Gemma Cole, Elation (PEOPLE 2023)

I am a parent of two children with invisible disabilities. Since we started our journey over 13 years ago, my goal has been to leave behind a world where children are accepted for who they really are. I have often found that when I have tried to raise awareness about their diagnosis and advocate for their education and support, I am usually met with comments such as “but he looks like he is coping” or “he looks so normal”. The questions that I often ask myself is “What is normal? What is perfect? What does having a disability look like? Would having a visible disability be better than an invisible disability? This image is part of a folio that consists of children with invisible disabilities ranging from Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Generalise Anxiety Disorder, Foetal Alcohol syndrome and Developmental Trauma disorder. These children all experience varying difficulties in sensory processing, whereby they experience difficulties receiving and processing information that is obtained through via the senses. This image of my oldest son, inspired this folio. My goal is for viewers to form meaningful connections with these children: to see them as human beings, uniquely ordinary kids, and not judged by their behaviour, because after all aren’t we all humans who deserve support, kindness and validation?

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.