Help Charity Make a Difference!!
Donation protected
What If We Were All The Same! embraces the beautiful differences we all have in relation to height, hair type, abilities and much more. Perfect for non-readers, early readers and children of all ages. What kind of world would we be living in if everyone looked the same and did the same things?
A hopeful way to talk to your children about their differences.
The idea of this book is to help children understand that there is nothing wrong with being different. Whether they have red hair or brown hair, green eyes or blue eyes, long legs or short legs, light skin or dark skin, glasses or anything else, it’s absolutely OKAY! Our differences are what makes us unique and if we truly think about it, would you want to be the exact same as someone else? What if we all looked and had the skills of Bill Gates? How boring would it be to have millions of techies walking around? Who would have created music? art? food? clothes? and so much more!
The money raised will help Charity fulfill her dream to teach children that their differences are BEAUTIFUL! With the money raised, Charity will be able to:
- Order copies of her book to sell from her webpage and locally
- Register for and appear at book fairs and book festivals
- Travel for book readings and signings
- Create kid-friendly items i.e. bookmarks, stickers, etc.
- Donate free books to children's groups
- Recoup expenses of creating her first book
- Help fund more books she is in the process of writing
To Purchase a Book Visit: CMHarrisBooks.com
A Children's Picture Book About Diversity and Inclusion Available August 12, 2019
Any and all amounts donated are deeply appreciated!
Charity's Story:
Charity Michelle spent her childhood not knowing how different she was. As she got older and experienced hard times all she could wish for was to be normal, but who is to say what normal is. Charity eventually discovered that not only was it okay to be different but that being different is quite beautiful. Whether you are tall, short or can’t use your legs at all, you are amazing just the way you are.
Charity was born in the Midwest in Tulsa, Oklahoma and at the age of 7 moved with her family to Los Angeles, California. At a young age, Charity’s parents noticed she wasn’t walking and would rather roll everywhere so the doctor inserted padding in her shoes and from that point on Charity hit the ground running and never stopped, but after moving to California her life as she knew it changed. At the age of 7, Charity was diagnosed with Charcot Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT), and no, it has nothing to do with teeth. CMT is a neuromuscular disease that causes progressive muscle weakness, there are multiple different forms of the disease and Charity has the rare and most severe form of it known as Type 3 – Dejerine-Sottas. As Charity got older she noticed that she walked differently than the other children and they noticed it too, kids would call her “crippled”, tease her for being skinny and would even imitate the way she walked. Although this deeply hurt Charity she did her best to be nice despite the actions of her bullies. Throughout her school years, she met many nice friends who helped when she needed help. If her backpack was too heavy then the boys would carry it for her, if she stumbled or fell while walking her friends would help her up and when her hands were too tired her friends would help her open her snacks. Charity was very different from the average child and even though she faced a few bullies growing up, she had friends who were there when she needed them most.
During her sophomore year in high school Charity was forced to use a wheelchair due to her school being worried that she would fall and hurt herself, it was very hard for her to accept needing a wheelchair because she loved to walk, run and ride her bike with her friends and siblings and didn’t want any obstacles in her way but all that changed. At the age of 21 Charity received her first motorized wheelchair that she refers to as her power-chair. Does it actually have powers? Oh yes! Charity’s legs became more tired so at the age of 22, she became completely reliant on her power-chair. Did she let that stop her? Of course not!
Power-chair, service dog and all, Charity set out to prove to herself and not anyone else that her dream of being independent and on her own would one day be a reality but another obstacle appeared. During her first quarter at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona right before Christmas break she experienced the most painful and excruciating pain you could ever imagine! Out of the blue while watching her favorite tv show, Law & Order she rubbed her nose and felt a stabbing pain on the right side of her face.
