Differently abled viewfinder: Book that addresses child's perspective
A volunteer to special needs children and a human resource employee at a sports company, Zainab Sulaiman always loved reading books and penning down her thoughts.
After doing a special ed course, she remains connected to differently-abled children, and has even written a book where characters are loosely based on some of the kids she’s known.
“The children I worked with are the main inspiration for the book,” Zainab reveals about Simply Nanju, her first book. “I love the positivity of these kids and how they don’t let their disabilities come in the way of living their lives and having fun. I wanted to understand and help people understand the concept of ‘the other kids’ who are actually just the same,” she explains.
The book, which is about a differently-abled boy — Nanju and the relationship he shares with his classmates and the common issues every kid has faced like bullying, being teased, etc.
“The question I had to keep asking myself was — how dark can I let this book get? Because these kids aren’t from a very well-to-do background and the dilemma was how to show the reality of these kids without making it too sad and depressing. At the same time, I didn’t want it to sound like a sob story,” Zainab explains.
“The fact of the matter is that kids today who have grown up in upper middle class families are not exposed to the other side. I was told that these middle class kids might not identify with the characters in the book who use local words and speak in a different way. But the response I got was quite exhilarating because most kids who read it were empathetic and understanding of these situations, in spite of not being in them,” says the author, whose proceeds from the book will be put towards foundations that help differently-abled children.
Like most mothers, Zainab also loves spending time with her children, who take up most of her day. “After work, it’s mom duties for me. But I also love sports and fitness and taking part in physical activities like yoga, hence I work at a sports organisation,” says the devoted mother who has learnt the art of balancing her life between her kids, keeping fit, reading, and spending time with differently abled kids.
The author’s influences have been JK Rowling, Tolstoy and books on Russian culture. But it took quite a while for Zainab to complete her book. “Three years to be precise,” she exclaims, adding, “I wanted to speak of too many things through my book. And in the beginning, I did not have the courage to write. I just needed somebody to show confidence in me.”
