12-year-old ‘superhero’ stars in book about overcoming disabilities

By Matteo Iadonisi

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    PITMAN, New Jersey (WPVI) — “Everybody can be a super person, no matter what abilities they have,” said 12-year-old Zane Dick.

Zane and his sister, Alexus, both have Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It was through Alexus’ lifelong friend, Trinity Jagdeo, that Zane was able to be the star of his own storybook.

“She wanted to make a book about me because she wanted to make a disability an ability,” said Zane about Trinity.

Trinity, who always stuck by her best friend Alexus’ side, created a nonprofit to help children like them in 2018. She named it, “From We Can’t To We Can.”

“We amplify disabled voices and we host inclusive events,” said Trinity. “We have financial programs as well as creating superhero books that feature kids with disabilities as superheroes.”

Zane was the subject of one of those books, appropriately named, “Zappy Zane.” The latest addition is “Savvy Sammi,” which is about a young girl from San Antonio, Texas.

Today, Zane and Trinity teamed up to bring a book-reading event to children at Words Matter Bookstore in Pitman, New Jersey. Events such as these are designed to be inclusive to children with and without disabilities to promote inclusion.

“We’ll be doing book readings all summer long and we’re doing an inclusion book tour as well throughout the next year for schools,” said Trinity. “And we’re just going to keep on creating inclusion and accessibility as much as we can.”

To learn more about From We Can’t to We Can, visit their website.

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