Independent Perspective 1671 with Dave Carl about his book series Super Cyclist

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Dave Carl, para educator with Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Washington and your host is yours truly Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Dave.

Guest:  Thank you very much.

Host:  He is a little more far afield than the majority of our guests tend to be, but that's because he’s done something truly nifty in the field of children's literature. I should mention although he was born elsewhere he spent his formative years in Orchard Park, worked for an Independent Living center in Michigan. And as you know, now he's in Washington State. If you could tell people the nature of your own disabilities which makes you an expert at the topic at hand?

Guest:  Okay, first I was born with spina bifida and I’ve used a wheelchair my whole life. In addition to that I have hydrocephalus and also a big thing that I had through life starting in high school I started with seizures and that went all the way through college. And the type of seizures. the complex partial seizures, actually affected my ability to concentrate and my ability to read and write. So, all through college, all through high school I had to have things read to me even though I'm an audio and visual learner which made it quite difficult.

Host:  Well, the fact that you have become a published author is all the more impressive all things considering. We might as well get to the two books you've written and although the main hero is someone with a disability, anybody who has ever been bullied should be able to relate to the topic at hand. Could you mention the books and what they're about?

Guest:  Yes, the first book is Super Cyclist: Saves the Day. And what that is, the main character he wants to do things just like any other boy does. He wants to be a, he wants to fight crime. But he’s laughed at and he’s told by his peers that he can’t because he uses a wheelchair. But through hard work and dedication he gains the skills to not only become, to fight crime, but to actually become a superhero who uses a special type of hand cycle to fight crime. The second book is Super Cyclist Battles Stinkball Man, it’s a little bit more humor. But it's also a children’s adventure picture book and he just goes on to make different things for his super cycle and he battles somebody called Stinkball Man who fights, tries to get people by, through odor I guess you could say.

Host:  That sounds like something that young kids can relate to since they seem to like stinky stuff, or at least dealing with it. Is this available in print or on ebook or both?

Guest:  It is available in both through Amazon.

Host:   So as long as people keep the title and your name Dave Carl mind, they should be able to locate those. What else would you like children with disabilities to take away from these books?

Guest:  I would like to, for children with disabilities to understand that you have the ability to do things

whether people tell you that you can or cannot it doesn't matter. What you need to do is you need to understand that you can follow your dreams and that's what I’m trying to get is it doesn’t matter don’t think about what other people say, use your own interests and take that and think about that when you're reading these books. You have more strengths than you think.

Host:  Dave, we’re totally out of time. If people have questions how can they reach you?

Guest:  They can reach me, actually I have a website which is supercyclist.com and I also have a blog which is shareindependentliving.blogspot.com

Host:  Thanks so much for being with us, Dave.

Guest:  Thank you.

Host:  You've been listening do Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today was Dave Carl, para educator at Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Washington. And your host was yours truly Ernie Churchwell