Jessica Wills is like any other 15-year-old teenager in Stratford, CT: she tunes out her mom while listening to music, she likes to bake, she navigates through her high school curriculum — all the while trying to figure out which subjects interest her — and she loves One Direction. Jessica also has Down syndrome and is the inspiration behind her dad's remarkable daily cartoon, Just Jessica [1].
Fred Wills has always drawn funny, poignant comics for his children, but for Jessica — his youngest of five — he uses it as a way to not only show her how "normal" she is, but also highlight how remarkable she is, too. Each cartoon gives heartwarming insight into Jessica's daily life: at school, playing with the family's two cats, and just being a teenager. Speech bubbles show Jessica's tenacious commentary, like, "Tomorrow we eat broccoli! Today is for ice cream!"
Though it began as a fun family activity, Just Jessica has now become a shared social experience since Fred has been posting the cartoons to Facebook [2] as of late. And ultimately, it has added to the conversation about parenting children with special needs with care and innovation.
Click through to see more of Fred's incredibly touching drawings.