An inclusive menagerie
Story of girl’s cancer battle is latest in series using zoo animals tomake special needs approachable
Since he was born three years ago, Grant has discovered that his differences are his strengths — and he’s on a mission to empower others to feel acknowledged and accepted, too.
Grant the Jigsaw Giraffe has jigsawpuzzle pieces instead of spots and, despite not being able to hold a paintbrush, fulfills his dream of becoming an artist. The fictional zoo animal is the brainchild of Houston’s Julie Coy, whose real-life child, Grant Maniér, is a 25-year-old artist with autism and the illustrator of their children’s books that lovingly showcase disabilities and, now, chronic illnesses.
The fourth and most recent addition to the Grant the Jigsaw Giraffe and Friends series focuses on childhood cancer via a touching tribute to Abigail Arias, the Freeport girl who captured hearts across the country as an honorary police officer and Texas Ranger before losing her cancer fight last fall at 7. “Abigail, the Brave Little Llama” finds Grant learning about the llama’s mantra to “stay relentless,” just like the real Abigail did.
Such positive messages echo throughout the series, in which the giraffe guides other special-needs animals — a red panda with dyslexia, a zebra with epilepsy and others — to mentors and resources to find meaning in their differences. One book also explained the COVID-19 pandemic via an approachable story in which the animals worry for their human friends who aren’t visiting the zoo anymore.
“We focus on all special needs and challenges,” Coy says. “Everyone has an ability.”
The books are self-published, and each has grown its audience. The first book, “Grant, the Jigsaw Giraffe: Different Is More,” had an initial run of 5,000 copies before the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation picked up another 10,000. The Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities recognized the book with a Barbara Jordan Media Award in 2018.
Coy credits much of the series’ readership numbers to accessibility: The books are printed in a typeface called Dyslexie, which is designed to be more readable for people with dyslexia and similar reading challenges.
Coy and Maniér pass along royalties to the inspirations behind their characters. They recently gave $2,200 from proceeds of Maniér’s giraffe and llama prints and “Abigail, the Brave Little Llama” to Ethan Arias, Abigail’s 11-year-old brother, who also is a llama character in the book.
Mother and son were set to meet Abigail, but she entered hospice care before they got the chance. Coy says she felt an “instant connection” to Ilene Arias, Abigail’s mother, when they eventually met. Ilene had a request of Coy as they discussed the story: Let her daughter live.
“It was the hardest story I ever had to write,” Coy recalls, choking up. “I cried many times. I talked to Abigail many times. I didn’t know her, but I could feel her. If I could do anything, I could write a book for her.”
For the Ariases, the book is part of keeping their daughter’s legacy going.
“The plot, the journey, is hers,” Abigail’s father, Ruben Arias, says. “We always took a step back and let her enjoy the moment. … We said, ‘Make it about her.’ We’re just a small part. She touched millions of people, and this keeps her going. That’s the beauty of the book — (Coy and Maniér) just did an amazing job.
“Aside from just remembering her, (the book) raises awareness of what childhood cancer is and how many are affected by it,” Arias says, noting the story offers a way for parents to talk to their children about a difficult topic, something he himself didn’t have.
For all the gloom of the past year, Coy and Maniér have shared lighter moments. With his art shows canceled, Maniér has kept creating artwork with recycled paper. As for the books, collaborating while in constant close quarters with one’s mother brings a chuckle.
“We’d go for drives at first. Have you ever seen ‘The Shining’?” he quips.
Both look forward to what awaits in the new year. Audiobooks of the series are already in the works, along with subjects including limb loss and other disabilities. Up next: a look at the spectrum of autism featuring influential advocate Temple Grandin, whom Maniér considers a mentor and who wrote the foreword to the first book. The new story will feature
Grant and the zookeeper introducing Grandin to animals with various forms of the disorder. The goal is to time its release for April, Autism Awareness Month.
“A lot of stuff that’s put out isn’t very original. It’s really positive to have an artist on the spectrum showing what he can do,” Grandin says of Maniér’s illustrations. “… He’s come a long way.”
Just like his giraffe counterpart and friends.
“I miss the professors and other colleagues. You can’t go into the office and talk to people. We just don’t network the same way online.”
It’s a common sentiment in this work-from-home pandemic. But it might surprise you to know this comes from Temple Grandin — the noted animal-behavior expert who teaches at Colorado State University — who has autism. After all the light she has shed on the developmental disorder, many still assume those with autism aren’t interested in socializing at the office watercooler.
