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April had been diagnosed with vitiligo when she was only eight months old. It started as a small dime sized spot on her inner thigh. It now looks like white clouds going across her skin. At age four the vitiligo was just starting to spread to her face and hands and people were asking questions about it at every turn. April started to ask some questions of her own. We went to a Baseball game and she wanted to know why everyone else looked different. There was a man in a wheelchair next to us, a tall man behind us, a large woman down a few rows and so on. We told her we all have something that makes us different but we are all so much the same. We tried to find a book to help make that point and found one book about difference in race, one about the visually impaired, one about hearing loss and so on. There wasn’t one book that said we are all the same and different at the same time. So April and I decided we would write one. April is the main character in the book but we left out her spots. Why you may ask? Because not everyone can see past her spots right away. That’s the point of the book. We wanted as many kids to relate to her as possible. We wanted kids to think “I’m like her so maybe I’m like all those other people.” We made her as generic as possible to get the point across. If she would have had vitiligo, kids may think “Well I’m nothing like her so I must not be like any of those other people” and it would have defeated the whole purpose of the book. This way by the end maybe they can see that we really are all alike. There is, however, a woman with vitiligo in the scene at the train station, she is also on the back cover. On the cover of the book April has two colors of skin. If you didn’t know about vitiligo you would think that was just light and shadow on her face. I wanted to do something for all the kids with vitiligo. It’s sort of our inside secret. |
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I start off with a question. I say “Raise your hand if you think we are all the SAME in SOME ways. Now raise your hand if you think we are all DIFFERENT in SOME ways. Ok let’s test that out. Who has hair on their head? (all hands go up) So that means we are all the same, right?” (Some of the younger ones say “yes”) We then look around and point out some of the different kinds of hair (long, short, curly, straight, brown, blond,...) and we come to the conclusion that we are all the same and different at the same time. I then tell them this is basically what the book is about and I read the book. After the reading I go back over page by page. I try to make the connection that we are all the same and different as often as possible. On the first page (showing April getting ready for bed) I ask who brushes their teeth each night before bed. Most raise their hand, some just giggle. Next spread. The objects on the left can be found in the illustration of April’s room. You could ask “Does your room look a little like this one? Do you all have a bed? Is your room this clean?” Next spread. The fish can be found in April’s room on the previous page. I ask the kid’s to tell me how these things (the fish) are all the same, then how are they all different. I try to limit it to one difference and one similarity for my talk due to time restraints, but this could be a fun class project. Each child could try to come up with the most similarities and differences for each page. They can get pretty creative. Example: Same = fish, have an eye, fins, swim in water, scales.....Different = color, shape, size.... It seems all the kids have fun with this one. I wasn’t sure about some of the older kids. They start out slow but by the end of the book they are competing to see who can name the most. Next. If you have a sign language chart this is a great time to use it. The kids love to figure out their names in sign language. First, I ask if they know what signing is and why they need it. Sometimes we put our hands over our ears to show what it would be like to be deaf. The boy and girl on the bus are real people. Kaylee learns sign language because her brother is deaf. Michael has been deaf all his life. The other people on the bus are friends and family that helped to pose for me. Show the kids that sign language is based on the same alphabet that we use. Next. Notice all the different kinds of food. Ask if they like pollo(chicken),Sushi (raw fish), Irish stew (beef, potatoes, carrots, peas), Lox (Smoked salmon) and bagels, Kiwi...See if they can think of something different that they don’t usually eat—that they have tried before—or ask them if maybe they eat something that most others do not. Here’s another opportunity to do the same and different game with the fruit. Next. I let the kids feel the braille when I’m done with the talk. First I ask if they know what braille is and why do blind people need it. Have them close their eyes. Now ask them how they would find their way around, order at a restaurant, or read a book. We talk about the fact that all elevators have to have braille next to the buttons and they can feel it the next time they are in an elevator. Tell them to try to feel the difference between the one and the two when they have a chance to feel the braille. Let them know that blind people have to learn their numbers