Kristin Smedley (left) shows Tanishka Shah the braille section of the Free Library of Northampton Township where her new children’s book is now available.
An American athlete who climbed Mount Everest.
A music producer for recording artists like Katy Perry.
A professional skateboarder from Las Vegas.
These are just a few of the many real-life professionals you’ll meet in “What I Can Be Is Up To Me,” an inspiring children’s picture book written by Bucks County author Kristin Smedley. The story demonstrates that we each have unique skills and abilities that enable us to accomplish our dreams.
Although everyone featured in this book has different success stories, they all share one thing in common: They are all blind or have low vision.
Therefore, the key message of “What I Can Be Is Up To Me” is to inspire young readers and promote inclusivity, diversity, and the idea that people with visual impairments can achieve their dreams and have fulfilling lives just like anyone else.
This message is near and dear to Kristin Smedley who raised her two sons, Michael and Mitchell who are blind, along with her daughter Karissa in Ivyland.
Kristin explains that she wrote this book specifically for a first grader because her older son Michael was in first grade when he met Eric Weihenmayer, featured in her book as the first blind person to climb Mount Everest.
“When Michael met Eric it served as a pivotal moment that changed everything for us,” describes Kristin. “He said to Michael, ‘When you’re trying to do something and people say you can’t (because you’re blind), ask them if they have a friend who ever climbed Mount Everest. When they say no, tell them that my friend, Eric, climbed Mount Everest and he’s blind like me, so I can do anything I want to do.’”
Kristen went on to describe how everyone in their community who knew her sons and saw all they accomplished (attending public school like everyone else, playing sports like everyone else, etc.), knew that blind people can do anything they strive to do. “Today, when their friends, now in their early twenties, come to visit me, they tell me with surprise that the world doesn’t see blindness like we do, and that’s a big reason I wrote this book last year.”
“At the end of this book, I write that everyone has abilities so let’s harness that. Cross out the ‘dis’ in ‘disability’ and what’s left there is ‘ability,’ and everyone has unique ones. Learn to embrace them. That’s what gives you your unique skills and talents; not what you don’t have, but what you do have.”
Kristin, a former teacher, worked hard to ensure this book was engaging and exciting, consisting of empowering words.
To ensure all children, whether sighted or blind could read this book, it is written in Braille and in a larger printed font for those who are visually impaired, making it accessible to everyone. Not only is the text written in Braille, but it includes picture descriptions in Braille, so that blind readers can visualize the beautiful images throughout the book, illustrated by Kim Crothers, a visually-impaired artist.
Kristin truly thought of everything by including a braille alphabet at the end of the book for sighted children who want to learn this tool.
Last month, Kristin was thrilled to present an autographed copy of her book to the Braille section at the Free Library of Northampton Township in Richboro. Kristin and her son Mitchell’s third grade class established this Braille section ten years ago. Thanks to generous community donations over the years, this section has expanded to include approximately 250 Braille books for children up to 6th grade. It is the only library in the county with a Braille section, but available for interlibrary loans.
To order “What I Can Be Is Up To Me”, visit www.title.com or order it on Kristin’s website at kristinsmedley.com. All proceeds from the sale of “What I Can Be Is Up To Me” go directly to Kristin’s nonprofit organization, the Thriving Blind Academy, that funds programs for families living with blindness. You can also order Kristin’s best-selling, internationally acclaimed book, “Thriving Blind” on her website.
Today, Kristin’s two sons are truly “thriving blind”. Michael, now 24, is working as a sound engineer in live entertainment at Disney World while pursuing his Master’s Degree at Purdue University, Mitchell, a senior at Kutztown University who is in the honors program, is also the president of his radio station where he does the live commentary of the school’s home football games.
Thanks to Kristin’s journey of finding the tools to help her sons and countless other blind children and adults around the globe accomplish their dreams, she has truly shown others that “What I Can Be Is Up To Me.”