But Grandin, 73, has always shattered assumptions.
Grandin didn’t speak till she was nearly 4, screamed and spun around. Her mother refused to put her in an institution, as doctors suggested, instead getting her critical early therapies. She improved and attended private schools but didn’t fit in. She did make some friends in high school over a shared love of horses. That, and the encouragement of a science teacher to build and test her “hug box,” a device for calming her anxiety, set her on a path of scientific, behavioral discovery, both of livestock and those with autism.
In 2010, Time magazine named her to its list of the 100 most influential people. That same year, HBO released “Temple Grandin,” starring Claire Danes, who won a Golden Globe for her portrayal. Grandin has since been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
As an educator, she fears the long-term effects of the pandemic on children, saying that after front-line workers, “teachers should get the (coronavirus) vaccines.” Grandin spoke about her upcoming appearance in a children’s book by Houston author Julie Coy and her son, illustrator Grant Maniér, an artist who has autism; life during the pandemic; and how to improve outcomes of children on the autism spectrum.
Q: How did you meet Julie Coy and Grant Maniér?
A: It was about 10 years ago at an art show. Grant’s art is absolutely beautiful. I’ve seen him open up as a person; it’s gotten easier for him, talking about his art. I like to see him and people with autism out doing things.
Q: In their upcoming story, the main character, Grant the Jigsaw Giraffe, will introduce you to other zoo animals with various forms of autism. As someone who is herself a published author, albeit different kinds of books, what advice do you have for this team?
A: They’re doing a lot of things right. The stories are innovative and just great. … The characters are clever and cute.
Q: What have you been doing during the pandemic?
A: Lots and lots of writing. I’m working on a new book on visual thinking. I needed something to do. My students are getting journal articles written. I’ve also written with people in my field on animal behavior. …
All travel (for speaking engagements) has been canceled since March. I get up every morning and get dressed, like I’m going to work. No laying around in jammies. I find that helps me a lot.
When everything shut down, I looked up life on the International Space Station. Mission Control wakes you up. You can have any music you want to wake you up. The astronauts do their experiments, exercise, and then they have a midday meal that everyone has to attend together. It’s a banner across their calendar. The schedule is very important to avoid depression.
I’ve also been visiting horses. They were my favorite thing in high school. I got bullied a lot, and my friends and I would go riding.
Q: What’s happening at Colorado State?
A: They closed the university March 13. At first, teaching online was just awful. But then I did what’s called a flipped classroom. I put a pre-recorded lecture on cattle behavior online with PowerPoint slides that (her students) watch first. Then the class time is for discussion. That works much better.
Q: There’s been considerable focus on finding work suited to people with autism, largely in trades. Yet you have reached the pinnacle of academia. What do you say to those searching for their place?
A: In 2013, the DSM (the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) was revised to make one huge spectrum. It’s a problem. “Nonverbals” can be in a sort of locked-in syndrome, with their sensory issues, like sound, cutting in and out like a bad phone. Or seeing pictures in their mind like a satellite in a bad storm because the brain isn’t processing as well. It takes concentration to screen that out.
For a job, you have to channel their interests. Julie saw Grant (as a child) always tearing paper, and now he uses that to create his art. People with autism have to get out and be doing things. For the ones who are fully verbal, the moms can be overprotective. They aren’t learning basic skills, like shopping. You have to stretch them outside their comfort zone. For me, it was the livestock industry and the exposure I got as a teenager. … I love being a scientist and being a professor first. Kids probably are letting autism be their total identity.
Q: So they’re using that as an excuse or crutch to not meet their full potential?
A: I wouldn’t say that, but … smart kids are not learning basic skills. They’ve got to know how to order a hamburger. One of the best places to get those working skills is volunteer jobs at a church. It’s important to learn how to do a job outside the family. That needs to start at about 11. Of course, the pandemic makes that harder. But there are still things you can do: walk the neighbor’s dog, take out the trash.
Q: In your appearance at RodeoHouston a few years ago, you advocated careers in less abstract fields for people on the autism spectrum. But you weren’t necessarily saying someone with autism can’t be a lawyer. What did you mean?
A: I’m a visual thinker. A lawyer is a highly verbal thinker. Some (with autism) are very good at it. Others have a more mathematical brain. The brain can be more social-emotional … (but) it eats up a lot of processor space in the brain. I’ve met engineers in Silicon Valley who I know are on the spectrum, even though they don’t have a diagnosis. Autism isn’t like COVID, where you have a strong black line saying you have it or you don’t.