Vincent Michael dela Luna was born on June 9, 1975 in Manila, Philippines. His father, Antonio, and mother, Maria, moved the family to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1977 with little more than the clothes on their backs. Vince has two younger sisters, Antonette and Jennifer.
As Vince grew older, his life took him on his own adventures. He spent time in Rome, London, Toronto, Vancouver, Manila and Honolulu. Vince then returned to Canada to live in Edmonton where he decided to publish his first book.
During a twenty-year span living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he made movies and television shows, he met and married his wife, Chix, and assisted in the creation of his two most favourite people, Nic and Izzy. It was also in Vancouver, where Nic and then Izzy were both diagnosed with autism. After years of watching his children grow on opposite sides of the autism spectrum and with Izzy’s struggles increasing due to the severity of being non-verbal, Vincent recognized the need to stop working in film and start caring for his children full-time.
As Nic and Izzy went about their own adventures, they taught their father the meaning of patience, love, and understanding, and showed him the need for everyone to better understand autism, not just to rid the world of the fear and stigma of it, but simply to help everyone become better and kinder human beings.
And so, begins his first story, designed for children, to try and answer some of their endless questions about Izzy and her autism and why she does what she does.
CONNECT WITH VINCENT
My Reason For Writing
I have two kids on either side of the autism spectrum. My daughter is severe, non-verbal and still in diapers at age 9. The general perception is that she has anger and behaviour issues. She does not listen. She screams for no reason. She hurts herself and attacks and fights with people trying to help her. It can be a scary and daunting experience, especially for her unprepared classmates and teachers. She does not listen to anyone without a struggle… except me. I have very few problems with her and she is typically happy, smiling and laughing around me. Many people ask me how.
Now imagine this: we crawl across the desert and arrive at an oasis. You try to ask me for some water because all you taste is dry sand and can barely breathe. Only a moan comes out of your parched mouth. Thinking you are hungry, I look at you and offer you some of the crackers I was eating. You shake your head and kindly ask once more for some much-needed water. Again, only a moan. I tilt my head, trying to understand you. I see you looking at my bag, so I reach in and offer you the map. A little frustrated now, you ask again, moaning louder. I am honestly trying to help you, so I offer you my banana. The act of trying to talk has made your throat hurt even more, it is so dry. You moan louder and longer, visibly agitated. I stand up and ask you what you want. You punch the ground. How can you make me understand? You glare at me, trying to force my mind to hear you. You scream. I hold out my hand towards you and you swat it away. You punch your head so hard it bleeds and then start pulling your hair… hard. Chunks of hair are in your hands. I try to prevent you from hurting yourself. You wail in despair. You are so thirsty. I try and help you and you just scratch and push me because I am not giving you what you are so desperately asking for.
You see, in another person’s eyes, you scream, moan and hurt yourself and others for no reason. You do things that we have been taught not to do our whole lives. I am trying to help, and you will not listen. You are aggressive and it is extremely hard for us to be around you. But the thing is, it will always be harder to be you because that is your life every day. That situation would frustrate any one of us. So, I do not view my daughter as a person with behaviour issues. I see her as an intelligent person that is constantly frustrated because of communication issues.
Because I do not expect her to act and behave like everyone else, I am not frightened of her. I try to understand what she is trying to say so she has less communication issues with me. It may appear to others that I can magically control her. The truth is, she is just less frustrated with me because I tend to understand her more often than not. And the reason for that, is simple. Whenever she loses control and gets upset. I think of that little story I just told you. I imagine myself with Izzy’s never-ending frustration and that gives me unbelievable empathy, patience and understanding.
It made me wonder how much better life would be if everyone could see the world through Izzy’s eyes and perhaps gain a better understanding of her normal. Not just for autistic people but for everyone. I think Ellen DeGeneres coined it perfectly in saying, “Be kind to one another.”
So, after Oprah inspired me in Edmonton when she basically told all of us to take the first step and after talking to Temple Grandin when she also visited and showed me that many of the issues are just because most people do not understand that the autistic mind works very differently, I decided to write this children’s book in the hope that if people can learn to see the world through Izzy’s eyes and realize that she is not scary but very much like the rest of us, then the world will hopefully become a better and kinder place for everyone. And then, maybe then, people like my daughter can find happiness among you.
