Julie Funk here.
As we are in the midst of Disability Awareness Month and quickly approaching Autism Awareness Month, I wanted to take an opportunity to spotlight my son, Jason Funk.
Jason was diagnosed with Autism before the age of 2 and was completely nonverbal until the age of 3. We moved to Indianapolis so that he could have intense, comprehensive, full-time therapy to learn how to speak and interact with the world around him.
Jason has a genius IQ, yet struggles with executive functioning in the classroom. He is a happy, delightful young man, yet has difficulty with social interaction. He is often immersed in his own world, creating comics in his mind.
During his 7th grade year, Sarah El-Rahaiby, his art teacher at HIJH, noticed his aptitude for creating comics. She reached out to me to let me know about Nickel Plate’s “Comic Book in a Day” contest and thought that Jason might enjoy participating. Not only did Jason enjoy participating in the demanding competition, but he also won an award that year and has won awards every year since.
It was at the “Comic Book in a Day” contest that Jason met Yuri Duncan, an award winning filmmaker, animator and artist. Yuri was so impressed with Jason’s ability to create comics that he began mentoring him last year. Jason and Yuri launched “Funk World” here on the Substack platform as a place for Jason to showcase his comics and earn income from them as well.
Most recently, Jason and Yuri collaborated on a very special comic entitled “The Bus Seat”. Jason wrote this special story to help others understand his journey and provide a glimpse as to how he navigates the world.
I hope you enjoy “The Bus Seat”-it’s very special to me!
please would u create sth dor our reddit comic channel?? r/autismcomics. we'll feature this comics there now anyway 👍👍🥰
Hey Jason, did you know that my brother has cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a lung disease which means that his Silvia is much thicker and that means that he can’t breathe as well as you or me