Tea Time Talent Talk
Our colleagues across the
UK and Europe use innovation and creativity throughout the working week, but
the imagination doesn’t stop there. Alex Kosminsky is Senior Designer at our
Marks site in Birmingham, who in his spare time has created a storybook with
his wife Pamela and illustrator Ray Walsh.
In November the trio gave a
Tea Time Talent Talk to Alex’s colleagues, explaining what the book is all
about. They even filmed the entire thing in 360-degree video, allowing people
to enjoy it afterwards and take a look around the Marks offices in the process.
The inspiration behind the
story is Alex and Pamela’s son, Walter, who is autistic and attends a special
school. This is the first of what they aim to be a wide series of children’s
books under the brand Just Like Me, which promotes awareness of ethnic
diversity, mixed race families, autism, disability, and other factors that
deserve greater inclusivity.
In the talk, Alex and
Pamela tell us that books are Walter’s favourite things in the entire world.
However, the couple couldn’t find any with characters that Walter could relate
to, so they decided to make one themselves.
Walter is mixed race and
was diagnosed with ASD in 2017; he struggles with loud noises and was
non-verbal until he was almost five years old. This means that he finds it
extremely hard to communicate and life can prove frustrating for him. When it
became clear that he responded very well to visual prompts, books became his
safe haven, using them as a channel to relate the imagery to the world around
him.
The book is called Buster
Finds His Beat and follows a little boy who’s scared by everyday
noises. Buster is hypersensitive like Walter, which is where the brain and
nervous system don’t work very well together and send the senses into
overdrive. This causes a sensory overload and they can sometimes see and feel
loud noises, which can be terrifying.
As with all future
instalments in the series, the story champions diversity, inclusivity and
kindness. Most importantly, it has been designed for all children to read, not
just those with autism. The goal is to help people to gain a better
understanding of a range of conditions whilst removing stereotypes and reducing
stigma.
“Autism is very complex and
many think of people who have it as being non-verbal or a genius, with nothing
in between,” say Alex and Pamela. “The book captures the essence and beauty of
autism, showing that it’s wide-ranging and not always doom and gloom.”
They explain that Walter in
particular has incredible long-term memory but can’t remember something that
happened ten minutes ago. He’s also petrified by the sound of rain due to its
randomness, as you never know when it’s going to start, become heavier, lighten
off, and end. By finding coping mechanisms and explaining the importance of
commonplace things, Alex and Pamela are helping Walter to get more used to
them. For instance, he now knows that rain needs to fall so that plants can
grow – if there’s no rain, there’ll be no grass in the park.
Their book really is
wonderful and future releases will cover everything from race and different
traditions, to disabilities and physical characteristics, such as being the
shortest kid in class. We highly recommend that you take a look at Buster
Finds His Beat on the Just LikeMe website. You can also watch the
full 15-minute talk here. (Don’t forget that it’s a 360 video, so you
can move your phone around or use your cursor on a desktop/laptop to look
around the room and spot a few fellow SGS colleagues.)
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