and letters just like we did. Practice and repetition. Point out that their numbers and letters are based on our numbers and letters. Jeannie is the blind woman and Snuffer is her dog. (the kids really relate to the dog; be ready for some dog stories) Ask the kids if they know whether they can pet a seeing eye dog. Some think they shouldn’t because the dog could bite. They are trained to be very nice around a lot of people, but they have to ask the owner because the dog is working and should not be distracted. If the owner says “no”, don’t feel bad, the dog is just on duty at the time. Another interesting thing I like to tell the kids about is Jeannie’s bible. I tell them that she showed us around her house and it looked just like yours or mine except that she got to have her dog in the house at all times. She also showed us her bible. I say “Does anyone have a bible at home/ how thick is yours? Mine is about two inches thick. Do you know how thick her bible was? It took up the whole top shelf of her bookcase.” Then I hold my hands apart as wide as I can to show them. I explain that because the braille is printed on very thick paper and the braille bumps make it that much thicker that it takes up a lot of room. Also the words can’t be printed in itty bitty type. The braille is always the same size in order to be read well. They also have books on tape and they can even get magazines in braille. Next. This is really April’s Dad, Dean, and the people he works with. He really does do graphic design. The chairs on the opposite page can be found in the big illustration. It’s also another opportunity for the same and different game with the chairs. Next. This is Uncle Bob. He’s a big guy. Ask if any of the kids know someone like him The cups and glasses can be found in the bigger illustration. You can also ask them to do the same and different game. Next. Ask the kids if they know what a marathon is. Ask if they think this woman could be in a marathon. This is Mary Thompson. She has been in a wheelchair for over 8 years due to a car accident. She not only does marathons, she WINS them all over the world. The chair she is in is not her racing wheelchair. Her racing chair has slanted back wheels and comes up to a small wheel in front and it’s made of a beautiful pink aluminum. She let April sit in her chair and tool around her house. Explain that she does a lot of the same things we do just a little differently. She can wheel up under her sink and stove in the kitchen. She has ramps and we have steps and so on. The first sign is from Mexico, the second is Chinese ,the third is American and the forth is from Russia. Of course you can do the same and different game with these too. Next. On this page you can just point out the different sizes of buildings and how that looks more interesting than a strip mall where everything is the same. Next The train station has all sorts of interesting people. My Dad is the big tall guy wearing the blue shorts. See if the kids can find the woman with two colored skin on her elbow. She has vitiligo. That’s what my daughter has. It’s just a loss of pigment and does not effect her in any other way. Now if they see someone with what looks like clouds going across their skin they will know it’s vitiligo.( Pronounced: Vittle-Eye-Go.) Next. That’s my sister Judy and her kids, Devon and Paige. You can ask if they think the woman is their Mom. Why or Why not? Once again same and different with the houses. Next. That really is my Mom. I also know the cats. The kids may notice (depending on their age) that the illustrations have now turned to full color. If they ask you, pose the question right back to them. Ask “Why does the illustrator only have the PEOPLE in color?” The reason for this is to really show what is important. They really stand out next to the black and white backgrounds. It is also to show how very different our colors can be. Once we get to Grammies beautiful garden full of flowers I wanted the reader to make the connection between all the beautiful flowers and all the beautiful people. Next. This is really April's friend Andy Wong. Next. Another same and different with the flowers. Kids love animals so I tell them a little about my Moms cat Pumpkin. Pumpkin really weighs about 20 pounds so I tell them I had to take a few pounds off just to get him in the picture. They get a big laugh out of that. Next (last) You can ask “What do you think she is thinking about”. One question I get asked is “Why doesn’t April have vitiligo in the book?” My answer is we wanted as many kids as possible to relate to her at first sight. I tried to make her as generic as possible so lots of kids would say “Yes, I’m like her so maybe I’m like all those other people” and after reading the book when they see someone that looks different maybe they would think they were just like them as well, whether they have vitiligo or something else that makes them look different. Additional games to play in the classroom. Can you add to the story? Can you come up with a place where you would be doing the same thing as someone else? Think of what the page would look like, then write about it. It should end in “just like me”. Then draw a picture showing where you would be and what you and the other people/person would be doing. Can you think of some things that can be the