Jonathan Speaks for the voiceless
BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
Let us introduce this special creature to you: He is a twelve-year old child born with some handicap. He suffers from severe cerebral palsy. Experts diagnosed that he had profound learning difficulties, so school administrators gave up on him. So Jonathan Bryan cannot read nor can he write with his hands. As a matter of fact, he has limited use of his limbs, as he practically lives in wheelchair! But he holds promise for scores of other children with disabilities. He has written a book!
Didn’t we say he is not able to read or write? Yes that fact holds as far as writing with limbs is concerned.
But Chantal Bryan, his lovely mother saw what educationists did not see, so she started taking him out of school for a few hours a day for private lessons. By age nine, Jonathan had started communicating with his eyes enough for him to spell anything he wanted to say.
Technology has taken over from there: with the aid of E-tran frame this 12-year old can so communicate that he has written a book. All Jonathan needed to do was look into the E-tran frame and spell what he wants to say with his eyes.
That was how we came about his memoir: Eye Can Write, an account of his life journey, starting with the mother’s perspective through Jonathan’s faith and his passion.
So what inspired him to write? Jonathan said it was the urge to help other people in his situation. When you hear that you will agree with his mother when she said, “His body doesn’t do very much, but it doesn’t mean that his mind isn’t active”. His mind is truly active. A development that has proclaimed him and his parents beyond their little abode in Wiltshire, England.
The book, which took him one year to “write” before it was released July 12, has been well received by the public. What that means is that it is likely to bring back good proceeds. So what does the Bryans want to do with the proceeds? A portion of it will be donated to Teach Us Too, a charity organisation , which promotes an educational system geared towards educating children regardless of their condition. And that is in appreciation of the advantages that education gives to children. Jonathan underscores that when he said, “When we can spell, it gives us a voice, and we can live life in all its fullness”.
He told the Cable News Network, CNN , “I am the voice of the voiceless”.