{"id":241975,"date":"2025-05-21T19:16:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T13:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=241975"},"modified":"2025-05-29T16:16:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T10:46:42","slug":"embracing-differences-the-heatwarming-message-of-this-is-my-cool-friend-tharu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/embracing-differences-the-heatwarming-message-of-this-is-my-cool-friend-tharu\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing Differences: The Heatwarming Message Of “This Is My Cool Friend, Tharu!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gayanga Dissanayaka<\/a> –<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a writer, I was mostly inspired by my grandmother. She was a great storyteller. I remember the stories she used to tell me when I was about three years old,\u201d said Kaveesha Weerasinghe. \u201cEveryday she would make up stories so that really expanded my imagination.\u201d Kaveesha was actually into creative writing since she was very young. Since she was around six or seven, she has been writing in both Sinhala and English. Even though she didn\u2019t do literature for her A\/Ls, the writer in her never died. As testimony to that, Kaveesha is now the published author of This is my cool friend, Tharu!<\/i><\/b> a children\u2019s book published by The Jam Fruit Tree<\/a><\/span> Publications.\"\"<\/p>\n

Incidentally, Kaveesha was looking for extra cash while she was studying. Her father was in marketing and he had some contacts at a research company where she started working. Research, she explained, also means a lot of writing including analysing and understanding human behaviour. \u201cI consider myself lucky to have been exposed to all of that at a very young age,\u201d reflected Kaveesha. \u201cUp until then I lived a very sheltered life, didn\u2019t go much for classes and spent time mostly at home. Only after getting into research, I was able to broaden my horizons, get to know about different people, different communities, different social stratas, their problems and their challenges.\u201d This taught Kaveesha to start looking at everything in different perspectives and in a more empathetic manner, which reflects in her writing now.<\/p>\n

This is my cool friend, Tharu!<\/i><\/b> is inspired by the author\u2019s son who is neurodivergent. Even before he was diagnosed, Kaveesha knew a bit about neurodiversity but not much in detail. \u201cI never had the need to know. Only when one is facing something they get the urge to know about it. Therefore after the diagnosis, it got me to really research neurodiversity,\u201d said Kaveesha. She took his son to about ten therapists and each of them told different things. They gave remarks such as, \u201cIf his speech doesn\u2019t come before five, he will never speak.\u201d Kaveesha knew it can\u2019t be right and therefore wanted to do her own research since she knew there is so much more to it.<\/p>\n

The author explained how everyone speaks of neurodiversity as an illness or disease. And they only talk about the limitations and not about their capabilities. While she was doing her own research, she came across a facebook page \u201cParents of Autistic Children\u2019s Group\u201d, run by a mother with an autistic daughter the same age as her son. It was a support group for parents where everyone would share their experiences and a lot of knowledge sharing takes place.<\/p>\n

In that group, Kaveesha got to know that there is a large number of children like hers who are denied a lot of opportunities including not being able to get enrolled at school, which is a basic human right in Sri Lanka. There are also parents who are afraid to take their neurodivergent children outside into social settings. One reason is fear of judgment and the other reason is it being difficult for the neurodivergent child who may experience sensory overloads and unnecessary attention from those around them due to certain behaviours like stimming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn countries like ours, even if you have a neurotypical child, still a lot of people pass insensitive remarks. Worrying about their future is another problem because some neurodivergent children have limited movement and are prone to more diseases. So the anxiety of what might happen if we are not there for them in the future is a constant fear,\u201d explained Kaveesha. But she also noted how children are actually much better at accepting differences compared to adults and are much more helpful. She noticed that it\u2019s the adults who condition the children into believing that neurodivergent children are not good to be associated with. This is the notion which she mainly wanted to break.<\/p>\n

All of this encouraged Kaveesha to write This is my cool friend, Tharu!<\/i><\/b> Kaveesha recalls that it took quite a long time to see the completion of it because she wanted to be sensitive to the people who were reading it and didn\u2019t want it to sound like a research paper as well. \u201cI also wanted to get the tonality right. I didn\u2019t want to offend any particular group of people, and I didn\u2019t want to glorify neurodiversity either. It\u2019s not a label that you have to wear for the rest of your life. Everyone is more than their neurodiversity. Unlike other disabilities, neurodiversity isn\u2019t exactly something we can see. Sometimes only while living with them you\u2019ll realise that they are a little different,\u201d the author said. The book is about accepting yourself and your uniqueness. Kaveesha\u2019s book shines on the fact that neurodivergence isn\u2019t a disability, it\u2019s just how your brain works. This story is all about making life easier for everyone.<\/p>\n

Being a neurodivergent child doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t function in the normal world. Kaveesha explains how they actually want their children to be able to look after themselves and be independent one day. One of the challenges Kaveesha faced while writing her book is struggling to put everything into twenty four pages. It was not going to work. She had to focus on one neurodiversity which is why at the end of the book, she explains it as an umbrella term under which different kinds of neurodiversity can be found and where she debunks most of the misconceptions and harmful taboos surrounding it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis book is about a child who is on the autism spectrum. There\u2019s a lot of discussion but also a lot of misinformation about this subject. Even when modelling the characters, I\u2019ve tried to take different behavioral traits of children such as different kinds of stimming. These children have to feel accepted, which would help them to function in a neurotypical world much easier. Because let\u2019s face it, this world is mostly built for neurotypical people by neurotypical people. So we can\u2019t change everything. But neurodiverse people should be accepted, supported and welcomed,\u201d said Kaveesha. Hence, her book, This is my cool friend, Tharu!<\/i><\/b> is a heartwarming message to the children and the parents, to teach and encourage youngsters to choose empathy and understanding from a younger age in order to make the world a better, happier and kinder place for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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