same and different at the same time? (Like the fruit, fish, chairs and flowers.) Draw a picture of what you came up with and show how they are the same and different. Show your neighbor. See if they can name one thing the same and one thing different about what you drew. How are you like April? How are you different from April? Make a list with two columns. List all similarities and differences in the proper column. Do some overlap? (For example, you both have hair but it may be a different kind of hair or color; you both have eyes but they may be a different shape or color.) Or have them pick someone else in the book to compare themselves to. Did they come out equal? Did everyone have more in the same or different column? Did someone compare themselves to the woman in the wheelchair or the blind woman? How did they compare with everyone else? Before the next exercise you may want to talk about how our feelings are so much alike. Ask who likes to be called bad names? Who wants to be left out while playing? Have the children line up in a row. Start with yourself (the teacher) and say one thing that makes you DIFFERENT from the student next to you. Now go down the row and have each child say something that makes THEM different from the next child. When you get to the end, turn it around (start at the end) and have them say one thing that makes them the SAME as the child next to them. Remind them before you start that you want to try to come up with as many different ideas as possible and try not to have any repeats. Make sure that when they are saying what is different they say I am different because...... not YOU are different because........(the same goes for when they are saying what’s the same) COLORING BOOK ACTIVITY http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html Go to this Web site and you can download 3 different coloring pages from the original drawings for the book. These are actual copies of the illustrations that are in the book that I copied before I painted them. Here's just a little information about vitiligo, my daughter, April's skin condition Vitiligo can happen at any age and no one knows what causes it or how to cure it. It effects 2% of the population. It is the loss of pigment in your skin and sometimes the loss of pigment in your hair as well. It can be one small spot that stays the same size all your life or it can spread and cover your whole body. It is only a loss of pigment, it does not effect the body in any other way. Our daughter April has the kind that spreads. She is about seventy percent covered and she is only eight years old. Many people see someone with vitiligo and don’t know what it is. I had someone tell me they thought it was leprosy. Some people think it is contagious or they think April has been burned. Even people that have vitiligo may not know what they have. The dermatologists that we have gone to didn't even know much about it. After some searching on the internet we found The National Vitiligo Foundation. (http:www.vitiligofoundation.org) It has been such a relief for us. They have so much information and are so helpful. They told us about a web site where we could talk to others with vitiligo. (VITILIGO@MAELSTROM.STJOHN.EDU) We got to talk to other parents going through the same thing and we got the latest news on any possible cure. We also found out about people that suffer from very low self esteem. They wear long pants and long sleeve shirts in the middle of summer just to hide it. There was a woman that got it at age 30 and her husband wouldn’t be seen with her in public. She has since depigmented completely and is remarried. There are people that just don’t leave the house. There are teenagers that can’t join in all the summer fun with their friends due to the sensitivity to sun light of the depigmented skin. They get teased. Other kids call them “Cow skin” or “lizard”. April’s friends now know what it is and don’t really notice it anymore, but if we go to a playground with new kids she has to explain it to everyone. On a few occasions, before we have had a chance to explain, she has gotten some pretty hurtful comments and stares. Since there presently is no cure for vitiligo it has been our experience that dermatologists tend to be very insensitive. They have no answer so they just want you to go away. At my first encounter with a pediatric dermatologist I had more information about the disorder than the doctor did. We tried many others dermatologists, but with the same results. One specialist in Los Angeles had me coming up once a month. She would give me different creams to try but nothing worked. Some of the other so called “cures’ could have had serious side effects that could have thinned her skin, harmed her liver and kidneys and could have interfered with the development of her eyes. Needless to say we did not go along with those treatments. One dermatologist asked why we even came to see him since there was nothing that could be done. He told us to go home and “live with it”. Right now this is the only way we can think of to “live with it”. Part of the money from the book will go towards pediatric vitiligo research and the only other thing we can think to do is to educate others on what vitiligo is and let them know it’s O.K. to be different. |
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