Deborah Kim

Scooter

the work and its author

My inspiration started with a documentary called “The Dropbox.” It’s about babies being abandoned in the streets of Seoul, South Korea. They found that many of these babies were abandoned because they were born with a disability. This documentary inspired me to volunteer at a special camp, where I served kids with all different types of disabilities. I can’t think of a time when I was happier than when I was with these kids. Needless to say, I went back the following month.

After volunteering at several special camps, I found that kids who use wheelchairs get really excited when they see someone else using a wheelchair because they can identify with them. I love drawing animals with pastels, but I especially wanted to draw one that was not typical and with a disability. So I drew a zebra with a mohawk and replaced the back legs with wheels, and named him “Scooter”.

I would like to dedicate this piece to a fun-loving, adventure-seeking 6-year-old boy named Joe Joe. He was born with a muscle disease called muscular dystrophy and he uses a wheelchair to get around, but none of this stops him going out and seeking out new adventures.

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