When Janet Walmsley talks about the Dream Team she’s not referring to the 1992 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball squad.
Though Walmsley’s own Dream Team is skilled in their own right, they never got the national support or round the clock coverage like that basketball team did.
But for the Walmsley family this Dream Team made all the difference.
Referring to a super-squad of caregivers, medical professionals and support providers around Vernon, B.C., Walmsley says this Dream Team helped her daughter Jenny – and the family as a whole – manage her journey with autism.
When Jenny was three years old she was diagnosed with low-functioning autism.
Now age 24, Jenny is many things – but low-functioning isn’t one of them. And these days she doesn’t need as much help either.
“By Grade 10 she didn’t want any more help at school and she wanted to do it on her own. And she did,” explains Walmsley.
In 2015, Jenny – who goes by the pen name Jenny Story – published the fantasy novel Dysnomia, her first book.
Around the same time, Walmsley put out The Autistic Author and Animator, a memoir and living tribute to her daughter.
Together, the mother and daughter duo have been taking the books around the Lower Mainland and doing signings when possible.
On Saturday, an appearance at Indigo Books in Park Royal was met with a friendly response from people intrigued by the pair’s tenacity.
“I’ve never written a book before, but I’ve always wanted to write a book about my daughter’s life with autism,” Walmsley explains.
“I wanted to shine a positive light for the person with autism and their families. I wanted to shine this light and shed the stigma box that’s still around autism.”
Walmsley recalls years ago when one of Jenny’s teacher told her that Jenny would never be able to read or write a story.
“She’ll never be able to understand a beginning, middle and end,” Walmsley quotes the teacher as saying.
Walmsley never believed any of it.
“I walked out of there with a positive mindset. I never looked back. I trucked full speed ahead.”
As Jenny entered her teen years, alongside writing stories, she also expressed interest in animation.
With support from her family, she was able to enrol in an animation program at Vancouver Film School.
“Jenny is living proof that one can obtain their goals and they can reach their dreams,” she says.
Dysnomia was a longtime project for Jenny, its publication the result of years of not giving up on her dream to write.
The book revolves around a young woman named Layla who becomes the royal commander of her city’s army (“Much to the dislike of some of the men there,” Walmsley says with a laugh).
The jealous and devious character Nilerm decides to trap Layla and her friends before driving them off a cliff and into a mysterious new fantastical realm.
Layla’s journey is her mission to get back home.
Walmsley’s mission with her book has been to showcase the resolve of her daughter.
“My book isn’t telling you what to do, but my book will give you hope,” Walmsley says. “It’ll give you a light at the end of the tunnel, because when you first find out it’s like being hit by a truck and you’re kind of in this cloud.”
She says the greater attention paid to autism these days compared to the past is encouraging.
But she adds that people living with it still face stigma, especially when it comes to socialization and the workforce.
That’s why the pair still wants to get their message out: Walmsley’s book explaining her daughter’s journey and Jenny’s book being the living embodiment of her continued success.
Next year, Walmsley and Jenny are hoping to take their books on tour across Canada.
Although Jenny is now independent, Walmsley is still there for her whenever possible.
“I was never an assertive person but I became one so that I could get what I could for Jenny.”
