Find out about talented local author Fliss Goldsmith and her new book!
Meet Elise, Ryan, Roderick, Erin, Dora and Benji, the awesome friends who make up ‘The Diffability Bunch’! They would love you to join them on their Sports Day Adventure and find out what challenges and abilities we all experience together.
Hello lovely readers! I’m Fliss and I am a Diversity and Inclusion Advocate and Children’s Author. This is my second book in the ‘Erin and Roderick’ Series and comes hot on the heels of my first book, ‘Erin and Roderick Discover Families’.
This book is all about changing the ableist narrative around disability. It seeks to acknowledge and honour disability and to see it as one part of a whole person.
The children are super excited about sports day and things are going well until Mr. Patwari announces he has lost the whistle that starts the races. This is a big problem for Ryan who has Down Syndrome and cannot start the race without the whistle - just the way he practiced. As the clock is ticking it is up to The Diffability Bunch to work together to save the day…….
The book explores, Autism, Mutism, Wheelchair Use, Deafness, ADHD and Down Syndrome as well as the skin condition Vitiligo. The story is fun and engaging and seeks to illicit curiosity in the readers about the different conditions and reinforce that they are a normal part of society.
I have noticed that sometimes adults find it tricky to talk to children about Disability as they don’t want to offend or say the wrong thing. I totally get it – I am a mum myself! So, I included a ‘Let’s Talk About’ section at the back of the book to address this particular problem. This gives the adults an easy way to describe each Disability and the challenges it presents – as well as the opportunities!
Empowering children to create a kinder, fairer more inclusive future is my mission and my books are one part of the work I commit to daily to create this reality. Our children are the generation that realise that the lens of education has been too narrow. We haven’t seen disabled characters in story enough. We haven’t seen lead characters of colour enough. We haven’t seen LGBT characters enough. Together we can change this and by doing so not only do we expand the knowledge and horizons of our own children, but we also show others that this is a safe space to celebrate exactly who they are.
If you would like to place your order for a SIGNED copy of the book, please go to www.flissgoldsmith.com
You can keep up to date with my work over on Instagram: @flissgoldsmithbooks
And also on Facebook: facebook.com/flissgoldsmithauthor
I leave you with my mantra ‘Whatever the question, let love guide the answer.’ I aim to live by it daily and I hope by doing so that together we can ring the changes for a brighter tomorrow.
Fliss x
