Persistence pays off for brothers
WHEN the Crespan brothers put their heads together and decided to work on a children’s book, what they came up with was a creative tale about overcoming adversity, much like its creators have.
Townsville siblings Haydn and Damien – both born with Asperger’s syndrome – have seen their fair share of challenges in their short lives, not only living with a disability, but the stigma and isolation that comes with it.
When Haydn was younger, he would retreat into the worlds he created, spinning tales of wonder and awe, first coming up with the protagonist in their newly published book in grade 5.
The Adventures of Triz the Babysitter is about a small gliding lizard tasked with looking after the egg of his friend Marjorie, before a raft of challenges present themselves, sparking a humorous and colourful story about how one can rise to the task.
“It’s been pretty difficult, with Asperger's and our different conditions, like anxiety,” Haydn said.
“Writing and storytelling for me is escapism. Pure and simple. I don’t get out much, so I need an escape from my boring, mundane life.
“A place where I can get away from reality and go to a place where I am in control of something.
“I get to be in control for a change. It is a place to explore my ideas and my sense of self in the stories that I bring to life.
“I see myself in Triz. He, like me, is faced with challenge after challenge and even when things go pearshaped, as they often do, we have a choice. We can choose to give up or we can keep going.
“Persistence is the key to happiness. Overcoming every challenge, quite literally staring death in the face, as it is with Triz.
“If we stop, that is where we will remain, but if we keep going, who knows where we will end up and what surprises might lay around the corner,” Haydn said.
Much like Triz, artist Damien, who is also colourblind, rose to the task and collaborated with his brother to illustrate the heartwarming story.
“The book has gone through 50 iterations but something happened and we started working on other stuff and it got put to the side for a bit,” Damien said.
“It was only recently that we picked it back up, I’d done the book a few years ago, but it was only with pencils and stuff like that, which was very hard … Haydn one day said ‘we should contact a publisher’ and they got back saying they’d like to publish us.
“I was given 100 days to do the book … I had an ipad, got ready to start doing it and thought ‘holy crap, I’ve got no idea how to use an ipad’.
“I found a tablet that would connect to my computer, I could draw on the screen … so as I was doing the book, I was teaching myself how to use the program.”
Mother Debra Crespan said the brothers had it hard growing up but said she was immensely proud of how they’d been able to overcome their disability.
“One thing these boys have never done is said ‘woe is me’, they tend to say ‘there are people out there who have got a lot more to deal with’,” she said. “As a mother, I have seen their daily struggle and it can sometimes be quite heartbreaking.”
A second book is in the works and you can meet Haydn and Damien this weekend at Progress Book World from 9.30-11.30 on Saturday and Mary Who from 10-1pm on Sunday.