She had no clue what had just happened and sat frozen with tears in her eyes and didn’t even know why! From that day forward her life truly would never be the same. Charity spent years trying to figure out what the shocking pains in her face were and tried to find answers but she was unsuccessful until one day she came across an article on Facebook about a young girl who had something called “The Suicide Disease.” From just reading the title she felt so bad for the young girl that she was intrigued enough to read the article and as she was reading tears started to roll down her face. Charity realized that she too had “The Suicide Disease” known as Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN). For years she suffered quietly in pain only telling her parents what was happening but she was ecstatic not only to discover a name for her pain but to also find out that the doctor who specialized in the disease was less than 15 miles away. Charity experienced pain so severe that she was unable to eat, drink or even talk for days at a time. Just the feeling of the wind on her face caused a major flare of shocking pain but now she had her answer and was ready to be cured. A month before the last quarter of her college career In August of 2015 she underwent brain surgery known as a Microvascular Decompression procedure. Charity was cured!… well so she thought, surgery occurred only on the right side of her brain but because she had bi-lateral TN she would also feel the shocking pain on her left side too but thankfully for the past year she has been in remission and pain-free!
Charity went on to receive her Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design and minor in Marketing Management but after years of looking for employment and was unsuccessful she decided to study and receive her certification as an ADA Coordinator so she could learn the laws regarding employment rights for individuals with Disabilities. Charity learned that although there are laws protecting individuals with disabilities there is still so much more to do to help people who are disabled and want to work to actually receive employment. It is something that needs to be addressed and she hopes to one day change the stigma around employers not hiring capable employees just because they are “different”.
Charity decided to write What If We Were All The Same! because she was a child who grew up feeling that she wasn’t good enough or deserved to have dreams of her own because she felt marginalized from her peers and adults around her. This book is for every child to realize that everyone is different from each other and that the labels of being “normal” or “different” should not even be a factor. Every child deserves the freedom to be who they are whether they are short, tall, skinny, bald, dark skin, light skin, wears glasses, uses a wheelchair or anything else. None of us choose our circumstances that we were born with or into, no one deserves to be treated less than and we should all have love and respect towards each other.
Today Charity lives in beautiful Southern California and spends her days tutoring children and spending time with her service dog Gareth. She loves binge-watching Netflix, going to the movies, visiting museums, traveling, shopping and spending time with her loved ones. Charity credits who she is today to her parents who never told her she was “different” and always let her try the things she wanted to do. She has 3 amazing siblings who have been her strength and have helped her on her journey. She’s so thankful and blessed to have a great group of friends and loving extended family who continue to support her.
A hopeful way to talk to your children about their differences.
The idea of this book is to help children understand that there is nothing wrong with being different. Whether they have red hair or brown hair, green eyes or blue eyes, long legs or short legs, light skin or dark skin, glasses or anything else, it’s absolutely OKAY! Our differences are what makes us unique and if we truly think about it, would you want to be the exact same as someone else? What if we all looked and had the skills of Bill Gates? How boring would it be to have millions of techies walking around? Who would have created music? art? food? clothes? and so much more!
The money raised will help Charity fulfill her dream to teach children that their differences are BEAUTIFUL! With the money raised, Charity will be able to:
- Order copies of her book to sell from her webpage and locally
- Register for and appear at book fairs and book festivals
- Travel for book readings and signings
- Create kid-friendly items i.e. bookmarks, stickers, etc.
- Donate free books to children's groups
- Recoup expenses of creating her first book
- Help fund more books she is in the process of writing
To Purchase a Book Visit: CMHarrisBooks.com
A Children's Picture Book About Diversity and Inclusion Available August 12, 2019
Any and all amounts donated are deeply appreciated!
Charity's Story:
Charity Michelle spent her childhood not knowing how different she was. As she got older and experienced hard times all she could wish for was to be normal, but who is to say what normal is. Charity eventually discovered that not only was it okay to be different but that being different is quite beautiful. Whether you are tall, short or can’t use your legs at all, you are amazing just the way you are.
