Meet Kevin, a 10-year-old boy who is just like you and I, except he uses a wheelchair to get around. “Kevin Can” is a newly published, fictional children’s book following Kevin and his best friend Katie as they discover all the fun things Kevin can do, regardless of his wheelchair. “Kevin Can” is written by author, Ian Flanagan, and illustrated by graphic artist, Jesse Lindlbauer.

Flanagan is a writer and disability advocate from the Wayne County area. Flanagan has a disability called ADEM, Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis, which developed when he was a child. “It happened when I was 10 years old. It was autoimmune in nature, but it’s not ongoing. It’s more like an injury. An autoimmune mediated injury.” Sept. 25 of this year was the 19-year anniversary of the event. Due to this, Flanagan expressed how differently he was treated since the onset of his disability. He knows firsthand how disabilities can change how you are viewed in society.

Lindlbauer, who is an illustrator and Flanagan’s best friend, also experienced disability later in life. In high school, he suffered a brain abscess from a severe sinus infection at just 16 years old. With only a 15 percent chance of survival, Lindlbauer defied all odds, but he was left with disabilities as a result.

Flanagan and Lindlbauer both stress that because they were not born disabled, they know how especially isolating and alienating being disabled can feel in a society where people with disabilities are stigmatized. Flanagan says, “It’s a big reason why I wrote this book with Jesse. I kept having these experiences where I would be out in public, and kids would come up to me and ask me questions. It kind of became apparent to me that parents and schools weren’t really educating kids on disability-related issues.”

The pair decided to write a children’s book not only to help children understand, but their parents, too. “It’s multi-generational that people haven’t been learning about this; a lot of times the parents don’t know any more than the kids do, and their parents don’t know any more than they do,” Flanagan explained. They explained that there are a lot of assumptions, mystery, stereotypes, and misconceptions that surround disabilities. They want to change this and maximize their audience. “We wanted to create something that would not only teach kids, but adults too. If you write a children’s book, parents are going to read it to their kids,” Flanagan said.

One of the big goals of this book is giving kids with disabilities hope that there’s fun things for them to do and encourage kids who aren’t physically disabled to be friends with those who are.

The theme of friendship in the book highlights inclusivity that extends beyond disabilities. Kevin’s best friend Katie is a black girl, and Kevin is a white boy, which displays a big goal of the book, which is to normalize racial diversity, inclusion, and inter-racial and inter-gender friendships. Flanagan explains, “It’s okay to be friends with people who don’t look like you racially. It’s okay to be friends with people who don’t look like you physically. It’s okay to be friends with the opposite gender. Encourage kids to not see differences as a bad thing, but to put a positive spin that different doesn’t equal inferior. Different is just different, and as our book says, different can be fun.”

Lindlbauer, the illustrator of “Kevin Can,” always loved art. He loved to draw when he was younger and took a graphic art class in high school, which made him fall in love with digital art. After the onset of Lindlbauer’s disability, drawing with a pen and paper wasn’t the same. He ventured more into graphic art, and over time became quicker and more proficient on the computer. Lindbauer said, “After my injury, I was pretty slow on the computer for a few years, but I’ve gotten better over time.” Following this passion, he began to consider graphic design as a career path.

Through the help of “Kevin Can,” and Lindlbauer’s talents that shine through the book, an amazing opportunity was presented to him. “I go to Wayne County Community College for Graphic Design. I’m working with Michigan Rehabilitation Services and I showed them the book, and they’re going to pay for me to finish school.”

Although they have used their experiences to make a difference in the world, accepting that you have a lifelong disability and all the challenges that go along with that wasn’t always an easy thing to embrace.

Flanagan explains, “Early on, I was very pessimistic. I just thought I was screwed out of life for a very long time. It took a long time and a whole constellation of events and points to connect together to give me a different perspective. As time progressed, I realized there’s a whole future I will never experience, because I don’t know what my life would’ve been like if this never happened. I can kind of lament it, but at the same time, there’s no guarantee it could’ve been any better.”

He continues, “We always assume the things that didn’t happen are going to be better, but that’s not necessarily the case.” Flanagan stresses that you can’t judge one single event, because it can be a part of something bigger that can make a huge positive difference in your life.

Life is precious, and sometimes it takes being grateful in just how precious it is to keep going. “In both of our situations, it could’ve killed both of us,” Flanagan added. “I think about my life, and it makes me feel like I have a purpose to be here. If I wasn’t supposed to be here, I wouldn’t be here.” These traumatic experiences can also be transformed into tools to better yourself, which is another message Flanagan wants to share with the world. “Trauma is an education. I feel like if you overcome certain things, it forces you to learn. You don’t really have a choice.”

Flanagan and Lindlbauer both hope that “Kevin Can” is the beginning of a new, inclusive generation that houses a society where disability resources aren’t viewed as a luxury, but rather a necessity. When asked what changes society has started to make that Flanagan and Lindlbauer would have loved growing up, they responded with adaptive playgrounds, school-funded adaptive sports, and of course, this book.

To purchase “Kevin Can,” you can find it on Amazon.com. Lindlbauer and his family also created a running fundraiser, which supports families in crisis, called SJ5K, which you can find more information on at sj5k.org.