De SOTO, Kan. – A local author was told she’d never drive, she’d never go to college, and she’d certainly never graduate, but she did all of those things, plus publish the first in a series of twelve books.
Her name is Niki Svenson, and when others said “You can’t,” she replied “I Can.”
Around the DeSoto golf course her mom manages, Niki Svenson is a celebrity, and it’s always been that way, even before she published her first book in her “I can series.” It’s called: “Mime for Michael.”
Her book is about a little boy named Michael, who’s deaf. The story’s loosely based on Svenson’s great uncle.
“He’s one kid that I know that went past his disability and succeeded,” Svenson said.
Svenson, however, is a living example of someone who overcame her own disability, borderline Down Syndrome, to also become a success.
“I don’t let my disability say that I can’t do anything,” Svenson said.
She graduated college with her bachelor’s degree, got her driver’s license, and now has a full-time job with Leavenworth Schools.
“Throughout my entire life people have said ‘you can’t do this’ or ‘you can’t do that because of your disability.’ I’ve looked at them and I’ve said, ‘you know, I have goals in life. I’m not going to let what you say determine where I want to go in my life and what I want to do,'” She said.
She draws her strength from her teachers, friends, and family.
And now she shares her strength with others, like her, who face a world of “can’ts.”
She teaches kids through example and through her writing, that there is no such thing as can’t.
To find out more about Svenson’s books, go to: http://ican.tateauthor.com
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