Although Emma is a fictional character, the author and creator of this series, Darren Dione Aquino, has based the stories on his actual life. He is disabled and continues to face the challenges of his disabilities, but he does so by assisting others. He is the CEO and founder of Advocates for Disabled Americans, Veterans, Police, Fireman & Families, a non-profit which provides advocacy to all disabled in every walk of life and any age group. Although the Season's of Emma and the series to follow is a children's series, we hope that as you read our stories to your children, that they will enhance the awareness of the victories, challenges and needs of the disabled, to your whole family. The number of disabled in the world are growing exponentially. The rate of Autism is at epidemic levels. The rate of childhood diabetes continues to rise. We might be aware of the medical names of disabilities, such as, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Cancer, visual and hearing impairments, mental and emotional impairments, syndromes, genetic anomalies, and so, so many more. We apologize for not mentioning everyone here. However, we do hope that as we develop our series, that we will be able to capture the main ingredients needed to understand disabilities - RESPECT, COMPASSION and ADMIRATION. As medical technology advances, we learn about new syndromes and conditions continually. However, knowing the heart of an individual with disabilities and to understand their victories and challenges is what is what we hope to achieve with our series.
