Eye Can Write: A memoir of a child's silent soul emerging

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Born with severe cerebral palsy, incapable of controlling his movements, it was assumed that Jonathan had very little brain activity.

He has already had a conversation with a palliative-care specialist about what he wants his end of life to look like. Jonathan’s description of his time in the garden with Jesus shows me that Jesus is never constrained by theological beliefs and nor does Jesus abide by doctrinal rules – Jesus is YaHWeH and Jesus is never restricted by human traditions or human prejudices. This site (and many others) provides a limited experience on unsupported browsers and not all functionality will work correctly or look its best. She recounts Jonathan’s emergency birth and immediate days after, then the early months of Jonathan’s life are explained as life alternates between home and hospital and the struggles involved.Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland is a Charitable Company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales under Company No. ELSEWHERE, Jonathan has revealed his frustration with the assumptions that are made about people with disabilities. Each word in this review seems somehow more important to take care over, to choose wisely, as a result. It is painstaking work — a ten-word sentence takes around a minute to spell out — but what emerges is strikingly articulate. The CBBC documentary even included an extract of Jonathan’s confirmation, at Malmesbury Abbey (“With Jesus as my Saviour, companion and friend, I have lived my hours here with happiness in my spirit and content calm in my soul”).

Sitting in his mother’s lap, in the kitchen of the rectory in a small village in Wiltshire, he tells me that Jesus’s garden is “the place I have been most alive”.The final chapter focuses on his charity work and impact in the education sector, which is so inspiring. Written partly by Jonathan’s mother and partly by Jonathan, a 12 year old boy with severe cerebral palsy, this book is a powerful account of the liberation of finding a way to communicate. He was locked inside his own mind, aware of the outside world but unable to fully communicate with it until he found a way by using his eyes to laboriously choose individual letters, and through this make his thoughts known.

This is why we are committed to supporting charities that are fighting to raise awareness of a child’s education rights. Hearing how he felt when he met Michael Morpugo (who wrote the Foreword for the book) brought me to tears. Communication has always been a challenge but his mum Chantal said her son developed clear 'yes and no faces' from an early age.

Jonathan's writing has its own mature voice, distinct from his mother’s, with an amazing range of vocabulary, consistent with those who have learnt to read before speaking. Foreword by Sir Michael MorpurgoA portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Jonathan Bryan's charity, Teach Us Too.

Don't judge the person by the wheelchair or other visible disabilities, especially when that person is a child. I was in a position as a parent where I would have done anything to take the pain away, and yet God the father had let his Son suffer because of his love for us. In November my grannie was diagnosed as being in the latter stages of ovarian cancer, and on 12th December she died in a hospice. As a mother of a young man with profound medical and complex special needs, a wheelchair user and someone who is pre-verbal . He describes a beautiful garden which he identifies as “Jesus’ garden” and he vividly relates how he walked and ran around and swung his free arms, sauntering through an orchard full of “trees laden with delectable fruit”, playing with other children by the trees: all things he had never experienced in this life in a crippled, dysfunctional body.How many other children and adults are trapped in a system that disregards and dismisses the disabled their rights. Immersing myself in a story is the most enjoyable, wonderful escapism; books have nourished my mind and prevented mental decay during my years of silence.