Dad Creates Inclusive Children's Book To 'Empower' Daughter With Limb Difference

Published January 19, 2022

When parents discover that their children have disabilities, the world they once took for granted can end up looking a lot different to them.

Not only do they quickly become aware that not everywhere is as accessible for their children as they may have once assumed, but they also start to notice a "default" model for children's media that doesn't represent their kids' experiences.

That's why it's not only heartwarming when we see people create adorable toys and media that celebrates children's little differences, but why those people quickly realize their work is always in great demand.

So while it might usually seem a little overly ambitious for a first-time author to begin with a whole series, one dad has a deeply personal reason to want to see it through and his efforts will probably remain appreciated for years to come.

Although Danny Jordan considers himself a storyteller at heart, inspiration didn't really strike when it came to putting those abilities to work until his daughter Emerson was about to be born.

As he told ABC News, he was shocked when he saw the ultrasounds indicating that Emerson would be born with an upper limb difference.

However, that news also led the new dad to start thinking about how he could contribute to a more inclusive and educated world when it comes to disabilities.

And to that end, he started to get the idea for a series of children's books that empowered children living with disabilities.

So the very day after he found out what life would be like for Emerson, the concept of a group of kid superheroes with disabilities and limb differences named The Capables came to him.

In his words, "I realized that out in the world, there just wasn't a lot of children's literature that represented kids with physical disabilities and specifically limb differences like my daughter."

And it was clear that this was a frustration others knew all too well because it only took three days for Jordan to raise the funds he needed for the first book when he pitched his idea on Kickstarter in 2020.

That book would turn out to be Rae's First Day, which was released the following year and features a main character with the same upper limb difference as Emerson.

But Jordan said that this is only the beginning of things for The Capables, as the rest of the team will be designed to represent as many disabilities and differences as Jordan and his illustrator Agustina Perciante can.

And since the disabilities that children live with aren't always visible, that will be the case for some of the Capables as well.

Emerson seems to like Rae a lot, but Jordan is just stunned that his idea and promise to his daughter has already turned into something tangible.

As he put it, "She gets to grow up with a book in her life where there's a character that looks like her. And that's normal. And that's super."

h/t: ABC News

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