted to have some kind of career with books involved but never really thought about being a writer.

There two moments that did change what I was going to write about.

When I was young I never saw any books that had people like my parent, people with disabilities. I had always received two contradictory messages. From my parents, I saw that having a disability doesn’t mean you are unable and can’t function. It means you can do everything people think you can not do and much more. On the other hand, the books prominent in popular culture showed me the opposite. It showed me that people with disabilities are unable and should be ostracized. Every time I went to a book store I would look for a book that was about people like my parents. It would always end the same way. I would leave empty-handed and disappointed.

I never wanted the next generation or my future children to have this issue. I always wanted a world where books that contained people with disabilities were successful and available to everyone. That is one of the main reasons why I wrote my debut children's picture book My Secret Superhero Parents.

My family have always been supportive of my education and work endeavours. While I was studying at the beginning of my bachelor's degree my grandmother said something that has always stuck with me. One night we were having dinner together and she says to me “Gabby you should write about people with disabilities". I had never thought that I could write about it. I thought hopefully, one day, someone else will. Her comment had stuck with me for months until I started a children’s picture book unit in my degree. We were asked to write a children’s picture book and her voice immediately popped into my head. I knew I needed to write the story My Secret Superhero Parents.

These two events might night seem significant but without these moments I would not be where I am today.

My dream to make a book where children can see their parents with disabilities in a book has finally become a reality. It is such an unreal feeling to see a book like this out for purchase.