April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day. Autism is a neural development disorder wherein the brain processes information differently. This difference in brain processing makes people with Autism relate to the world differently. They do not and cannot see the world the way we do. They have social impairments and often lack the intuition about others that many people take for granted.

My nephew Joaquin was diagnosed with a form of Autism called Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified or PDD-NOS when he was around two years old. Because of early identification and early intervention however, social and familial deficits that his Autism would have most probably caused have been diminished, if not avoided, and he and our family enjoy a significantly better family life.

April 2 is only one day. Help us spread awareness of Autism and the immense challenges people with Autism like our Joaquin, face 365 days a year.

I designed the logo above for my sister, Joaquin's mother, as part of her advocacy to help Autism awareness and how early identification and intervention can be of help to families touched by Autism. If everything goes well, we may be designing more materials such as this.

Here're two portraits I've made of Joaquin. Enjoy!

Joaquin; Digital Illustrations

Edith Tiempo

Filipino National Artist for Literature Edith Tiempo. Ballpen and markers. Edith L. Tiempo (April 22, 1919 – August 21, 2011), poet, fiction writer, teacher and literary critic was a Filipino writer in the English language.Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences as revealed, in two of her much anthologized pieces, "Lament for the Littlest Fellow" and "Bonsai." As fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound. Her language has been marked as "descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing." She is an influential tradition in Philippine Literature in English. Together with her late husband, writer and critic Edilberto K. Tiempo, they founded (in 1962) and directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has produced some of the Philippines' best writers.She was conferred the National Artist Award for Literature in 1999.

Mga Ibong Mandaragit Full Art

Cover Illustration for Amado Hernandez' Mga Ibong Mandaragit ( Birds of Prey) Digital Illustration; 2011

Nick Joaquin

Filipino National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin. Ballpen and marker [portrait. Nicomedes "Nick" Márquez Joaquín (May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004) was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquín was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature. He has been considered one of the most important Filipino writers, along with José Rizal and Claro M. Recto. Unlike Rizal and Recto whose masterpieces were written in Spanish, Joaquin's major works, despite being a native Spanish speaker, were written in English.

East of Here and West of There

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