Shane Burcaw: Hi. This is Shane Curcaw, and I'm the author of Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability. I'm going to tell you a little bit about why I wrote this book, and then I will share an excerpt with you.

I was born with a disease called spinal muscular atrophy, and I've used a wheelchair my entire life. As a kid, I found that other children were endlessly curious about my wheelchair and my disease and why I looked the way that I did, so I wrote this picture book to help kids and their parents open that conversation about disability and difference. I wanted to make a fun, approachable resource for children to learn what it means to have a disability, and now I am going to read an excerpt for you.

"Why is your head so much bigger than the rest of your body?"

"I've never been able to walk, and since my disease is progressive, I get weaker as I get older, meaning that my arms are weaker now than when I was a kid. Because my muscles don't grow normally, my body has stayed pretty small, but my head and my enormous brain were not affected by my disease, so they grew to a normal size. I admit it might look a little funny sitting on top of my tiny body."