Charity was born in the Midwest in Tulsa, Oklahoma and at the age of 7 moved with her family to Los Angeles, California. At a young age, Charity’s parents noticed she wasn’t walking and would rather roll everywhere so the doctor inserted padding in her shoes and from that point on Charity hit the ground running and never stopped, but after moving to California her life as she knew it changed. At the age of 7, Charity was diagnosed with Charcot Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT), and no, it has nothing to do with teeth. CMT is a neuromuscular disease that causes progressive muscle weakness, there are multiple different forms of the disease and Charity has the rare and most severe form of it known as Type 3 – Dejerine-Sottas. As Charity got older she noticed that she walked differently than the other children and they noticed it too, kids would call her “crippled”, tease her for being skinny and would even imitate the way she walked. Although this deeply hurt Charity she did her best to be nice despite the actions of her bullies. Throughout her school years, she met many nice friends who helped when she needed help. If her backpack was too heavy then the boys would carry it for her, if she stumbled or fell while walking her friends would help her up and when her hands were too tired her friends would help her open her snacks. Charity was very different from the average child and even though she faced a few bullies growing up, she had friends who were there when she needed them most.
During her sophomore year in high school Charity was forced to use a wheelchair due to her school being worried that she would fall and hurt herself, it was very hard for her to accept needing a wheelchair because she loved to walk, run and ride her bike with her friends and siblings and didn’t want any obstacles in her way but all that changed. At the age of 21 Charity received her first motorized wheelchair that she refers to as her power-chair. Does it actually have powers? Oh yes! Charity’s legs became more tired so at the age of 22, she became completely reliant on her power-chair. Did she let that stop her? Of course not!
Power-chair, service dog and all, Charity set out to prove to herself and not anyone else that her dream of being independent and on her own would one day be a reality but another obstacle appeared. During her first quarter at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona right before Christmas break she experienced the most painful and excruciating pain you could ever imagine! Out of the blue while watching her favorite tv show, Law & Order she rubbed her nose and felt a stabbing pain on the right side of her face.
She had no clue what had just happened and sat frozen with tears in her eyes and didn’t even know why! From that day forward her life truly would never be the same. Charity spent years trying to figure out what the shocking pains in her face were and tried to find answers but she was unsuccessful until one day she came across an article on Facebook about a young girl who had something called “The Suicide Disease.” From just reading the title she felt so bad for the young girl that she was intrigued enough to read the article and as she was reading tears started to roll down her face. Charity realized that she too had “The Suicide Disease” known as Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN). For years she suffered quietly in pain only telling her parents what was happening but she was ecstatic not only to discover a name for her pain but to also find out that the doctor who specialized in the disease was less than 15 miles away. Charity experienced pain so severe that she was unable to eat, drink or even talk for days at a time. Just the feeling of the wind on her face caused a major flare of shocking pain but now she had her answer and was ready to be cured. A month before the last quarter of her college career In August of 2015 she underwent brain surgery known as a Microvascular Decompression procedure. Charity was cured!… well so she thought, surgery occurred only on the right side of her brain but because she had bi-lateral TN she would also feel the shocking pain on her left side too but thankfully for the past year she has been in remission and pain-free!
Charity went on to receive her Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design and minor in Marketing Management but after years of looking for employment and was unsuccessful she decided to study and receive her certification as an ADA Coordinator so she could learn the laws regarding employment rights for individuals with Disabilities. Charity learned that although there are laws protecting individuals with disabilities there is still so much more to do to help people who are disabled and want to work to actually receive employment. It is something that needs to be addressed and she hopes to one day change the stigma around employers not hiring capable employees just because they are “different”.
Charity decided to write What If We Were All The Same! because she was a child who grew up feeling that she wasn’t good enough or deserved to have dreams of her own because she felt marginalized from her peers and adults around her. This book is for every child to realize that everyone is different from each other and that the labels of being “normal” or “different” should not even be a factor. Every child deserves the freedom to be who they are whether they are short, tall, skinny, bald, dark skin, light skin, wears glasses, uses a wheelchair or anything else. None of us choose our circumstances that we were born with or into, no one deserves to be treated less than and we should all have love and respect towards each other.
Today Charity lives in beautiful Southern California and spends her days tutoring children and spending time with her service dog Gareth. She loves binge-watching Netflix, going to the movies, visiting museums, traveling, shopping and spending time with her loved ones. Charity credits who she is today to her parents who never told her she was “different” and always let her try the things she wanted to do. She has 3 amazing siblings who have been her strength and have helped her on her journey. She’s so thankful and blessed to have a great group of friends and loving extended family who continue to support her.
Organizer
Charity Harris
Organizer
Orange, CA
