Hi, I’m Krystle, the founder of Inside Ability Books, the first company making story time accessible with large-print and high-contrast illustrated children’s books to accommodate kids and parents who have visual disabilities that make it difficult to read standard-size text.
I’m a natural born creative. Maybe it’s because I’m a Pisces, but I have always found a safe place in my dreams, aspirations and general imaginings. Thankfully, my actual vision wasn’t ever a requirement for me to envision.
This came in very handy at a pivotal time in my youth. As a Junior in college, living away from home, I began to lose my eyesight. Within months of diagnosis (idiopathic panuveitis) I was legally blind – or partially sighted depending on how I choose to see it on any given day.
Writing my own story
My creative writing offered me an escape from the dread of vision loss. Blindness in itself is not dreadful. However, to live a whole life perceiving your world with your eyes and then abruptly having that ability reduced or taken away entirely is experienced as a trauma. And like any other trauma, there are phases of healing and grief.
In my writing, I found joy, laughter, self-made quandaries about how to advance a plot, as well as the mental gymnastics of poetic word play. This all provided the positive stimulation I needed to balance what felt unfair and deeply isolating.
With an uncertain future ahead of me, I created characters and delved deep into the concepts of emotion and the human spirit. I gave my characters the courage I needed, the advice and guidance that I needed, and I tasked myself with giving them happy endings that looked nothing at all like the way they expected them to look.
I was teaching myself, on a subconscious level, to be open to however my real-life story was going to unfold.
I graduated and forged ahead into employment. I was met with a meandering career path in search of the right fit. During this time, I had set aside my creative writing because I was “healed” from the hurt of vision loss.
Necessity (for a mom at story time) is the mother of invention
When I became a mom, I encountered a new set of challenges – namely story time. I was all prepared to read with animation and liveliness, but I couldn’t find any books with large enough print for me to read.
That’s when my old friend – imagination – tapped my shoulder and said, “We never needed vision to tell a great story before and we don’t need it now!” Inside Ability Books was born on that day and since then it has been an amazing journey bringing it to market.
Making story time accessible
The text in my books is jumbo sized. The images are bold-outlined and depict zoomed-in views of scenes. I have received feedback that my design choices are lowering barriers for a great many people to participate comfortably in story time. Parents, teachers and librarians have also told me that the stories are engaging, and are a great literacy tool.
Disability is a challenge, but our gifts and other abilities are what define us. Lean into your gifts, embrace the unknown, and always leave space in your mind for a positive outcome. Do this and life will unfold in ways you couldn’t imagine, and better than you expect!
About the author
Krystle A. Boateng is the Founder of Inside Ability Books and is the author of the books created by the brand. After becoming legally blind at the age of 19, creative writing helped her discover hope and a determination to thrive in spite of adversity. She went on to work for many years in the nonprofit sector as a disability advocate and empowerment coach as well as in ADA compliance (reasonable accommodations).
Later, as a legally blind mom she would once again lean on her creative writing skills to overcome barriers. After struggling to find books that she could read to her two toddlers, she took on the feat of designing and producing the accommodation that was missing for her family: jumbo large print and high-contrast text options, including white on black text.
Inside Ability Books is an outlet for Krystle’s creativity and passion for inspiring others and is allowing countless families who experience print disabilities related to text size and contrast to participate and enjoy story time strain-free.
To learn more about Inside Ability Books, visit IAbilityBooks.com. You can also follow Inside Ability Books on Instagram. For more of Krystle’s work, including inspirational poetry pieces published on artful canvasses, visit KttCDecor.com.
