A few words from Sheila about this book:
Why Are You Afraid to Hold My Hand? is meant to be simple, succinct and sensitive in its message, style and presentation. I visualize the book as occupying a niche in the articulation of the needs of the disabled children. The book is to contribute in the dialogue between the society at large and a disabled child. Its target audience is not only the children, but also the parents and other concerned adults. This book is created with a sense of conviction and hope that in the social and education milieu of our lives, there is a place for Why Are You Afraid to Hold My Hand?
Why Are You Afraid to Hold My Hand? is published by Tulika.
This book is envisioned to be a part of a campaign that promotes the message through a series of advertising materials. Above are prototypes of coffees, mugs, and bookmarks.
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"The illustrated booklet titled, Why Are You Afraid to Hold My Hand? by the author and illustrator, Sheila Dhir is one that fulfills a timely need in the public on the understanding and the acceptance of children with cerebral palsy as one among the rest of the child population.
It breaks the myths associated with condition, that it is perhaps the legacy of a curse or a sin inherited by the child, that the condition is an infectious disease of that it is an unmanageable one.
The narration lucidly dispenses with such irrational ideas and expresses the sublime feelings and thoughts in the child on the skewed way the world looks at them. The child is clear about not wanting sympathy but just the facilities to perform such of those activities the child years to do.
Often it is not the disability per se which poses the severity of the challenge to the child but the attitude of those who are able and who cannot stretch their thinking to visualize what it is to be a person with disability.
The language is simple, touching, and conveys the intended message candidly, no sympathy but understanding and help to function like any body else.
The illustrations are self-explanatory in some pages and complementary to the written matter in some pages.
It is hope that the author will bring more such booklets on the other different disabilities to be read by both children and teachers in mainstream schools."
Jaya Krishnaswamy
"...Why are you afraid to hold my hand? is about outlooks and our feelings towards those with a disability. Each person is an individual and therefore different from the other but sometimes this `different' can stretch a little further. Unintentionally we may end up being cruel to the child who doesn't walk, talk or behave the way most of us do. The book very simply done in white and yellow is based on a child with cerebral palsy..."
Reviewed by Paromita Pain from The Hindu | Read the full article
