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A 20-year-old from South Jersey is creating comic books in honor of her friend with special needs. Trinity Jagdeo is an author and illustrator, and she’s been using her skills to turn special needs children into superheroes.<\/p>\n
The idea was inspired by her best friend, Alexus Dick, who she met in kindergarten 14 years ago. Dick has spinal muscular atrophy, a rare disease that weakens muscles all over the body and limits life expectancy to under 30 years. She now spends most of her time in bed, without enough strength to make it into her wheelchair.<\/p>\n
While Dick was undergoing six months of treatment at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia, Jagdeo came up with the idea of a book in which the main character was a superhero with a disability \u00a0She wanted someone for her friend to relate to, someone who could inspire her, and because she couldn\u2019t find one, she ended up creating one.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing what my best friend was going through, I wanted to do more for others like her,\u201d she told TODAY<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019d watched all of the movies that she had lined in her room, and I took note of how drained she was. She had nobody to look up to while she was going through that battle.\u201d<\/p>\n Jagdeo first reached out to Disney, asking for more characters with disabilities or special needs. \u201cI wrote them letters, made YouTube videos. I didn\u2019t receive a response, so I decided to create my own non-profit, and I began writing and illustrating my own books that featured local special-needs kids.\u201d<\/p>\n When Alexus saw Trinity\u2019s comic books, she said it was one of the best gifts a child could ever receive. Then, Jagdeo\u2019s mom helped her take the next steps to publish the books \u2013 by registering her business.<\/p>\n In 2018, Jagdeo self-published her first book, Alice the Ace<\/em>, using Amazon\u2019s Kindle Direct Publishing servic<\/a>e<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Jagdeo published book number four — Victorious Victor<\/em> — this year, about a character on the autism spectrum. The character is based on Victor Perez, a member of her church in Vineland, New Jersey, where they both live.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A post shared by @trinity.jagdeo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n