GIVING a voice to the voiceless was one of the inspirations behind a memoir written by a 12-year-old boy with cerebral palsy that has now been published.

Eye Can Write - A Memoir of a Child’s Silent Soul Emerging has been written by Stanton St Quintin boy Jonathan Bryan tracing his life so far living with the illness.

Jonathan uses a method of writing and speaking using eye movement on a special board and is on a mission to help make sure children with a similar disability are given the same opportunities as anyone else.

Jonathan said: “I decided to write my memoir as a voice for the voiceless, to show people that you can’t make assumptions based on outward appearances, and to make a difference for children like me in education so that all children are taught to read and write regardless of their label.

“I started writing the book when I received a personal foreword from Sir Michael Morpurgo, and the book evolved from there.

“I decided to donate all of my proceeds to Teach Us Too to make a difference for children like me in education (www.teachustoo.org.uk), so that all children are taught to read and write regardless of their label.”

Children’s author Sir Michael Morpurgo provided the foreword to the book and wrote: “A writer of great emotional and intellectual depth.

“His words tell us so much about our universal human resilience, our capacity for understanding, our longing to communicate. Jonathan has opened the door for us into his world, and reached out his hand to us in his writing. When we take his hand as we read, he is not locked in any more. And neither are we. We join him in his journey, he joins us in ours.”

This is not the first time Jonathan has provided a first-hand account after he created a CBBC film My Life that was premiered in Stanton St Quintin Primary School, aged just 11.

He was home schooled by his mother Chantal from the age of seven after trying several special schools.

She taught him to read, write and communicate and by the age of 10 he had written a letter to education minister Nicky Morgan calling for more help with non-verbal children in schools.

In his letter he said: “What brings me incredible sorrow is watching my non-verbal friends in wheelchairs miss out on the fullness of life because no-one believes that they are worth teaching literacy to, and waiting locked in for someone to give them a chance to have a voice.”

“Disabled children with communication issues are not being taught in special schools. They are being babysat!

“Underestimating special needs children is robbing them of their right to education and communication. Until this is seen as the abuse it is, nothing will change. Reforming the special needs curriculum must be a priority.”

The book can be purchased from Amazon in hardback following its release on July 12 at Waterstone’s Piccadilly, London with a prayer from the Archbishop of Canterbury and extracts read by Michael Morpurgo.