‘Kevin Can!’ Children’s book authors use their disabilities to educate and inspire

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) -All of us are fighting some kind of stereotype, and people with disabilities are no exception.

Two young men from Canton, Michigan are using their disabilities to change attitudes, and are on a mission to make a literary impact.

Jesse Lindlbauer and Ian Flanagan have been best friends since high school, where they rode a wheelchair-accessible bus together. The two 29-year-olds share a unique bond... both were stricken at a young age by paralyzing diseases. At just ten years old, a rare auto-immune condition would change Ian's life.

"First my right arm went paralyzed, then my right leg, then left arm and left leg then my eyes, I lost control of everything," recalls Ian.

For Jesse, life threw him a curve ball when he was a teenager.

"When I was 16, I started getting bad headaches," Jesse says. A sinus infection attacked his brain, leaving him with paralysis.

Wheelchairs slow them down physically, but not mentally.

Ian has a degree in mechanical engineering, while Jesse studied graphic design in college, and both have had a hard time finding a job, because they're not able to drive.

But their work would eventually find them, inspired by curious questions.

"A lot of little kids would come up to us and be like, why are you in a wheelchair?" Ian said.

That had Ian and Jesse questioning why parents and schools weren't educating kids about disabilities. So they decided to write a children's book called "Kevin Can."

"Kevin is a little bit of both of us," Ian says.

Written mostly by Ian, and illustrated by Jesse... it's the story of a ten-year-old boy who uses a wheelchair to get around.

"That's a huge part of the message of 'Kevin Can.' Although he's in a wheelchair, he does everything else other kids do, he just does it differently," said Ian.

From riding the bus, to fun on the playground, the book follows Kevin, and his best friend, Katie. It's full of inspiring words and pictures, for kids with disabilities, and those without.

According to Ian, the early book reviews have been overwhelmingly positive from both parents and teachers.

"Teachers say, you know, we don't have anything like this in our classroom to teach kids about disabilities and this is going to go a long way to spread inclusion and disability awareness," Ian says.

This is just the first of four books in the "Kevin Can" series. The next one will feature Kevin's service dog.