Welcome to Knoxverse
jennifer white-johnson & kevin johnson jr.
jennifer white-johnson & kevin johnson jr.
This Photo zine revolves around Knox and highlights the joy and humanity that is often left out of autistic narratives in the media. Our belief is that no one should be limited by popular opinion of how they should operate, or be limited by the ideas others have regarding their abilities.
We hope the zine will raise visibility to children of color in autistic and nuerodiverse communities.
A WORD FROM MOMMY:
This zine highlights the beauty of nuerodiversity, breaking the stigma of racialized Autism in the life of Knox, my 5-year old black Autistic child. Autism is a beautifully complex cognitive, invisible disability that I am glad Homie House Press has embraced and is willing to represent. Now as a mother of an Autistic child I have made it a creative passion to dive into the complexities of his neurodiversity.
Often the neurodiverse community are excluded from artistic narratives and creative spaces, and I find my role
as my son’s mother is to help him embrace his complexities as I continue to embrace mine.
In my own personal art practice of photography, the way I have embraced and taken hold of my narrative allowed me to not be afraid to let the world in and allow for my son’s story to become a
force for acceptance.
An Autistic person should not be limited by popular opinion of how they should operate, or be limited by the ideas others have regarding their abilities. Autistic voices should be included and not excluded in any public discourse on Autism! Advocate acceptance!
A WORD FROM DADDY:
The writings in this zine are a method to show uncompromising love, care, and unrelenting acceptance toward Knox. Some of the thoughts and reflections come from my 3 AM Theater blog. The blog came through a series of social media posts I’d make to give some semblance of humor to those early hours when Knox wouldn’t sleep when we first brought him home from the Neonatal Instensive Care Unit (NICU)
Over the past several years, I decided to take that same idea to highlight our son. Additionally, my goal is to not simply show my story as a parent - but his story as an Autistic child. The desire is to provide him the space to communicate on his own terms, whatever that entails, as he grows from childhood to adulthood.
The 3 AM Theater is an ongoing process of intense learning (about anything that is advantageous for him) and vigilant unlearning (concerning anything that could be harmful), as we continue as Knox’s parents to learn all we can to support, engage, and equip him against the discrimination and marginalization he will face on multiple fronts.